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February 5–11 ❘ Opposition in All

Poem and discussion centering on Lehi’s teachings on the necessity for opposition in all things as recorded in 2 Nephi 2:11.

Opposition in All

God eventually moves you
to the other side of everything.
Your team loses.
You disappoint a friend.
You raise teenagers
and morph into your mother.
You shuffle around in the same
comfortable justifications
your enemies broke in years ago.

Experience gives us options,
clothes choice in clarity.
We arc through life
from child to ancient,
descendant to ancestor.
We answer prayers
and wrestle out blessings.
The pendulum always swings
back to God.

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January 29–February 4 ❘ Tapestry

Poem and discussion centering on the Lord’s patience with even his most disobedient children as alluded to in 1 Nephi 20:9–10, 18–19.

Tapestry

We are woven threads,
warp and weft that touch
at just one point,
then branch off crosswise.
We diverge,

but can’t escape each other
without tearing ourselves.
Perhaps God suffers long
because of this—His love

dyes deep and true.
Thus we see even Lemuel
escaped the waves. Laman
also reached the promised land.

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January 22–28 ❘ Downstream

Poem and discussion centering on Laman and Lemuel’s complaint that the Lord didn’t make things known to them as recorded in 1 Nephi 15:6–9.

Downstream

I pray a river, a rush
of words drowning out all
possible conversation.

You somehow slip
responses in the current.
Small inspirations

sail downstream.
So few, I complain,
So hard to understand.

You sigh. I eddy
in my murmuring pool,
wondering why, if

You are always there,
You make no such thing
known to me.

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January 15–21 ❘ Great and Spacious

Poem and discussion centering on part of Lehi’s dream as recorded in 1 Nephi 8:26–27.

Great and Spacious

You think you’re eating fruit,
but all I see is insubstantial air.
You pantomime a feast,
children playing at nonsense.

Your narrow mind
only comprehends strait paths
while the whole world lies
abroad, a sweet mystery

to savor. I want to gorge
on warm security of wealth,
respect from the reputable,
room to move about and choose.

I’ve had my fill of your visions,
sick of exhortations and mock love
forged from constraint.

Listen to me now
as I roar from my window.

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January 8–14 ❘ Killing Laban

Poem and discussion centering on what Nephi did to recover the Brass Plates as recorded in 1 Nephi 4:7–18.

Killing Laban

An awful gulf divides
foolish boy 
who admires fine swords

from heart-sick man
who cuts through sinews 
like Abraham offering sacrifice

if he hadn’t been stopped
by the angel who argues
and wrestles to submission.

I am not a mighty poet,
and these plates are small,
so I won’t write how I still wake at night,

but instead beg mercy,
wretched as I am,
for the part within me

that hesitates in retrospect
at what it means to always
go and do what God commands.

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January 1–7 ❘ Testimony

Poem and discussion centering on the witness statements at the beginning of the Book of Mormon.

Testimony

It’s instinct—
we witness to each other
without effort,
build up or claw down
by what we give and withhold,

as if we were still spirits
at war over Christ,
who has now triumphed,
yet we bicker over who to follow.

Hold these words—
heft them. Bite down
to test for gold.

You choose what to believe.
Why not something beautiful?

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December 25–31 ❘ Judgment Day

Poem and discussion centering on John’s descriptions of the earth in its celestial glory as recorded in Revelation 20:12; 21:18.

Judgment Day

History is deep sediment
melted together past telling
except where patterns repeat,
burn through to surface—
Sodom is Nineveh is Babylon is Rome.

There are those who regret
but don’t repent—
ears stopped tight,
hearts hard as bone,
senses dead to pleasure,

but your remorse throbs
with bottomless accusation.
When you reach breaking point,
break open to God.
He will read through you

as through transparent glass,
make you understand and understood.
Distinct yet enveloped.
Enduring and still malleable
as pure gold.

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December 18–24 ❘ Anna, a Prophetess

Poem and discussion centering on the story of the prophetess Anna as recorded in Luke 2:36–38.

Anna, a Prophetess

I was blessed, really—
so many widows are left
with small children to feed
and no means to do it
but asking alms at the temple gate,
poor mites.

My husband was better than ten sons,
though he gave me none—
only affection and tenderness.
Wealth to keep me comfortable
after his death.
More empty time than I could spend.

I had enough to tempt new suitors,
hagglers over my loneliness.
But I didn’t want another husband.
Why try fate?
Instead, I did what other widows do:
went to the temple to beg.

And how I begged—
poured out my youth in prayer,
troubled heaven night and day
for some small morsel to fill my barren fast,
pled with a vengeance
for the Lord to hear me—

until today, after eighty-four years,
I heard Him
wailing in the courtyard,
over-tired and wriggling in his mother's arms.
Some days you see in an instant
how really blessed you are.

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December 11–17 ❘ Last Days

Poem and discussion centering on the Apostle Paul’s final days in prison.

Last Days

Chill of stone and earth
seeps deep into my bones
as if I were buried in this cell,
beginning to decay,

so I write for warmth,
to feel the Spirit as I did
when I testified face to face,
setting the world ablaze

in preparation for the Lord,
whose foot is poised
at the threshold, ready
to fall at any instant—

though He tarries longer
than I expected.
But I met Him shining in the sky
on the road to Damascus,

and I know He will come again
for me, for us all.

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December 4–10 ❘ Revelation

Poem and discussion centering on the vision that John recorded in the book of Revelation as recorded in Revelation 1: 10–15; 10:8–11.

Revelation

God usually whispers—
skillful Author, shaper
of story, He foreshadows,
never gives away.

But in this vision, He roars
abrupt as lightning,
intense as liquid metal
or melted glass, tremendous
as thundering waterfall.

He fills me with a message
bitter as unmet expectation,
sweet as sure promise:
I am coming!

The kingdom of heaven
presses forward,
leans into my words,
ready for the seal
to snap.

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November 27–December 3 ❘ Life Eternal

Poem and discussion centering on some of the symbols John used to teach about Jesus Christ’s nature as recorded in Reference 1 John 5.

Life Eternal

is this:
to be
God-born

by water
for birth, washing,
death

by blood
for family, sin,
sacrifice

by Spirit
for truth, light,
cleansing fire

to all agree in one
by plan, by execution,
by Word

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November 20–26 ❘ Refining

Poem and discussion centering on Peter’s counsel to beware false prophets and teachers as recorded in 2 Peter 2:17.

Refining

In the last days,
you will find wells without water,
but not empty—

they bubble over oily darkness,
fuel for all-consuming,
inward fires.

Don’t fill your lamps from them.
Don’t touch match
to that slick of pollution.

Let Christ burn you clean.
He will take you from ashes,
pure and ready to pour.

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November 13–19 ❘ If Any of You Lack Wisdom

Poem and discussion centering on the famous scripture that prompted Joseph Smith to pray as recorded in James 1:5.

If Any of You Lack Wisdom

I wrote to my people
a few words of counsel

and though I always felt
the weight of God’s call

I didn’t know how one sentence
could strike rough stone

and ignite purifying fire
across time and space

to cleanse a foreign world
I never imagined—

truth is worth telling
even if only one person hears

even if you’re only talking
to yourself

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November 6–12 ❘ Author and Finisher

Poem and discussion centering on Paul’s description of Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith as recorded in Hebrews 12:2.

Author and Finisher

He doesn’t stop us
from wielding words like swords
or cudgels in His name
after the manner of our language.
We quote scripture, spare not
the rod, reason that we need
land blows only once
and they will learn,

but we never learn.
Fallen, broken, stunned by grief,
we stammer toward God

who wraps wounds in Word,
daubs written ointment deep
in weeping sores, massages
life back into bruises
with balm of His cadence.
In His lines laid down
like red ribbons, we read
and are healed.

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October 30–November 5 ❘ Strangers

Poem and discussion centering on Paul’s counsel to show hospitality to all strangers as recorded in Hebrews 13:2.

Strangers

If Abraham and Sarah
washed and fed
promised and laughed at

If Gideon
threshed and lamented
reminisced and pled with

If Jesus
healed and taught
fretted and bled for

Why not me?
The world is full of heavenly guests,
every one a child of God

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October 23–29 ❘ Onesimus

Poem and discussion centering on the story of Onesimus as recorded in Philemon 1:10–19.

Onesimus

I don’t owe you anything beyond
what siblings owe each other,

so I return to you,
free, unashamed.

Christ has paid our debts
and secured us as equals,

children in an eternal family
full of quirks and griefs,

but also of love, faith,
and powerful good sense.

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October 16–22 ❘ Children of Light

Poem and discussion centering on Paul’s counsel to the church in Thessalonica to watch for the signs of Christ’s return as recorded in 1 Thessalonians 5:1–6.

Children of Light

Routine is good for children:
feasts to keep,
seasons to celebrate,
signs to seek.
They eat, drink, rejoice
at all the proper times
and sleep securely.

But we are grown.
We struggle to prove all things,
to tell between boundaries
of letter and Spirit.

We remember anxious,
determined Peter in the garden,
unable to watch for a single hour—

we toss and turn in our beds,
restless as we wait
for a Thief in the night.

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October 9–15 ❘ New Creature

Poem and discussion centering on Paul’s teaching that we can be made new by Christ as recorded in Philippians 3:8 and 2 Corinthians 5:17.

New Creature

It isn’t much,
these slivers chiseled
from my soul,

small offering of self
like sand or chaff,
worthless except in loss.

Chip by chip,
what I release
reforms me

into something new
not made with hands
but by God

and by letting go
of stone that encases
His masterwork within.

I am raw,
rough-hewn,
but becoming.

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October 2–8 ❘ Good

Poem and discussion centering on John’s view that the reason we love God is because He first loved us as recorded in 1 John 4:19.

Good

It was good of you to see me in my box
and not pull me out,
but instead climb inside to admire
dovetail joints and woodgrain waves,
to sit on worn cushions where I think
and ask questions, guessing at answers.

It was good of you to coax me to stand,
to steady me as I peered over the edge
at green plains rippling like water
and flat mountains at the horizon
like torn blue paper,
promising I would visit one day.

It was good of you to boost as I climbed over,
to hold as I slid down,
to not sigh as I hugged the wall,
standing still for so long.
You walked with me in halting circuits,
always returning home.

It was good of you to love me first
so I would know how to love others
in all their comfortable boxes.

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September 25–October 1 ❘ In Tension

Poem and discussion centering on my thoughts on how Christ frees us from a yoke of bondage based on Galatians 5:1.

In Tension

Like Frost’s silken tent
I balance on a pinnacle,
held upright by cords
of love and law
that both bind and support.

Like paper kite,
I fly when tethered,
fall when cut loose.

Like one who meets God
by road or in grove,
I am freed but not free,
yoked by choice and necessity,

for after seeing the light,
who am I to withstand it?

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