"How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth."

~Psalm 119:103



Thursday, March 28, 2013

"I know that man is nothing."
(Moses 1:10)


Among the many ways that we can invite the revelation of the Spirit into our lives are the sensory experiences of a sunrise, a meadow of wildflowers, or the view from the top of a mountain, especially when experienced with a sense of gratitude for God’s goodness.

Being near the ocean always gives me that "sense of [my] nothingness" that King Benjamin talked about in Mosiah 4. "I would that ye should remember," Benjamin counseled, "and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness" (Mosiah 4:11).


Oxnard State Beach, March 2013.

Gazing out toward the horizon, walking on the sand, hearing the waves crash on the shore, feeling the ocean breeze and preferably a bit of sunshine on my face - these sensations cause me to feel so small in comparison with the vastness of the ocean, and yet through them I also feel God's greatness and His goodness.

When I was pregnant with my second child - a daughter who is now seventeen years old - my husband and I made a trip from our home in Utah to San Diego so I could simply sit on the sand and soak up the strength and calmness I knew I would need for her delivery.

When I haven't visited the ocean for many months, I feel the pains of "withdrawal" and know that I need to return as soon as possible. Through spending time at the ocean, I receive the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22): the ocean brings me hope, peace, contentment, and joy!

This is a paradox of man: compared to God, man is nothing; yet we are everything to God.
        ~ Dieter F. Uchtdorf (2011)

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