Category: Reflections
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Where Am I?
I came into this morning thinking I had one fairly simple question. The funny thing is, I couldn’t seem to get to it. Every time I started explaining why I was here, another thought appeared that seemed necessary before I could explain the first one. Before long I was talking about my Master Timeline, OneNote,…
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Finding the Trail Again
October 21, 2026 I awoke this morning with the uncomfortable feeling that I had become lost again in time and space. It was not that I didn’t know where I was. Rather, I had lost my place in my own story. I returned to my JBJeppson blog and began reading through the entries, trying to…
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“The Chuckle Through the Ages”
In the early hours of a quiet morning in Toquerville, Joel awoke not to silence, but to a sound — a soft, warm chuckle. It was not loud. It was not startling. It was familiar, as though carried on a breeze from a place he had known long ago. It felt Irish. It felt kind.…
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📜 The Transmission of Memory:
How the Nauvoo Story Reached Me The Nauvoo Temple story of the Parrish, Smith, and Ricks families did not remain in the 1840s. It lived on — carried forward by the descendants who remembered, recorded, and taught it. In my own life, that transmission came through two remarkable women: my grandmother, Rubie Parrish Jeppson, and…
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Finding Relief in Purpose
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve felt myself slipping into a familiar pattern — one I’ve known for years but never fully named. When life becomes busy, when unexpected tasks pile up, when technology misbehaves, or when Dianne is away, and the house feels just a little too quiet, I tend to drift. My…
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Morning Reflection: Building a Life in Phases
Lessons From a Lifetime of Building—Now Applied to the Soul July 4, 2026 — Toquerville, Utah This quiet Saturday morning arrives on the heels of my Friday fourth shift in the St. George Temple. The house is still, Dianne is resting, and I’m sitting in a newly reorganized space — the network center now moved…
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The Morning I Turned Seventy‑Four
The day I turned seventy‑four began before sunrise, in that quiet desert hour when the air is cool and the world has not yet awakened. I opened the windows, as I often do, to let the night breeze move through the house. The sounds of the morning — the sliding window, the creak of the…
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My Life as a Distillation Column
A Testimony of Refinement — June 17, 2026 In the earliest years after my mission, I found myself working on the manufacturing side of the petroleum industry at the Salt Lake Refinery. During those years, I trained for and earned the Basic Operator classification. I spent countless hours watching the behavior of distillation columns —…
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An Old Family Acquaintance
Originally written November 25, 2024 — revised for reposting Some stories don’t stay in the past. They wait quietly, following the family line until the day they finally tap you on the shoulder. This is one of those stories. I wrote it months ago, before I understood how much space I needed to give my…
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an old family acquaintance
A couple of weeks ago, I received notice that a very old family acquaintance had become resident in my life. I wish it were a visit I could experience and then send it on its way again. This acquaintance robbed my sweet grandmother of her eyesight and then again took my father’s eyesight away during…