Some thoughts from church that I jotted down today that I thought I’d share.

I got to perform with the ward choir today. We sang Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Mans Desiring” one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written. And while our ward choir is not the most professional or polished choir ever assembled, we do okay, and our performance was heartfelt, and managed to bring a tear to my eye.

The sacrament meeting talks were both by Stake high councilors. While I haven’t retained a lot of the specifics of either talk they both made a point that has stuck in my brain. They made mention of men in Jesus’ day who were good and just men, who believed in the teachings of Jesus, but were afraid to stand up an be counted as disciples of Jesus. Mainly out of fear of jeopardizing thier social standing. I’ve been pondering why this particular message stuck, and I have to admit that being a more (for lack or a better word) obvious disciple of Jesus is something I need to work on.

During Sunday school, we were discussing families and worldly influences. During the discussion, an analogy came to my mind that I shared with the class. When you go out to work in a garden, you’re going to get dirty, but you wash off when you go back inside, and try not to track the dirt inside too much. But if you start obsessing about getting dirty, you’re not going to get anything done, and your garden will soon be overrun with weeds. You have to accept the fact that getting dirty is one of the costs of having a garden.  However, there is a vital difference between getting dirty from weeding your garden, and getting dirty from mud wrestling.