Time to be still

My life is busy, and crowded, and loud. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I love the people in it. I love (usually) the job that takes up the vast majority of my week. I love my calling at church. But in recent months the amount of me time, of time to simply be still and ponder, has been seriously lacking. That's what made today so special.

I'm in Rochester, NY, visiting a customer site to interview radiology technicians about our newest medical device. It's fun to be a journalist again. It's even more fun to scrub into a surgery and watch a resident and a fellow take a shattered ankle, insert a handful of screws, bolts and rods, and realign the fragments of bone. It's even more fun to take "pictures" (fluoro, or x-rays) as the surgeons work, to confirm that they've properly aligned everything.

But the best part of today was leaving the hospital and driving 30 miles east to a tiny town called Palmyra. I hiked the Hill Cumorah. I toured the Joseph Smith Family Farm. I spent more than an hour exploring the Sacred Grove. And I went to a session in the Palmyra temple. In the silence of those moments, with only the sounds of birds, frogs, the breeze and my own footsteps and breath, I could feel the peace and love that have eluded me recently. I finally had a chance to be still. And when I am still, I know.

I know that God lives and that He is my Father. He knows my name. He knows the details of my life. He knows I'm not perfect, but He loves me anyway. I know that He and His Son appeared in that quiet grove of trees - and may I say, He picked a lovely spot for it, all green and mossy and alive with the rebirth of early spring. I know that Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw - God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. It's not like I doubted before. But something about today and the stillness and solitude of my walks in the woods reminded me of how certain I am that it is true. And you know what? I'm glad for the reminder. Because tomorrow I go back to that busy, crowded, loud life, and I get to take today's walks and thoughts with me.