And God came to me and shewed me
a boat on troubled waters.
“Shall you stretch forth your hand
to steady the vessel before it founders?”
“I shall,” I said, and took the boat
in my hand and removed it from danger.
I was a blessed child. I had a grandmother who loved me and who showed it. Her name was Ruth Alice Bird Harper Lewis, and as grand mothers go, she was a rare and wonderful…
The ancient Chinese curse has plainly caught up with the LDS church over the past decade—never have the Saints lived in more interesting times. The recent whirlwind of world political changes has opened up mission fields undreamed of only a few years ago, faster almost than we can respond. It has also made us the target of anti-American sentiment and violence. Yet, in spite of all, church membership has now reached nine million.
He was folding garments in the back bedroom
when he heard one of his kids telling
his wife that his ex had “lost a lot of weight”—
At age sixty-eight I have lived long enough to know some of the sorrows of this life. More than once I have cried out with the Psalmist: “Out of the depths I cry unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice!”
In writing these thoughts, I am documenting the abandonment of a theological philosophy that has been a central, if somewhat beleaguered, feature of my faith. The decision to abandon the traditions of my heritage was…
of course a two-inch badger
carved from liver-colored stone
with arrows bound to his back,
could not make the difference.
I remember well the first time I met Wallace Stegner because I wanted so much to prove him wrong.
In the fall of 1948 I began my career as a teacher of history at Brigham Young University and continued there until I resigned in the spring of 1954. During those six years I was…
The blue ice is melting
off the high ridge,
draining down through the trees.
The blade of rock darkens in the sun.