Prairie Daydreams

It’s a fairly well known and often taught story.  The woman is caught in the act of adultery and is brought to Christ to be judged and stoned.  Christ’s response: let he who is without sin cast the first stone.  The now very uncomfortable crowd disperses leaving just Christ and the woman who He treats with love and compassion.  This is of course a very abridged version of a very complicated and important story.  There are valuable principles that can be learned about judgment, compassion, and the Atonement.  Please understand, what follows is not a theological essay in anyway but rather, very personal reactions to and struggles that have come from this story. My first reaction has always been one of gratitude and love towards the Savior.   There was no lecture, no degradation. He already knew her heart and her feelings at that moment and spoke what she needed to hear.   When you are truly trying to repent, or pulling yourself back up after you’v...

 How do you describe lonely?  To be alone?  Does it mean to be without company? To be without companionship?  There doesn't seem to be one answer, not even for each individual. It's easy enough to think of being lonely when you are literally by yourself.  No one around.  There were Christmas Days like this when both of my children were gone.  It was miserable.  But other times, not at Christmas, I enjoyed the time to myself. I was alone, but not lonely. Same for eating alone.  I actually love taking a book, music, and headphones and just spending time by myself.  Lonely?  Not a chance.  It's great to have that time to put things aside and just enjoy myself.  No interruptions, no worries, no stress. I had to learn to do other things alone without being lonely, going to the movies, shopping, small things in life that are easy to take for granted.  Some were easier than others.  On that note, you'd be surprised the ...

  A very long time ago, I owned a dress, the dress.  It was the most amazing dress I ever owned or wore.  It was red and full of fire.  It was a dress meant for dancing and laughing and living.  Every time I wore it, I felt beautiful and amazing.  If you’ve ever heard the song “Lady in Red,” it was like that.  It wasn’t that I felt I was the most beautiful woman in the room, but that I was worth noticing. Clothes often reflect or affect our moods.  If I’m feeling lazy or depressed, you’ll often see it in how I dress.  This doesn’t necessarily mean jeans and t-shirt, but if you look, you’ll know.  Boots make me feel sassy. My purple work shoes are my rebellion. And jewelry, well, that’s my happy place of clothing, where I feel most free to express myself and particular brand of life on any given day.  A sure sign it’s not a good day is a lack of jewelry. On the other hand, it’s hard for me to get motivated while in my pajamas.  ...

 All my life I've been a wanderer of one sort or another.  I have lived in and traveled to many different places.  I wander from book to book, often times mid book, even mid sentence.  My writing tends to reflect that wandering as well.  The longer a work, the more crucial the need to reign in the loose words that have escaped and stampeded off on a totally irrelevant tangent. And find the ones that have slipped out of their proper places and are staring around in a daze. My thoughts wander about from idea to idea, place to place, daydream to daydream.  So much of my poetry, my creative writing lives first in these daydreams.  Words, thoughts, characters, scenes, imagery all plays out in fantastical scenes.  Some, much of it, dies horrible and painful deaths and we will NEVER speak of it again.  Some sneaks out and probably should have been smacked around and hidden away.  But some I truly love and set free.  Whether others enjoy it...