More Blessed and Holy
By Jenny Komenda
Note: This essay is from a talk given by Jenny Komenda at the Hermosa Vista Stake Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in August 2025.
Good morning. I was invited to speak for a few minutes today on the line “More Blessed and Holy - Sanctifying the ordinary moments of our lives.”
The Hebrew word for Holy is Kah-Dosh, which literally means “Set Apart” from the ordinary, or Dedicated for God’s purposes. I’m the Gospel Doctrine teacher in our ward, and a few weeks ago, as I was preparing a lesson about the Law of Consecration - which literally means this setting apart, to make something sacred or holy - I learned about a beautiful book called the Book of the Law of the Lord. It's a 500-page journal now transcribed and published on the JS papers website that documented tithes and offerings of the early saints as they all worked to build the temple in Nauvoo. The entries are both extremely charming and very humbling to read. Donations range from large and very small cash offerings, to animals and crops, to a certain number of hours of labor, to furniture, clothing, and jewelry- even spools of ribbons. As I scanned the pages filled with the names and heart-warming offerings of these early saints, one entry stopped me in my tracks. It was made November 13, 1841, and read “Received of Widow Jane Judd, her mite, 1 cow, value $14.00, also, 1 straw Bonnet, $3.00.” The phrase “Her mite” was unique for the record. It was clear that the member of the temple building committee, keeping the record of the donations, was moved by this widow’s offering - her mite. I looked up what I could find on Jane Stoddard Judd and learned that by the age of 35, she had been widowed twice, and she alone cared for 10 children under the age of 12.
After receiving and recording her donation, the temple committee recorded it as consecrated - set apart, holy - and determined, after receiving her donation, that she needed the cow and the bonnet more and then returned the consecrated donations to her. I looked up the one photograph online of this faithful widow and I tried to imagine the strength and the REAL faith she would have need to bring her cow - likely her most valuable source of food to feed her ten young children, in November with winter approaching - and also her straw bonnet - maybe her little luxury - something that made her feel beautiful when life was very, very hard. What an offering to the Lord! But then I thought about what it would have felt like for Sister Jane to bring home the family cow again, wearing her precious straw bonnet. Maybe there were cheers from the children. Think of how she would have felt about that cow as she served her ten children its nourishing milk every day after this consecrated offering, and her receiving it unexpectedly back. Think of her bonnet that surely became a token of her willingness to trust God more than her own limited understanding. Her sacred choices created REAL holiness in her everyday life.
As I was thinking more about the idea of holiness, I turned to Exodus 3. Moses is doing his everyday thing—tending to his father-in-law’s sheep. He climbs a mountain with his flock, and something catches his eye—a burning bush that, strangely, is not being consumed by the fire. He senses something unique is happening here.
Starting in verse 3, “Moses said, I will now TURN ASIDE, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.”
This is a phrase I had never noticed before in this chapter—that he turned aside. The verses continue to say that when the Lord saw that Moses had Turned Aside from tending the flock, he called him by name and told Moses to take his shoes off, for the ground he was standing on was holy.
This reading was so profound to me. Moses was going about his regular day—busy with his normal work—but then he chose to turn away from the ordinary. He paused and leaned into the holy. As we know from the story, God then pours his wisdom and covenantal blessings—His Hesed—out onto Moses as a result.
So, what does this look like in our lives—to turn aside from the ordinary and lean into the holy? To sanctify the ordinary moments of our lives? I love the idea of turning away from the ordinary like Moses did. And there’s another great clue in Helaman 3:35, where it says that sanctification comes because of their yielding their hearts unto God.
To me, both of these scriptures indicate that our natural man—our normal, earthly state, our baseline—is not going to be a holy state. We won’t often or maybe ever just stumble into holiness. Like with Moses, even if we do stumble on a potentially holy moment, holiness is contingent on our attention and requires us to exercise our agency or our willingness to engage.
Elder Holland said, “Holiness is not an accident. It is a result of deliberate faith and practice—moments when we intentionally set our hearts, minds, and actions on the things of God.”
The Sunday School lesson I mentioned before about the law of consecration fell on a really stressful Sunday for me. I had just returned home from a week at dance nationals with my third daughter, and we didn’t get in until 2 am that Sunday morning. Michael had early morning meetings and I’m hopeless with tech stuff, the wifi was acting up, and I couldn’t get the printer to connect. I was tired, frazzled, and not feeling particularly ready to talk about the law of consecration and creating holy offerings and moments. My youngest daughter, Margot, who gave me permission to share this little story, had been asking me all morning if I could curl her hair for church, which I agreed to do, but kept pushing it off. She probably asked me three or four times over the course of that stressful morning and I’ll admit, I was a little frustrated that she wasn’t picking up on my stressed and exhausted vibes. She asked me sweetly one last time as I was grabbing my bag and keys to leave for sacrament meeting. I’m sad to admit I was annoyed, but I agreed to put a few curls in her hair quickly. She sat on a stool facing away from me in my bathroom, and as I waited for the curling iron to heat up, I thought about Jane Stoddard Judd, just drowning in children and responsibilities, yet bursting with faith and capacity and strength. The spirit quietly whispered to me, Make this moment Holy. I put the curling iron down, took Margot’s sweet little face in my hands, kissed her freckles, and told her that I loved her so, so much and that I was so happy to get to be her momma and that she was so loved and so beautiful. Tears filled her eyes instantly as she shared that someone at school had been teasing her that week and that she just really wanted to feel pretty for church that day. I held her and told her again and again how beautiful and loved she is. I hope I never forget the look on her sweet face in that very holy moment.
Elder Gong taught, “Holiness to the Lord makes daily living sacred by infusing ordinary acts with purpose and devotion. Rather than demanding flawless living, holiness invites us to draw closer to God by making small, intentional choices that align with His will. This mindset transforms daily actions into opportunities for discipleship.
Brothers and Sisters, if you are feeling far from capable or abundant right now, I hope you’ll hear me bear witness that this practice is, at its core, so very simple. When you are feeling far from holy, just pause and create space for God, and His Spirit will tell you what needs to happen next as you ask, “How can I make this moment, this meeting, this meal, this clothing, this chore, this sentence HOLY?” Then, every time, the magic unfolds before you and almost outside of you. The enabling power of Christ’s Atonement magnifies our simple efforts and infuses those efforts and everyday moments with His powerful, otherworldly Grace.
I am learning that God does not really need our straw bonnets to do His Work. Our kind, loving, patient, and generous Lord asks only for our hearts and a willing mind to do His real work, which is to help us become more like Him.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is simple yet, at times, is not obvious or easy. Covenantal living requires us to often be different from the world and also set apart for His purposes, without always knowing why. This has been challenging in my own life, but what I KNOW is that He walks with us in this journey. He is ALWAYS our BEST FRIEND, and His love is radically transformational when we create space for Him in our lives. My genuine prayer is that you and I can remember to pause in the middle of the busy and inconvenient, to turn aside from the ordinary, and yield our hearts, so that everyday moments can become holy treasures, through Him.
Jenny Komenda and her husband, Michael, launched their latest business, The Rooted Home, as an expressly Christian-focused art company. Along with their four daughters, they love to travel the world and have visited religious sites in more than 30 countries. They firmly believe that God loves all of His children equally and have felt God’s love throughout the world, in mosques and synagogues, cathedrals, house churches, and temples. The Rooted Home is their heartfelt attempt to share some of the things they have found and learned in their personal religious journeys that can be a source of light and peace to others. Prior to The Rooted Home, Jenny and Michael created the Juniper Print Shop in 2017, which features Jenny’s art alongside the works of more than 40 independent female artists and dozens of museums. Drawing on their life experiences and the work they began with Juniper, Jenny and Michael have felt inspired to create The Rooted Home.