little winky bean

what a ham bone. so grateful for miss sassy pants. i was teaching the lesson inn YW today and was finishing up preparation for it this morning. it was on the sacrament, and while i don't teach regularly i am always prayerful that someone will gain something from whatever i end up saying. i asked specifically that i could feel the spirit and be able to ponder quietly as it was passed, something that has been hard to do with claire. but miracle of miracles she sat quietly, folded her arms during the prayers, and she drank the water instead of pushing it away and spilling it. so nice to close my eyes for a moment and meditate with my arms wrapped around my bub-a-chub. i though a lot about this quote from our lesson. i totally lost it while it was being read, but i think its worth sharing. kinda long- but worth the read:

“Our Father in heaven … loved his Son, Jesus Christ, better than Abraham ever loved Isaac, for our Father had with him his Son, our Redeemer, in the eternal worlds, faithful and true for ages, standing in a place of trust and honor, and the Father loved him dearly, and yet he allowed this well-beloved Son to descend from his place of glory and honor, where millions did him homage, down to the earth, condescension that is not within the power of man to conceive. He came to receive the insult, the abuse, and the crown of thorns. God heard the cry of his Son in that moment of great grief and agony, in the garden when, it is said, the pores of his body opened and drops of blood stood upon him, and he cried out: ‘Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me.’ …

“… His Father looked on with great grief and agony over his Beloved Son, until there seems to have come a moment when even our Savior cried out in despair, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’

“In that hour I think I can see our dear Father behind the veil looking upon these dying struggles until even he could not endure it any longer; and, like the mother who bids farewell to her dying child, has to be taken out of the room, so as not to look upon the last struggles, so he bowed his head, and hid in some part of his universe, his great heart almost breaking for the love that he had for his Son. Oh, in that moment when he might have saved his Son, I thank him and praise him that he did not fail us, for he had not only the love of his Son in mind, but he also had love for us. I rejoice that he did not interfere, and that his love for us made it possible for him to endure to look upon the sufferings of his Son and give him finally to us, our Savior and our Redeemer. Without him, without his sacrifice, we would have remained, and we would never have come glorified into his presence. And so this is what it cost, in part, for our Father in Heaven to give the gift of his Son unto men”

that was from Melvin J. Ballard, and i really loved it. hope you do, too.

anyways, happy fourth of july! we pretty much did nothing to celebrate, but maybe we'll do something tomorrow? i love the fourth but i don't do crowds and tons of crazy people very often. it was a typical mad house in provo yesterday by six, and i just didn't want to deal with it. i'd rather relax and just hang out with people i like :) and last night was just me and claire, but i totally loved it so its all good. hope your weekend was as good as ours!