Seeing the Forest in the Trees: The Sacred Invitation of the Temple

Several years ago, I knew a man who said that he had mastered the temple endowment. I was intrigued. He claimed that he could sit down and sleep for an entire session with only minor interruptions. That … Read more

Bringing Compassion to Parenting

Since I consider the book Between Parent and Child by Haim Ginott to be a masterwork of empathetic, yet disciplined child raising, I was delighted when Haim’s widow, Alice Ginott, gave me her approval to update and … Read more

The Core Doctrine of the Book of Mormon

There are unnumbered treasures in the Book of Mormon! In 2005, I published a series of thirteen articles about the ways that great book of scripture acts as a latter-day corrective—from teaching us about such subjects as … Read more

God’s Trophies

Quite often something that is almost too good to be true. A sunset. A field of wildflowers. A starry night. A delectable peach.

Over the years, when we ran into a wonder of nature that shocked us … Read more

Life is Perfect

Why do I react so strongly to such trivial things?

My usually reliable ball-point pen was not working. I scribbled circles on scratch paper to get it warmed up. I tried again. Still spotty. I checked the … Read more

The Refugee Surprise

I was reluctant at first. Nancy and I were glad to have become involved with a local agency that assists refugees. But when the agency asked Nancy and me to take a Syrian refugee girl to her piano … Read more

Looking at Our Marriages from God’s Perspective

How would you define the purposes of marriage? Love and companionship? Stability? Building a family? Social expectations? There are a lot of reasons people marry and, more often than not, we haven’t thought about them very much … Read more

The Problem with Praying for What We Want

“Don’t you believe in miracles? Why should we pray at all if we can’t get miracles?” An earnest Latter-day Saint pressed me for answers about her friend’s looming family disaster.

“We don’t pray just to get what … Read more

King Benjamin’s Timeless Message to Us

As we depart childhood and enter adulthood, we start to feel more self-sufficient. We can drive a car, sustain a career, and raise a family. We are adults. If we are not careful, we may think that … Read more

Our Gospel is NOT as Good as His

The Book of Mormon tells of Enos fervently calling upon God in prayer for his soul. As a result, he heard the voice of God telling him that his sins were forgiven, and he would be blessed.… Read more