Something for Sunday

image from hannah

I have a few scriptures to share with you. You know, since it's Sunday. This might be a little bit dense but I don't have the energy to make it all flowy and literate. (neither of those words make any sense) So I'm mostly just going to post the text because I have been thinking about these verses a lot lately.

I haven't been to church in 2 months but I went back today. It was nice. It was tiring and I fell asleep on the couch almost as soon as I got home. (only to be awoken after about 2 minutes.) But it was still nice. I did kind of think to myself about halfway through singing time that maybe I should have given myself a few more weeks. Ah well. Truth be told that while I usually napped while everyone else was at church, as the weeks went on I often got a second wind once everyone left. I spent more time watching lame '90s movies on Netflix than I should have. (examples include Center Stage, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Where the Heart Is...)

Anyway I have not really been that great at studying the scriptures either but I try to keep them on the table so that I can read a few verses during breakfast. I ran across Matthew 24: 6, 19 when I was pregnant. I was kind of at the height of my prenatal anxiety/blues and really having a hard time keeping it together/acting like a normal person. Verse 6:

6And ye shall hear of ^awars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not ^btroubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

The wars and rumours of wars part didn't apply to my situation but I loved the part about how all these things (whatever they may be for each individual person) must come to pass but it's not the end of the world or anything. A few moments later I read:

19And ^awoe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

which made me laugh a lot and think to myself that God has a sense of humor. Not that he was kidding around or anything in that verse (he was not) but the contextual irony struck me as funny. Reading that snapped me out of my doldrums that day and I like to think it was intentional.

A few weeks after Lars was born, I came across this little ditty: Mosiah 24:12-15. These verses are about a group of people who were enslaved and abused. Not so much my situation but I really, really loved the part about how God returned their prayers and faith with increased strength to get up and face each day and survive each challenge and trial. I have felt this specific kind of love so many times over the past months.

12And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their ^ahearts to him; and he did know the ^bthoughts of their hearts.

13And it ^acame to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

14And I will also ease the ^aburdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as^bwitnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their ^cafflictions.

15And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did^astrengthen them that they could bear up their ^bburdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with ^cpatience to all the will of the Lord.

And an old favorite, the poet Isaiah. How amazing is Isaiah? I just opened to this one a few days ago while eating breakfast: Isaiah 40:11, 28-31. Another reference to mothers which, this time, touched my heart.

11He shall feed his ^aflock like a ^bshepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

A few verses later is a psalm declaring the same sentiments from Mosiah 24. I don't know how much of this is too much to share or turning into a Sunday School lesson but I just really love these lines, especially when I am feeling so...so...tired...

28¶Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the^aeverlasting God, the Lord, the ^bCreator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no ^csearching of his understanding.

29He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

31But they that ^await upon the Lord shall ^brenew their ^cstrength; they shall mount up with wings as ^deagles; they shall ^erun, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Finally, I have been reminding myself lately of this scene of Christ visiting with the people of Nephi: 3 Nephi 17:19-23. Theo is kind of a handful these days. He needs attention from me that I don't feel like I have energy to give. I get so frustrated with him and then I have these guilty "Cat's in the Cradle" type moments where I think about someday when he might not want me around. Thinking about what a blessing Theo is helps me treat him accordingly.

19And it came to pass that Jesus spake unto them, and bade them arise.

20And they arose from the earth, and he said unto them: Blessed are ye because of your faith. And ^anow behold, my joy is full.

21And when he had said these words, he ^awept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and ^bblessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

22And when he had done this he wept again;

23And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones.

Thanks for listening.