Jill Yancey

My writings + musings

My words

On God

I’ve got God on the mind today. Probably because I’ve been forced to slow down. It seems whenever I stop running I tune inward and God is there—above and below every thought. As I sit in this quiet room my thoughts form a list,

  1. I feel close to God these days. Maybe it’s because he’s the only one familiar to me on this side of the country—easier to recognize.
  2. My husband told me he’s not sure if he’s ever felt the spirit in church because he gets those same warm fuzzies when listening to the heavy metal songs he loves. I believe it’s not that he didn’t feel God’s spirit in church, but that someone told him he couldn’t feel God’s spirit in his music too.
  3. God can feel like peace in my bones, like thundering joy, even like a cold and broken hallelujah.
  4. I feel God when I listen to music that moves me or when I read a gorgeous line from a poem.
  5. I see God in my children’s smiles and in their tears.
  6. I hear God almost always through the voice of a loved one.
  7. Christ is the foundation of my religion, Mormons are Christians, but I didn’t realize growing up that our beliefs differ so much from other Christian religions. For example, I was taught that Eve didn’t make the sinful choice in the Garden of Eden, but the hard right choice. She gave up perfection in order to bring forth life. We honor Eve. That is so beautiful to me.
  8. I was taught of a Heavenly Father, a Heavenly Mother, and a brother, Jesus Christ. And so, I feel a different relationship with each of them.
  9. Everything does not happen for a reason unless that reason is: Because, life.
  10. God (Heavenly Father, Mother, and Christ) are in us. To find them, look inward…or go on a walk among the trees, that’s where I find her the most.

river + words

Sitting by this tree of my words, I feel all the love. Lin taught me the concept of having your own words then looking for them in the wild. She made me each of these clay ornaments with the words I chose.

River, Write, Rise, Magic.

​River is the word standing out to me today as I think of our hometown thousands of miles away and the mighty Columbia River running through. I have spent countless hours with dear friends looking out over our river counting children’s heads, number of days we had left to summer, number of days until spring would return, number of hours we had left before we had to scoop up sandy children and go get the groceries. I never counted the days until I would move away. I dreamed of what ifs and maybe some days, but never counted. That day came all at once.

​60 days since I said goodbye to all that I love along the Columbia river.

Join in my #dailymemoir writing practice. Daily Memoirs are a snapshot of you that day. Whatever you’re thinking, missing, feeling, or doing, Daily Memoirs are a snapshot of you that day.

If you post your #dailymemoir on instagram, don’t forget to tag me @jillwritesabook.

Happy writing,

Jill