Last night I was moved by a verse in the Book of Mormon, one of our sacred books of scripture. In 2 Nephi, chapter 11, we read that Nephi was anxious to learn from God what his father, Lehi, had seen in a vision about the tree of life. Then, as he pondered in his heart, Nephi was “taken away” by the Spirit of the Lord. A beautiful conversation followed between the two, but I want to focus on verses 16-17, where the Spirit asks: “Knowest thou the condescension of God? And [Nep

If some of you are getting tired of the many “A Prayer for the Heart” posts, about our son’s heart surgery, I understand. If you think it might be a bit too much, you certainly don’t have to plow your way further. It’s you choice. But I don’t – and please don’t misunderstand me on this point – write this for you. What I mean is I don’t write these posts to entertain in any way. I just write them because I feel I should. Let me try to explain. Blogging about this important mom

The thought of the day comes from Lance Armstrong: “I take nothing for granted. I now have only good days or great days.” I like that approach. Perhaps the choices we have are not between good or bad, but between good and great. In other words, with a positive outlook my life will always be good, and with some extra effort it can even be great. I took this photo an early autumn morning. The sun is just rising, casting its rays on the water and the birch trees. I remember this

A week ago we lost one of our oldest, but dearest members of our congregation, Agnes Traviss. Yesterday her funeral was held. Until my release two months ago, I had been her bishop for several years. I had truly enjoyed her company. She always wore that gleaming smile on her face that would make you forget your own worries for a moment. Often when I looked at her from the stand I thought about her life as a single woman, struggling to get by. She had had many reason to compla

Lately my sons and I have gone to quite a few hockey games to cheer on our local team, Södertälje (SSK). When we went two days ago the team lost 0-1. In fact, every time we’ve seen them play this season they have lost. I made that comment to the boys and jokingly added that perhaps we should stay home next time. Then perhaps they would win for a change.They didn’t like that idea at all, wondering how in the world their dad ever got so superstitious. Besides, it was fun to go

Last week I attended a CES Conference. At one point a friend and colleague gave all the participants a few minutes to write a personal psalm. I’m not a poet, I know, but I was still glad to have a few solitary moments to clear the world from my mind and write these words of gratitude. For the wonders of the earth, I adore Thee For the light in heaven, I see Thee For the glories of thy creations, I admire Thee For the blessing of family, I honor Thee For the companionship

Giving is better than receiving. That’s at least what my daughter thought when we tried to take her picture, luring her with some candy from the side lines. You see what her eyes are saying, don’t you? If you just GIVE me some of that candy YOU will feel a lot better… and I will scream a lot less! And so it was. Just think of all the wonderful things life teaches you. Louis #Giving #babies #Inspiration #christianity #hands #photo #Truthfindingthe #sayings #Photography #christ

What beats a bedtime story? How about four bedtime stories? My sons kidnapped me! They wouldn’t let me go. I started with one story (which was our deal), then a second, just to show them I cared. When my time was up, the little terrorists started pressing me. “You’re not a nice daddy if you leave now”; and “We’re going tell mommy that you…” (well, we’ll skip that part…). “Okay”, I answered with faked authority, “but only one more!” Somehow that one became two. You know, life

I just wanted to leave a short environmental thought, an image from my photo story How is your Conscience Today? Are you caring for it? Louis #random #Environment #Nature #Inspiration #fruit #photo #image #miscellaneous #world #melons #Photography #Health #greenhouse #green #fall #Food #Reflections #Politics #pictures #motherearth #education #yard #thoughts #eco #picture #globalwarming #melon #images #Autumn #learning #goinggreen #photos #watermelon #earth #climatechange

Recently I was out walking with my baby girl. When we entered our favorite forest path, she rapidly nodded off to sleep as the carriage softly swayed back and forth. Lucky me, I thought, time for a photo shoot. It was a beautiful day and I had my camera ready with a 100mm macro lens. I enjoy the forest immensely. There is a special feeling there that I can’t put my finger on. This is the first image a took (arranged a little in Lightroom) At the edge of the forest we reached

I was captured by some autumn motives today. This is one of them. When I saw this yellow tree I got what may seem to be a silly thought, but nonetheless… How does that birch tree feel? I mean, she stands there showing her bright colors, in the middle of everything, sticking out from the rest? Does she feel out of place? No. It can’t be. Just look at her! See how she stretches towards the sky, how she waves to us with her beautiful color, projecting her branches for all to see

…Doris Lessing. Finally. She has already won all prizes imaginable, but still she was rather taken back when the Swedish media interviewed her after the Nobel Academy had made its announcement about the Nobel 2007 Litterature price. She explained that she never expected the price, not because of some pretended humility, but simply because she was told by the Academy members forty-five years ago that she would never get the price. Their reasons? It was put to her: “We don’t li