I was one of the oldest 12-year-olds you would have ever met. When they talk about people who have been “around the block a time or two,” I had been around the whole city, almost literally.

The reason wrong is wrong is because it hurts people including yourself.

I wish I knew how to create an environment where young people with dark thoughts feel like they can talk them over with people who can help them. How much violence could we prevent is we were more open and young people felt they could trust us? How much pain could we soothe if young people who have experienced abuse felt they could tell us about it?

…I don’t really get depressed much. I like life, even with its bad memories. I think in that moment, it was just a realization that I was getting too old to really have the kind of Christmas excitement I had when I was a child.

The glass of water analogy falls apart for me because whether you look at is half full or half empty, it still contains water and air, and we need both. I’m addicted to both. Can’t seem to get enough of either.

My concern is for those who are still in the throes of trying to reconcile their feelings with the teachings of the Church. It is also for those who are the parents, family, and friends of those who experience same-sex attraction. How long can a person go on feeling abandoned and disconnected before they choose the only path that seems to hold out a sense of belonging and connection? How long can you endure silence of one influence before you open your mind to others?

[The] parable tells us that God has forgiven us a vast fortune of misdeeds and it behooves us to forgive all of those who owe us very little by comparison. I know that in my life, I owe God infinitely more than anyone owes me.

One of my favorite movies, and an annual viewing tradition for me, is A Christmas Carol, many versions. I don’t feel like Christmas is complete unless I’ve watched the version with Alistair Sim as Scrooge and the musical version starring Albert Finney. I like other versions as well, but I always feel like I must […]

I’ve had my share, and maybe more, of members who are so assured of their own righteousness that they see nothing wrong with trying to wrench me from my testimony. I marvel at whatever thought processes might lead a person in authority to treat one of their flock as a wolf. I’m fortunate to be […]

It has been a rough couple of weeks for me, but it began over a year ago. I wrote about it on another post on another blog, Thud and Blood. The short version is that I went ATVing on some trails near Sandy, Oregon and wound up face down in the dirt with my leg […]

Few things are more destructive to healthy living than envy. Envy seems such a general thing that it’s hard to apply to it the usual Latter-day Saint cultural assignations of seriousness. You know what I mean. We like to know how much more serious one sin is than another. 5 people like this post. Like […]

Picture it! Fast and testimony meeting May 2010 in my ward. I direct the music each week, so I’m sitting on the stand. I tell myself I’m not bearing my testimony again. I do it each month it seems. I’m just sitting back. My knee hurts from a fall I took earlier in the week, […]

I was sexually and physically abused as a child. It is something that has always been difficult to bear. It happened over a period of several years and only ended when the abuser moved away from the area where I lived. Be the first to like. Like Unlike

Warning: If you are triggered or otherwise bothered by frank discussions about childhood sexual abuse, pass this post by.   Nothing annoys me more than being told I can’t talk. Being talked over or any other form of suppressing my self-expression has the same negative effect on me. I recently cam to understand not only […]

We all remember the story of the three little pigs, don’t we? They were being stalked by the big, bad wolf and each little pig built himself a house to keep the wolf out. The first one built his house out of straw. The wolf blew it over with a breath. The second one built […]