TO WALK THROUGH THIS NIGHT

Surely this heavy grief I cannot bear -
And yet it will not lift its' weight from me,
Nor can I now reach back to summers where
The days hang warm and ripe in memory.
If by my will I could just sink and die,
I would - a sunless future chills me so!
My small faith quavers, crying to deny,
The very God I prayed, childlike to know.
But death has not been given to me to choose,
And there is no backward path to Eden's gate
And standing numb - or railing - is no use,
No matter how unbearable the weight.
Like Abraham, like Job, like The One Light
To find the dawn I must walk through this night.

- Tamara J. Hinkley

IN GOD'S IMAGE

An old rabbi once said that every man ought to carry two pieces of paper in his pocket. In times of self-satisfaction and complacency he should read the one that says: "I am dust and ashes". When dejected and dispirited he should read the other that says: "For my sake was the world created". And at all times he should remember: "I am made from the dust but it is in God's image I am made".

- Author unknown

TIME AND ETERNITY

'T was just this time last year I died
 I know I heard the corn,
When I was carried by the farms -
 It had the tassels on.

I thought how yellow it would look
When Richard went to mill;
And then I wanted to get out,
 But something held my will.

I thought just how red apples wedged
The stubble's joints between:
And carts went stooping round the fields
To take the pumpkins in.

I wondered which would miss me least,
And when Thanksgiving come,
If father'd multiply the plates
To make an even sum.

And if my stocking hung too high,
Would it blur the Christmas glee,
That not a Santa Claus could reach
The altitude of me?

But this sort grieved myself, and so
I thought how it would be
When just this time, some perfect year
Themselves should come to me.

- Emily Dickinson

YOUR LONGING FOR FAMILY JOY

"I promise you that you can experience the fulfillment of your desire for eternal love, if you really want it, so long as you don't want anything else more. I pray that you will do the work required to fulfill your family dream. The longing of the heart for this fulness is a central vision of the gospel. It is also a source of great power, especially on those cloudy days, or years, when your dreams seem impossible. Even when love wounds you, that's because love matters so much. The deep hurt is the mirror image of the deep joy that still awaits you. Your longing to belong forever to a loving family comes from God, and He has promised its fulfillment, if you are faithful: "For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness" (Psalm 107:9). I know His promise is sure."
(Elder Bruce C. Hafen, "Your Longing For Family Joy",  Ensign October 2003, p 28-33)

FOR THE ONE

"For many years I thought of the Saviour's experience in the garden and on the cross as places where a large mass of sin was heaped upon Him. Through the words of Alma, Abinadi, Isaiah, and other prophets, however, my view has changed. Instead of an impersonal mass of sin, there was a long line of people, as Jesus felt 'our infirmities', bore our griefs....carried our sorrows...and was bruised for our iniquities....He learned about your weaknesses and mine. He experienced your pains and sufferings. He experienced mine. I testify that He knows us. He understand the way in which we deal with temptations. He knows our weaknesses, But more than that, more than just knowing us, He knows how to help us if we come to Him in faith." (Merrill J. Bateman, "A Pattern for All", Ensign, Nov. 2005, p 74)

HUNGRY FIRES OF COURAGE

They cut desire into short lengths
And fed it to the hungry fires of courage.
Long after, when the flames had died
Molten gold gleamed in the ashes.
They gathered it into bruised palms
And handed it to their children
And their children's children forever.

- Vilate C. Raile

WHERE THE GREAT ONES ARE

I'm tired of sailing my little boat
Far inside of the harbour bar;

I want to be out where the big ships float -
Out on the deep, where the great ones are!

And should my frail craft prove too slight
For storms that sweep those wide seas o'er;

I'd rather go down in the stirring fight
Than drowse to death by the sheltered shore!

- Daisy Rhinehart