Grace to You

 

Grace to you...and peace
Come of the Father and the Son
May their love in you increase
And warm you as the sun

Whether we meet again here

Or in the next life

Grace to you and peace

In love and in Light

Act in a way

That aligns you with faith

In all you say

Preach that God is your strength

Fill your interactions

With forgiveness and love

With reconciliation

From hatred rise above

I love the love I feel reading this:

thoughts from Philemon

Modeling Love as a Family of Faiths

 

We make the world a better place

Where citizens can flourish

When we enjoy religious faith

And fill our spirits, nourished

With love, always encouraged

Knowing what it does for me😊

And my fellow Saints in Christ ❤

I wish for all that dignity

Of gathering where it feels right ✅️

For this goal, may we more unite:

...modeling love that grows in light

Let's not talk at, but to each other

Seeing the good and listening well

As a family of faiths, sisters and brothers

That but more, the love of God can swell

I love when Elder Nash said "talk to each other, not at each other!"

Elder Marcus B. Nash of the Presidency of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints told hundreds of global faith leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., on Monday, February 2, 2026, that protecting religious freedom will help nations flourish. 

“There’s a mountain of evidence that shows the power of religious freedom in building families, communities and nations,” Elder Nash told hundreds of faith leaders attending the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit during a Church-sponsored luncheon. He also joined a panel discussion led by Baptist pastor Bob Roberts Jr. of the Multi-Faith Neighbors Network, which was held on stage at the Global Faith Forum. 

More than 90 organizations representing 30 faith traditions gathered at the Washington Hilton for the two-day annual event to discuss how to advance international religious freedom. Learn more at Newsroom.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

https://youtu.be/hO7gE7xQtLA?si=TK0bpyBaRcjfwS1U

[Verse 1] We make the world a better place Where citizens can flourish When we enjoy religious faith And fill our spirits, nourished With love, always encouraged Knowing what it does for me And my fellow Saints in Christ I wish for all that dignity [Pre-Chorus] Of gathering where it feels right For this goal, may we more unite Let's not talk at, but to each other Seeing the good and listening well [Chorus] Modeling love that grows in light Modeling love that grows in light As a family of faiths We rise and hold it right Modeling love that grows in light [Verse 2] Sisters and brothers side by side Different prayers, one table Hands that open, hearts that stay Kindness made more stable What I give returns to me In a blessing I can feel Every soul deserves that peace Every wound deserves to heal [Pre-Chorus] Of gathering where it feels right For this goal, may we more unite Let's not talk at, but to each other Seeing the good and listening well [Chorus] Modeling love that grows in light Modeling love that grows in light As a family of faiths We rise and hold it right Modeling love that grows in light [Bridge] That but more, the love of God can swell In the room, in the living well When we choose to bless instead of bruise We make a holy path for you [Final Chorus] Modeling love that grows in light Modeling love that grows in light As a family of faiths We rise and hold it right Modeling love that grows in light

The Case of Religious Freedom

 “The Case of Religious Freedom”

Religious freedom
Is an universal right
All being of God's kingdom
We are in need of His light

Hope, purpose, compassion
Aspirations, and motives
Bloom beautifully with passion
When we're in the light that God gives

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/case-religious-freedom

Earlier this month in Rome, Harvard professor Mary Ann Glendon made a bold case for religious freedom, saying it “goes to the very heart of what it means to be human.”

Professor Glendon was speaking at an international conference titled “Universal Rights in a World of Diversity: The Case for Religious Freedom.” It is a “universal right” precisely because religious freedom is so central to being human and to sustaining free and just societies.

[Verse 1] Religious freedom Is an universal right All being of God's kingdom We are in need of His light Hope, purpose, compassion In the morning of our souls You meet us in the silence And You make the broken whole [Pre-Chorus] When the shadows start to gather When our hands are tired and small You are calling us together You are Lord above it all [Chorus] Religious freedom Let it rise, let it rise Religious freedom In the light of God Religious freedom We stand side by side When we're in the light That God gives [Verse 2] Aspirations, and motives Bloom beautifully with passion When mercy meets our footsteps We move with holy action Teach us how to listen Teach us how to stay and see Every heart is precious Every soul can be made free [Pre-Chorus] When the shadows start to gather When our hands are tired and small You are calling us together You are Lord above it all [Chorus] Religious freedom Let it rise, let it rise Religious freedom In the light of God Religious freedom We stand side by side When we're in the light That God gives [Bridge] Bring Your peace to every table Bring Your justice to the land Let the weary find a home here Let the hurting understand One house, one hope, one Savior One flame we cannot hide We belong to one another In the light that God provides [Chorus] Religious freedom Let it rise, let it rise Religious freedom In the light of God Religious freedom We stand side by side When we're in the light That God gives [Outro] When we're in the light That God gives

Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon

 

The Book of Mormon is the instrument
Designed by God to sweep all of the earth.
With a flood to gather out His elect
This sacred volume moves His gospel work

We need to daily read from these scriptures
It should be central in all that we preach
And not just when it rotates every four years
To learn of Jesus of whom it does teach

This Book will help man get nearer to God
If we'd learn and abide by its precepts
We testify as we hold to the rod
Never doubting a far reaching effect

The Book of Mormon is the mind of God
Here He voices to all men of His will
We must arouse men's interest and awe
It answers questions with a voice that's still

May we display it at home and at work
And display its quotes and scenes on our walls
As we hold to the rod, let no man shirk
To witness, every member has been called

I have a vision of homes alerted
Of classes alive and pulpits aflame
As the characters are richly painted
So too artists will depict the themes named

I have a vision of missionaries
Who take many passages they've memorized
Into a world that desperately needs it
As God lifts what condemnation's denied

-Ezra Taft Benson

https://x.com/PeacemakingSt/status/2049191439062720932?s=20

Doorway of Love

 

Sins never tire
They ever cross the wires
Shades of Sodom...
The dregs at the bottom
Has Pandora
Yet glimpsed at Gomorrah?
Our wicked world
Screams loud and insults hurl
Each sordid fact
Exposes evil stacked
They've Light so dim
From all their sins within

Must we suffer
The twin cities' fate here
Where ill is bred
Without balm in Gilead?
Are there lovers
Of God or of pleasures?
From old Noah
Were great lessons not taught?
This time it's sin
That the world's flooded in
And what does reign?
Unholiness and pain

Where's the doorway?
Hurry, find it I pray
Where the Lord stands
Waiting with knocking hands
Written above
Reads: The Doorway of Love
It's on high ground
That our dear Savior's found
And as you near
There's echoes you can hear
"Open the door
You are, who I knock for "

Love causes change
As our lives rearrange
Love has its price
It requires we're nice
And God loves us
So He gave us Jesus
The great teacher
To love one another
He also taught
Of higher laws of thought
To understand
where love can best expand

Love's not like weeds
That spreads from wind and seeds
Love's not like rain
Dripping where e'er it came
Love can perish
When it is not cherished
So, we have Christ
Who has paid a high price
He loves each one
For us, His work was done
For each person
He bore sin's hard ransom

Little children
Can learn the Lord's lesson
"If you love me
Do as I'm commanding
As I love you
Now, love each other too"
Where's our haven?
Our safe place to live in?
It's where honor
And loving symbols are
Where contention
Has no place to station

God's found in love
As blessings from above
Where there's virtue
His love resides there, too
It's apparent
We've premortal parents
Heav'nly Father
And our Heav'nly Mother
And when love's gone
The sobbings of those wronged
Ascend up high
Against those who've shown pride

Our happiness
Hinges on righteousness
The path to joy
Comes to each girl and boy
With faithfulness
We'll press on t'wards fullness
Let there be peace
May it begin with me
A soft pillow
Helps those whose lives are low
This we'll not know
Unless our hearts do grow

Vagrants asleep
Are in need of watch keep
What can be done
In the name of the Son?
To those hungry
May our compassion be
A sparrow falls
The Savior hears its calls
He sees service
He knows concern's purpose
All love imparts
Catalysts for big hearts

Those who show care
Are often more aware
That violence
Does not cry of strength
Yet, compassion
Cries with Christ-like passion
What's of value?
Our last gifts of adieu?
This mom's locked box
T'would only hold small rocks
As she'd nothing
Why bother opening...

As though treasure
Photos of past pleasure
A young couple's
Sealing date ink bejeweled
And last inside
A child's note, "I love you"
Hearts were tender
Voices soft, eyes moister
Louis's note
A Valentines he'd wrote.
A locked box viewed
With a new attitude

We see Christ's love
Reflected in true love
At Christmas time
One finds people are kind
You can hear it
As you believe in it
You can see it
And anticipate it
You can feel it
As you grandly share it
It's yours to own
But, never just alone

Twas years ago
A class was troubled so
What could be done?
The solution, but one
The problem child
With love, must become mild
She confessed
She asked him, and was blessed
And now the boy
Became her greatest joy
And, aged, she still knew him
Through her gaze became blank and dim

In her nineties
She'd not eat... her fork teased
She knew no one
And not a word she spoke
When lunch ended
And... the words one-sided
He stood to leave
And you would not believe
He said "God Bless "
And she- "Why you're Thomas!"
She kissed his hand
Love... passed the aging sand

"How I love you,"
She said. There were tears, too-
On hands bestowed.
Now, those hands were hallowed
The air was cool
Outside the sky was blue
An azure blue
The snow was white
A crystal white
The words of the Master
Were felt deeper
"Woman, behold thy son!"
As she'd beheld this one

A wondrous gift
Graced by God was given
Heavenly blessings
Were there for receiving
At a doorway
Patiently, He'll await
Till... us He hears
And with love... Christ enters
Through a doorway
That's opened... with our faith
Through a doorway
Of love... where all is okay

This poem is best understood
if read after reading Monson's talk
Thomas S. Monson
The Doorway of Love
Ensign, Oct 1996, 2

Out of the Mouth of Babes

 

Calling out the gold

In a family setting

Can never grow old...

Worth? We are not forgetting!

Even as a church family....

In a classroom...

The work place...

We all need to to look for the gems in others!

then out of the mouth

of God's little ones

comes words that astound 

From where do these words come?

They so fresh from Heaven

Perhaps still carry some light

To the innocent given

to give us some insight

Great video!

https://youtube.com/shorts/Kuv_XdbOpcI?si=PD0FND-f2L6NRTlb

The Prayer Doesn't End at Amen

 

Pour out your whole heart, 

Fully, in prayer to God

Asking His answer to impart

Give Him all you've got

When you say, "Amen."

Prayers are not done

Yes, in the right time

Answers will come

You can't tell God 

How and when

Keep praying 

Yes, often

Always be ready

It will wash over you

And flood you with love

For strength. You know anew

Feeling His Spirit 

Is a bright gift from Him

You pray.  He hears it

And sends love from Heaven

I don't know why, but I love to see the shape of poems.  This one is beautiful!

https://youtube.com/shorts/5FRk70e-xsY?si=DkHvRqAqTlv8-Kno

Elder D. Todd Christofferson speaks about praying in the Sacred Grove and waiting for an answer. It wasn't until later that his prayer was answered. He says he learned to always be ready for an answer to a prayer. I love that he said it flooded over him. Feeling the Spirit is Heaven's gift to us. It is so filled with love!  ❤️