It's the Truth

We often consider ourselves more or less worthless and in some moods, even beyond help, and we approach the sacrament hesitantly and superficially. But worse still. We do not trust the good news. We do not trust the glad tidings. This is the Christ. This is He who pleads with us to come boldly to the throne of Grace. He knows our past and our future, and whatever our present soul sicknesses, He knows who we were in the premortal spheres and he does envision our future. In contrast to that, we live in the blur of amnesia about our past and we're subject to fits of doubt and disbelief about our real potential. But hear these words of Elder George Q. Cannon: "Now," he says, "this is the truth. We humble people, we who feel ourselves sometimes so worthless—so good for nothing. We are not so worthless as we think. There is not one of us but what God's love has been expended upon. There is not one of us that He has not cared for and caressed. There is not one of us that He has not desired to save and that he has not devised means to save. There is not one of us that He has not given his angels charge concerning. We may be insignificant and contemptible in our own eyes, and even in the eyes of others, but the truth remains that we are children of God and He has actually given his angels charge concerning us and they watch over us and have us in their keeping."

In His sacrament, the Lord gives us glimpses of ourselves. And in self-examination we are most blessed when we see ourselves as we are seen by Him and know ourselves as we are known by Him. In this world, we do not really grasp who we are until we know whose we are. And week after week the Master invites us to take upon us His name so that we will never forget whose we are. We are His.

Truman G Madsen, "The Savior, the Sacrament and Self-worth", Women's Conference 1999

Go ahead and jump!

In March I went on a tour of the South with my mom and sis. Beginning at the top left corner: Ocmulgee Indian Mounds, near Macon, GA; Lookout Point Battlefield, Chattanooga, TN; Wormsloe Ruins, Savannah GA; the same; Folly Island, SC; Tybee Island, GA; Ocmulgee Indian Mounds; Biltmore estate, Asheville, NC; Colonial cemetery, Savannah, GA; Folly Island, SC; Lookout Point Battlefield; Magnolia Plantation, Charleston SC; center is the Chattanooga Choo Choo in TN.