Fulness of Times

Mid-June, severed storms ripped through France, devastating crops. The country declared a natural disaster. Many farmers in the disaster area lost 80 to 100% of their crops. https://agroinsurance.com/en/france-to-declare-natural-disaster-after-storms-rip-through-crops/ The third wettest year in history is stressing Michigan farmers. The wet fields have delayed planting a month or more. Early June should have more than 90 percent of the corn planted, but only 68% was planted. Of those, only a third have sprouted where the average is 93%. That means if a normal planting had been done, only about 22% of those seeds have sprouted (a third of 68% is 22.44). https://agroinsurance.com/en/usa-michigan-farmers-are-hit-from-all-directions/ Heavy and constant rains have affected the entire corn belt. In other parts of the world, drought, heat, storms, hail, insects, disease are all making their mark on crop production. I have not seen the agroinsurance.com website before, but some o...

A few months ago, in one of my graduate classes, someone asked how long the abstract of our individual projects should be. In the process of explanation, the professor shared with us a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the author of The Little Prince. It seems that perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove. (https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint_Exup%C3%A9ry) That quote really struck me, mostly because it is applicable to how we work towards becoming perfect in this life. A couple of weeks ago in the Come Follow Me--For Individuals and Families (the Feb 18-24 week, Matthew 5; Luke 6 chapter), there was a quote from President Russell M. Nelson. “The term perfect was translated from the Greek teleios, which means ‘complete.’ … The infinitive form of the verb is teleiono, which means ‘to reach a distant end, to be fully developed, to consummate, or to finish.’ Please note that the word does not imply ‘free...

This is a sensitive topic because, unless you fully and completely support the LGBT+ community and their agenda you are labeled as biased, hateful, bigoted, and a number of other negative labels. Those who are least willing to allow for free speech and freedom of religion seem to be many of the LGBT+ supporters. You can express your opinion, but if it's contrary to theirs it's labeled as mentioned. And, they're entitled to their freedom of speech and expression, but too many are unwilling to allow others the same right and respect. God allows us to choose who we will serve. If we choose to serve God, he has given us instructions to become better. We typically call these instructions "commandments", but they are really designed to help us treat each other better, and to help us become better children of God, and followers of Christ. While many view the rules God gives as restrictive, the reality is they lead us from captivity into freedom. If someone chooses to...