Polaroid picture

 I’m finding the stress of my life cutting into my sleep. I seem to sleep long enough, but I can tell when I wake that I’ve been worrying about my responsibilities all night long.

With no school-aged children at home I often don’t follow weather forecasts. This morning I awoke before six a.m. vexed by a complicated issue. I got up to work on it on my laptop and when I glanced outside after about a half hour, something magical happened.

When I was a little girl I received a Polaroid camera for Christmas. (My granddaughter has a camera with the same technology.) I would take a picture and pull the seemingly blank photo paper from the camera. As I watched, a dim image in black and white would appear and details slowly sharpen before my eyes.

That’s what happened to me this morning. When I sat down at my desk, all seemed the same as yesterday. but at some point I turned my head to glance outside and realized the car seemed different. Peering down at the pre-dawn yard, I saw a blanket of white on my car. Over the next hour, each time I glanced out details of the scene deepened and sharpened into a wintry landscape. In the windless air a dusting of snow covered every maple twig. Since our coachhouse is white with grey trim, my west window framed an old black and white photo with a touch of dull brick in the Greeley Village apartments beyond and to the south a tinge of dusty pink at the office condos peeked through the branches.

David A. Bednar, an apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke of "the tender mercies of the Lord," small blessings that we can learn to recognize and appreciate in our daily lives. As I sit here, wondering at the beauty that developed before my eyes this morning, it truly is a tender mercy. The stresses remain, the challenges abound, but there is beauty to be seen if I just lift my head and look.

Drinking from a firehose

 I just got back from a religion class at our chapel. (Adult religion classes offered during the week are called “Institute.”)

It was inspirational and reminded me of my one experience with BYU Education Week back in 1993. Brigham Young University opens its campus each year for a week between spring and summer semester. BYU professors and others offer free classes and lectures on a huge variety of subjects. I saw Stephen Covey give a lecture on Joseph Smith, using the same paradigm as he uses in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I attended a college-level art history class. (I’ve often regretted not taking one as an undergrad.) I literally ran from one venue to the next, 'drinking from a fire hose,’ to borrow the metaphor a speaker in the opening meeting in the Marriott Center used. And today I had another sip.

Shauna Seamons is generously sharing her wealth of knowledge and deep understanding of the restored gospel. The topic for this semester is “Temple Text in the Scriptures.” I’ve always been fascinated by the idea that our temple experience can be enriched by a deeper understanding of temple references in the scriptures. (For me as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, these are the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.)

Shauna has been a religion teacher for over twenty years and I was blown away both by the content of her lesson and her teaching style. I decided at the last minute to bring a new notebook. (With my hand tremor my handwriting is sometimes illegible, especially in public.) I’m so glad I did. My left hand behaved itself admirably and now I have notes to refer to as I study this week.

I love taking classes and expanding my horizons. Thank you, Shauna! And thank you to all the women who came out on a winter Tuesday morning to share in the class and contribute to my day.