Put on the Armor of Light
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A blog about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Put on the Armor of Light
2y ago
Livestream the service on September 25th, 11 AM Mountain time: bit.ly/MikeFitzgerald
Michael James Fitzgerald—beloved father, friend, poet, and cowboy—passed away at his home in Santaquin, Utah, on Friday, September 17, 2021, while on his knees in prayer.
Mike was born on November 14, 1957, to Robert and Jane in Multnomah County, Oregon. He was a middle child through and through, spending his boyhood riding horses, shooting skeet, roping cows, and occasionally attending Catholic school.
At times, life was cruel to him, but he never lost his tenderness. His love for the Savior and the sc ..read more
Put on the Armor of Light
2y ago
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak: O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed.
Psalms 6:2
Trees mourn
as her summer
children depart.
Sparrows huddle
to plot their
escape from winter.
Daisies faint,
insensible to
cunning frost.
Emerald grass,
sequined with
red, yellow, and orange,
welcome cooling nights.
Shadows surrender
to autumn memory,
future and
long past.
Michael James Fitzgerald ..read more
Put on the Armor of Light
2y ago
Photo by Jonny Gios on Unsplash
Hanging
upside down
in a ditch
of my own digging,
I find myself a
temporary atheist,
clinging to
the very thing
I don’t want,
self-deprived of
an unfailing Light
just above me.
Michael James Fitzgerald ..read more
Put on the Armor of Light
2y ago
Photo by Devin Justesen on Unsplash
Forgotten,
Displaced,
Misguided,
Disgraced.
Overlooked,
Twice spurned,
Rejected,
Unyearned.
Patiently he awaits
a peculiar salvation
he cannot grant
himself.
Michael James Fitzgerald ..read more
Put on the Armor of Light
2y ago
Holly Barrett. FamilySearch.com.
Over a decade ago, I wrote a blog post about Holly Barrett who died in 1969 at the age of 14, mysteriously until now. Here’s an update to that post.
After years of wondering, I heard from one of Holly’s nieces recently and learned of her sad ending. She was a special young woman who contracted leukemia—likely due to being a Nevada bomb-test downwinder. Chemotherapy in the 1960s was hard on her young body and she died of heart failure in a Salt Lake hospital. Her parents were in the grocery business and they named Holly’s Pantry, a convenience store in Salina, U ..read more
Put on the Armor of Light
2y ago
I’m sure most of you are familiar with the phrase “my life flashed before my eyes.” This phenomena, commonly reported by near-death experiencers, is called a life review and involves a movie of sorts replays all the experiences of life, good and bad.
I haven’t been well for the last year and a half, and strangely, I’ve been having my own life review on this side of the veil. Except mine is non-sequential and very slow. I’ve been surprised by all the things I’ve been recalling, which, but for the love of my Heavenly Father and Savior, would be unbearably painful.
I can hardly believe what is p ..read more
Put on the Armor of Light
2y ago
You’re climbing up a mountain,
searching high and low,
driving down the highway,
learning as you go.
Finding your rainbow,
wrestling self-esteem,
hunting for very own
unquenchable dream.
That dream gonna take
all the love you can give
every day of your life
for as long as you live.
So keep climbing up your mountain,
dreaming as you go,
burning up that old highway,
taking it easy and slow.
Climb up your rainbow,
ford that wide stream,
keep searching til you find
your inevictable dream.
Michael James Fitzgerald
(with a lot of help from Rogers and Hammerstein ..read more
Put on the Armor of Light
2y ago
Photo by James Fitzgerald on Unsplash
Unseen
except by the All Seeing.
Unnoticed
except by angels.
Unheard
except by God.
Lonely
but not alone.
Empty
but full of
possibility.
Forgotten
but his name is
written in gold.
Michael James Fitzgerald ..read more
Put on the Armor of Light
2y ago
With hand over heart
I pledge allegiance
to the honest spirit
who saved me
from myself.
And to the truth
for which she stands,
one warrior
under God,
undefeatable,
with mercy
and kindness
for all.
Michael James Fitzgerald ..read more
Put on the Armor of Light
2y ago
Zina D. Huntington
Zina D. Huntington was bereft when her mother Zina Baker Huntington died of cholera in 1839:
For a time, [she] was inconsolable at her mother’s death. Then [a] spiritual experience confirmed her faith. As she paced the floor, almost brokenhearted in her loneliness, she heard her mother’s voice: “Zina, any sailor can steer on a smooth sea, when rocks appear, sail around them.” Zina cried out: “O Father in heaven, help me to be a good sailor, that my heart shall not break on the rocks of grief.” A sweet peace came over Zina’s soul, and never again did she give way to such hea ..read more