The Power of Human Emotion

 

(Dan had a long day at church!)

Our bishop was released in church today. He's a really awesome bishop, a great outdoorsman, and strong in the gospel and what he believes. Every year around this time he gave a lesson in Sunday School about winter preparedness and 72 hour kits and food storage and financial smarts. He grew up a farmer, but he's been through a lot and learned some things here and there. He's a fantastic guy.


It was amazing to see the emotion in Sacrament Meeting today as our old bishop and his wife each bore their testimony for us, and to see his old counselors bear their testimonies as well. I actually really like it when men get a little teary-eyed during their testimonies. I like seeing that vulnerable side of them, that part that is so in tune with the Spirit. There were quite a few wonderful testimonies about missing our bishop and welcoming our new bishop.


That sort of led me to think for a few minutes about the power of human emotion. We as humans have a deep sense of love for others, and we develop these intense friendships and bonds with one another. It's more obvious in marriage, but even then it can run deeper than we might imagine as the marriage progresses. Today I saw men who worked together in the Lord's work, men who loved the Lord and felt His Spirit so strongly that the idea of not working together any more brought deep emotion to their faces- to their whole frames. When Bishop got up he told about how he had to rely on his secretaries and counselors to help him remember things, and that without them it might not have run as smoothly as it did. He expressed a deep love of not only those who worked with him but for the entire ward, the people who had been under his charge for the last few years.


It was absolutely amazing.


The new bishop will be just as amazing, I think. His wife bore her testimony before him, and she told us that he was a pretty fearless man- he's been thrown off a bucking bronco and broke his sternum, he's flown planes without a pilot's license, he's done all these crazy things- but he was terrified to become bishop. I think he'll do a great job, though. Bishop left him everything all sorted and organized, and I think the biggest thing will be learning names and faces and getting accustomed to the work.


I love this Gospel with all my heart. I see and hear and feel things that are so wonderful, so personal, and so enriching to me. I hope that, as I overheard one friend say at school, "I [can] put the Gospel in the center of my life, rather than just being a part of it."


(PS- Plant survived the snow!)

 

(Not that you can see the flowers very well. I need to work on my photography skills... of which there are, apparently, none.)