How great are thy works

O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.
Psalm 92:5

Of what use wealth

if for our health

we live like hermit lorn?

Through God's design

he prunes the vine

and we like sheep are shorn.

We cannot know

while here below

what Majesty intends.

But testify

that by and by

he'll greet us as his friends.

Ye are little children

 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you . . . 
D&C 78:17

I am but a child, O Lord, upon this spinning plane;

without thy care and guidance my existence is in vain.

How small my quibbles are to thee, how trivial my fears;

and yet thou hast assured me thou will wipe away my tears.

I cannot fully comprehend the blessings in thy hands;

to me they seem elusive, like the desert's shifting sands.

Help me to understand, dear Lord, what it must really mean

to live the gospel fully with a joy that's evergreen!

I cannot speak in tempered tones

President Russell M. Nelson

"I cannot speak of the Restoration in tempered tones. This fact of history is absolutely stunning! It is incredible! It is breathtaking! How amazing is it that messengers from heaven came to give authority and power to this work?"

President Russell M. Nelson

Restoration of God's truth is an established fact.

The details are available, and not in the abstract!

Broadcasting to all the world, a prophet speaks for Christ;

embracing ev'ry race and creed -- it's priceless but not priced!

The invitation is extended to each man and child;

come unto the Savior who is powerful and mild!

Clasp hands through ev'ry mortal storm and testify anew

to one and all that Jesus Christ will safely see us through!

By humility

By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life.
Proverbs 22:4

My life is in thy hands;

my wealth belongs to thee.

No honor can I have

without humility.

It all is blown away

like wisps of cobweb soft;

have mercy when I sink

and bear me, Lord, aloft!

Photo Essay: The Lonely Street

It's 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning, on a street that normally is clogged with traffic -- mostly people going to church. This morning is different. So quiet I can hear the quibble of finches and the brittle booming of woodpeckers. I stand on the sidewalk for twenty minutes, and this is all I see.

So then I walk back to my patio.

Photo Essay: Chimneys.

On this day of fasting

Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.
Helaman 3:35

On this day of fasting, we

ask in all humility

for thy gracious kindly aid

as through sorrow we do wade.

Earth is wracked with new disease;

nothing will it much appease.

Master of all life and death,

we need both bread and daily breath.

Our hearts we yield in fasting to

whatever thou shall say and do.

Have mercy, Lord; stretch out thy palm

to rescue us with healing balm!