Car time

I think everyone out there is aware of the many hours I spend in the car each day driving the kids to school and activities.  The time in the car when I have my teenagers captive has actually been a real blessing.  It's sometimes the only time we get to "talk" to each other and they usually are very gregarious as they share the ups and downs of their day.

However, I also spend a lot of time alone in the car, so I got smart and finally started began listening to audiobooks.  I got hooked during the drive to California earlier this month when Caroline and I listened to one of my favorite books, The Good Earth, as well as some thoughtful and entertaining talks given by Jon Bytheway (we drove home on a Sunday and figured listening to some youth firesides would suffice as church :-).

The past week I have been enjoying Truman Madsen's lectures entitled The Life and Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  I can't believe how much my testimony has been strengthened just by listening to one of the most intelligent and humble LDS scholars present these lectures on Joseph Smith.  It made our drive up to Snowbasin this weekend for our family ski trip (post to come) very pleasant since Chris esteems Madsen as much as I do and we both listened intently while the kids basically tuned out and plugged into their i-pods ;-).

Today while I was driving to pick up Caroline, a statement he made in one of the lectures struck me and I had to listen again and then write it down, mainly because it has been on my mind lately and explains so perfectly the greatest principle of the gospel - love . . .

"How can you love the unlovable?  How can you love what has been a cause of great suffering and pain to you in your life?  That is the deepest secret . . .

That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ." - Truman Madsen