Thoughts and stories, by Pal

 I hope this may help any of you with worries about dear ones losing their faith!  I have some of my own children with that problem. Correspondence with Those in Faith Crisis By  Richard Eyre  · March 17, 2023 Editor’s Note:  This is the third of four Meridian articles by Richard Eyre on Faith Crisis in Families.  The fourth article will be published later this month. Recently, I have been writing to and speaking with several Church members who say they are having a Faith Crisis; and with parents whose children are losing their faith and leaving the Church. This article combines and condenses these discussions with several different people into one “person.” Jessica “Jessica” is a mom, a wife, a therapist, and describes herself as “a faithful follower who finally examined her beliefs and found she didn’t really believe them.”  Her new direction was triggered by a gay friend who she felt was offended and mistreated by the Church.  Jessica says, in ...

  A nice change, after all the political stuff!  Let's get back to basics! How Well Do You Listen — REALLY Listen? By  Rodger Dean Duncan  · November 4, 2020 To read more from Rodger, visit  HIS BLOG . No one on his deathbed ever said “I wish I’d spent more time at the office.” Don’t get me wrong. Work is a wonderful thing. It can be very fulfilling and can provide meaningful service to others. But personal relationships are the most important things in our lives. It’s through relationships with others that we learn about ourselves, about how to make choices, how to self-correct, how to grow and develop, how to contribute to the human community, how to turn dreams into reality. And listening is the most important  behavior in those relationships.  Really  listening. This requires using your eyes and your heart as well as your ears. Effective people listen to learn and understand rather than to rebut and overpower. They exercise influence rather t...

This is a touching story.  I hope we can each do something, probably small, to lighten someone else's day today! How A Simple Styrofoam Cooler Changed a Family and a Village By  Becky Douglas  · June 9, 2020 To see how you can help with the efforts of Rising Star Outreach,  CLICK HERE . On a recent phone call with our Chairman in India, Padma Venkataraman, she mentioned that she had a surprise photo for me. She told me I probably wouldn’t believe she had taken it this week. She sent the following photo, and she was right—I could hardly believe it. Sixteen years ago, a terrible tsunami hit the Indian Ocean killing nearly 250,000 people across several countries. Rising Star Outreach jumped in immediately with tsunami relief. We replaced destroyed fishing boats and fishing nets for kuppams, (fishing villages,) which were the hardest hit segment of the society in India. With new boats and the replaced nets, the kuppams were able to r...

The thoughts in this article are very perceptive.  I enjoyed reading and thinking about it! Epiphany: How to “Un-Judge” Your Neighbor By  Anne Hinton Pratt  · October 23, 2019 Sign up for Meridian’s Free Newsletter, please  CLICK HERE We’re all in this earthly school trying our best to learn to be like God. There are times in our lives when a lesson hits us squarely in the face, and we begin to see things from a different and enlarged perspective. That happened to me, and I’d like to share the amazing, elevating things I learned: Spiritual Jolt Years ago, I was in a church meeting with my husband, and noticed that he kept nodding off. This wasn’t new. In fact, it happened quite often. This particular Sunday though, my self-righteous self raised its ugly head and I felt indignation that he could allow himself to do this.  I didn’t buy into the “I’m just resting my eyes” story. I nudged him several times to wake up, and privately f...

It's been a very busy week.  I started out by practicing most of the day Monday with a high school choir for their concert which was to be in 3 days -- Wednesday, October 24th!  Their usual pianist had a young daughter who had to go unexpectedly to Primary Children's Hospital, and she couldn't play for them.  So I rely on lovely thoughts like this on those busy days.  I love to collect inspirational and wise thoughts.  Hopefully when my life gets stressful I can remember them!   Here is a beautiful fall picture to just look at, and enjoy! Latter Day Light DAILY DEVOTIONAL October 13, 2018 Power of Love SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY Moroni 7:48 "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we ...