Summer · June
from a small garden south of Salt Lake
Family discipleship, honest motherhood, and the slow work of making a home, written at the kitchen table by Melissa Whitaker.
Lately on the kitchen table
read more →A note from Melissa
LDS Family Life is a publication about LDS family life, motherhood, marriage, homemaking, and practical gospel living for families who want faith at home to feel lived instead of staged. I write first-person essays on family discipleship, spiritual formation in ordinary routines, and the pressures families are trying to carry with steadiness and grace.
The sink full of mixing bowls. The garden row that finally came up. The child calling for one more glass of water. The prayer I whisper while scraping plates after dinner. Those are the things that hold a family, and they feel worth writing down before they slip past.
with love, Melissa
Essays
June 6
I was folding laundry when my second-grader asked if Heavenly Father has a body like ours. She added, 'Sometimes I pray and I do not feel anything.'
June 6
The doorbell rang at 4:47 on a Tuesday afternoon. I stood there for a second, hand on the doorknob, and I had a choice.
June 6
The bread was burning. I could smell it from the living room, that sharp edge of heat that means the smoke alarm is about to join the conversation.
June 6
The juice box had been sitting on the kitchen counter since Tuesday. I stood there holding it, thinking about how many things I mean to get to but do not.
June 5
The toast crumbs stuck to my palm as I wiped the kitchen table. My second-grader had left glitter glue uncapped and a horse drawing under a math worksheet.
June 5
The timer on the microwave read 6:42. I had eighteen minutes to leave for mutual, and there I was on the kitchen floor with an egg timer and dried beans.
June 5
A Utah-shaped pancake taught me that the Sabbath is about connection, not perfection. Here is how our family found real rest.
June 5
A toddler drew a circle on the floor with a permanent marker and said it was for the meeting. She was right about what a family council is supposed to be.
June 4
A bathmat conversation about who made God taught me that the best spiritual teaching happens in the unplanned moments.
June 4
I sat down with a notebook and a plan. It lasted nine minutes. Here is what I learned about family councils since that day.
FAQ