My Frivolous Ways

When I was young my mother said/frivolity's the thing to dread/
Embezzle funds when short on cash/but levity is way too rash/
It is okay to gild the lily/just never ever be caught silly/
And so I learned to always stifle/tendencies to flirt with trifle/
But now the world is marking time/and flummery is called divine/
Those who fribble day and night/are pegged as heroes in the fight/
Fame and fortune come to nuzzle/those who work the crossword puzzle/
So I will play at tiddlywinks/and be revered like some old sphinx!

Photo Essay: Zen Stones. Vol. 3

A stone has 

more patience

than weight.

A stone doesn't care

if it's on the earth

or on the moon.

A stone gives

little

but takes nothing.

An empty stone.

A hollow shadow.

This is all we know.

Sorrow

is the memory

of a stone.

Postcards to my President

Food and raiment

He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.
Deuteronomy 10:18

The world cares not who comes to grief,

and rarely offers real relief.

The stranger at our door remains

too often in cruel hardship's chains.

Help me, O Lord, to show real zest

in treating strangers as my guest.

Remind me, in this world of sorrow,

I'm up today -- but down tomorrow!

Photo Essay: Zen Stones Vol. 2

A stone

will neither lead

nor follow.

A stone has 

no reputation.

Lucky stone.

A stone cares

for nothing

and everything.

Not every stone

is a rock.

A stone

lives in no moment

but in time.

A stone 

without distractions

becomes a mountain.

Photo Essay: Zen Stones. Vol 1.

A stone

has no heart

made of stone.

Stained

by water.

Unmoved

by time.

What a profound thing

to exist at the 

same time as this stone.

I always get igneous

and ingenious 

mixed up.

Stone,

how tiresome

to be you.

Every stone

is less each day

and more each year.

The Spirit of Contention

For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.
3 Nephi 11:29

I mean to start this day in peace,

and so I pray a boon

that spirits of contention

will stay farther than the moon.

I want no truck with predications

that inflame the mind;

give to me, I pray it, Lord,

forbearance for mankind.

Give me the will to love and laugh,

not rant at what I hear --

so devils will grow bored with me

and angels draw me near.

Photo Essay: Grass.

Part of our sacred history

"When plans are announced to erect a new temple, it becomes part of our sacred history."
President Russell M. Nelson

With our hands we temples build,

as the Lord of Hosts has willed.

He it is that has ordained

all the dead must be unchained

and be given their own choice

whether to hear God's own voice

in the afterlife and be

saved for all eternity.

In the temples work proceeds

for those past all earthly deeds;

fam'lies welded link by link,

till we've filled in ev'ry chink

and the shattered bonds we share

once again are clean and fair!

We further witness

"We further witness that Joseph Smith was given the gift and power of God to translate an ancient record: the Book of Mormon—Another Testament of Jesus Christ . . . It teaches of life’s purpose and explains the doctrine of Christ, which is central to that purpose."
from The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: A Bicentennial Proclamation to the World.

At the center, at the core,

Jesus Christ will reign once more.

When this foolish world awakes

and rejects the fads and fakes.

When his doctrine floods the earth,

all mankind will have new birth.

Accept the Book of Mormon, friend,

to learn how joy may never end!