Thoughts and stories, by Pal

“To whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” By  Brant Bishop  · November 30, 2022 Shortly after his beautiful bread of life sermon, many of the Savior’s disciples murmured and turned away from following him. (John 6:60-66) To most of us—born and raised in a cultural tradition that understands Jesus in light of his completed life, miracles, sacrifice, and resurrection—that sermon is a wonderful testimony of Jesus’s divine nature and saving power. But those words challenged the cultural traditions of Jesus’s day, and were a very real stumbling block to those who first heard them. After all, in asserting that he was the true and living bread sent down from heaven, Jesus was explicitly claiming to surpass in importance Moses and the miracles wrought through him. And in teaching his disciples that his flesh and blood offered them eternal life in him, just as he had life in the Father, Jesus offended the finely-honed Jewish sensibilities against blasphemy. “Many ther...

I have articles saved, and so I'm posting 2 of them today!   Trying to get caught up!       I have such respect and appreciation of Larry Barkdull, the author of this article!  He had faith in me when in 1989, when he then owned Sonos Music, (later sold to Jackman Music) he analyzed and then published some simplfied music books I had written!  The Simplified Primary Song book is still published by them.  The others are out of print.     But I want to offer to any of you who are interested -- I have PDFs of about 80 hymns and 60 Primary songs, and Christmas hymns and songs which I have simplified, and will send free to anyone who would like them -- just write to:   paralee.eckman@gmail.com    and I will send you a Table of Contents in each book and be glad to send you copies you choose which you can print out at home. The Difficult Challenge of Enduring to the End By  Larry Barkdull  · November 28, 2022 Befor...

  Merry Christmas to all you dear friends!  I have been busy and have forgotten to post here for a few weeks, and will try to be more diligent in the coming days! Last year this was post # 1366! This true story about my Christmas when I was 5 years old, is truly a favorite.  Reposted from:  #  555. A Child's Christmas Prayer Answered -- first written on December 1, 2013, on blog # 21, also # 1303 . This a true Christmas story, from my childhood. The Christmas of 1939, here in St. George, Utah, was going to be quite humble at our house. My father had been in World War I and had suffered off and on with "shell shock", which now is called Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. He had been in the Veteran's hospital in Salt Lake City during the year, and my mother, Ruth, had given birth to my sister, Mavis, on December 1st. In those days, mothers stayed down much longer with a difficult birth. My mother had been allowed to turn over in bed on the 10th day, and got up on the...

  The Incredible Power of Forgiveness By  Anne Hinton Pratt  · November 14, 2022 This earth life is all about coming down here, having painful experiences, and then choosing whether to forgive those who gave you pain.  Sometimes we don’t realize we have forgiven until a momentous experience happens. Read about these miracles of forgiveness…. Shocking Forgiveness When I was 12 or 13 years old, I was sexually harassed by a friend’s older brother. I was forced to be in a very powerless situation and was abused. Because of it, I felt absolutely enraged when I would think of that day, and that person. I distinctly remember telling someone when I was around 18: “I love everyone, except ___, and I HATE him!” I harbored wrath and ill will for many years because I hadn’t addressed it to let it go. The next few years in college, I began to change. I remember specifically asking the Lord to forgive me for all my bad feelings, and to help me lose the power of the feelings. My fo...

I got this ready almost 2 months ago, and didn't print it.  I'm doing that today! When I Thought the Church Had Failed Me By  Kim White  · August 25, 2022 The first time The Church let me down, I was just a youth. I had a longstanding difficult relationship that had advanced from “difficult” to abusive. It was severely damaging my happiness and self-esteem; I had recurrent nightmares and fantasies of self-harm, but I was too young to know what to do. So, at different times I tried to explain my situation to my bishop and youth leaders. Each time, I was dismissed or put off with platitudes and reassurances like “Sometimes people don’t get along when they’re young, but when you get older, I bet it will change.” To be fair to those leaders, in retrospect I can see that I didn’t know how to articulate the reality of my situation, and I’m not sure I gave them what they needed to know to help me. But the point is, I went to leaders in the Church for help and I didn’t get it. In...

 This article has special meaning to me!  One of the "lost sheep" of my children, and his wife, called me just 2 days ago, and we talked for 1 hour and 27 minutes!  He was searching for the group, and wanted to feel found, I feel!  It truly warmed my heart! Are you giving your black sheep a baaad rap? By  Daryl Gibson  · October 23, 2022 To read more from Daryl, visit  Parenting in the Borderlands . Sheep get no respect. Nobody wants a child to turn out to be the “lost sheep” or the “black sheep.” It’s time to take a broader look at these misunderstood mammals, and at your adult children who fit the description. You may have been wrong about both. Jesus’s Parable of the Lost Sheep is one of the shorter of his stories. The gist of it is:  What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?  (From Luke 15) I’ve always interpret...