Dropping off a plate of cookies, leaving a kind note, wishing a neighbor a Merry Christmas. These simple holiday traditions lift the spirits of the recipients, but new BYU research shows that such small acts of kindness can also improve the mental health of the giver.

In a study of how people felt before and after serving their neighbors for a period of four weeks, researchers found that things like chatting with someone from the porch or watering their plants lowered participants’ reported levels of loneliness.

“I get tons of people asking me what we can do during the pandemic to try to stay connected and stave off loneliness,” said BYU psychology professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad, who co-led the project. “Conducting this experiment during pandemic conditions—which we didn’t originally plan—we found that people can experience significant reductions in loneliness even in tough times just by doing things that are easy, free …

As we bid farewell to 2020, let’s look at the 15 best-read articles of the year, purely selected mathematically by click throughs from you as Meridian readers. Our top article received 350,000 reads, and there are consistently pages that draw Meridian readers first—the Podcast page, the news page and all Come Follow Me study aids.

Of note is that the articles on social issues had a real draw this year for readers, in part because we have been in such an upheaval, and we are all searching for a little clarity. We’d like to prepare for it, understand it, talk about it, escape from it.

If you have missed any of these articles, here’s a chance to look at them, now, and as we look to 2021, we expect even more top quality reads.

1. 10 Things the Devil Does not want you to know about the Book of Mormon

There is a bit of cynicism that lingers around the act of making New Year’s resolutions. Many make their list of goals for the year knowing full well that they didn’t succeed last year, and they likely won’t this year either. Were it not the time of COVID, the gyms would be chock full in January and empty again by February.

I’ve certainly had some of the same goals make their annual appearance on my list with nearly unaltered wording from the year before. I’ve hoped to lose that extra weight since I was about 15. I’ve been trying to complete Pioneer Book’s yearly reading challenge every year for the past six without ever once succeeding. I want to work on the languages I’m learning with more regularity and improve my cooking skills. So far, no good.

“The ancient Babylonians are said to have been the first people to make …

The following is excerpted from the Church News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.

In the year 2020 alone President Nelson has issued numerous stirring, inspiring and challenging invitations to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to the people of the world.

We discussed a number of these invitations including:

200^th anniversary of the First Vision

President Nelson began Jan. 1, 2020, with a Facebook post which reminded members of the Church of his invitation from the previous October general conference. He invited, “I extended to you at last general conference to immerse yourself in the glorious light of the Restoration of the gospel.” He went on to say that the bicentennial celebration, commemorating the appearance of God the Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to Joseph Smith in a vision would be, “a hinge point in the history of the Church …

My mother is almost ninety-five and hard to buy gifts for. She always says, “Don’t buy me things. I probably have everything I need, and if I don’t, I will get it when I need it.”

So, for Christmas, my wife, Donna, suggested we take Mom out for dinner, and that I spend some time doing things Mom wanted to do. So, one evening when Donna had a casting meeting for a play she is directing, we picked up my Mom and took her to a buffet restaurant.

We went before the dinner crowd came, so there weren’t many people there. There was a large variety of food, and we ate heartily. Sometimes Mom wanted to try something, but not enough to get it, so I would put some on my plate. Then she would take what she wanted and leave me the rest.

This caused some challenges. Sometimes Mom …

As Moroni is finishing this vital record for perhaps the third or fourth time[1], he seems to be doing a debriefing of all he has read, experienced, and written.  The definition of this vital process is simply, “to carefully review upon completion.”[2]

But this chapter seems to be more important to him than just a review as he sealed the book with his personal witness.  Perhaps this is more what he had in mind:

Debriefing: “To discuss the actions and thought processes involved in a particular critical situation, encourage reflection on those actions and thought processes, and incorporate improvement into future performance.”[3]

It is easy to analyze this chapter as if it were a random compilation of refrigerator magnet quotes that popped into his head as he finished the plates again.  What insights might become evident if we were to ask ourselves a question, “What does …

Editor’s Note: Beloved Meridian author Darla Isackson recently passed away. We will continue to share her wonderful insights here periodically.

Since writing of my son’s suicide, in addition to responses from those who have also lost children this way, I have received e-mails from many parents of troubled children – children languishing in prison, children addicted to drugs and alcohol who have threatened and even tried to commit suicide, children who have left the gospel path or are wavering.  Although the experience I relate in regard to forgiving has come about because of my specific trial, I believe it will help anyone hurting because of the choices of others.

The Surprise Emotion: Anger

As my healing journey continues, a friend asked me what I am feeling at this stage. I feel intense gratitude for my knowledge of the gospel, and I feel that my deep sorrow is precious somehow – …

Joseph Smith was a unique individual, differing from every other religious leader in Christian history. Joseph’s brother, Hyrum Smith, once observed, “There were prophets before, but Joseph has the spirit and power of all the prophets” (History of the Church, 6:346).

President George Q. Cannon later explained why this is so. As head of the final dispensation—which Paul described as the “dispensation of the fullness of times in which God would gather together in one all things in Christ” (Ephesians 1:10)—it was Joseph Smith’s right and privilege to be visited and tutored by every former prophet who held priesthood authority and keys.

“He was visited constantly by angels,” President George Q. Cannon said of Joseph Smith. “These various angels, the heads of dispensations, . . . ministered unto him. . . . He had vision after vision in order that his mind might be fully saturated with a …

You’d never guess that Michael McLean, beloved storyteller and song writer, who has performed Forgotten Carols for 29 years, once faced a debilitating faith crisis. He has been as much a part of the holiday season for many Latter-day Saints as fireplaces and tree lights.

Even this year when COVID-19 made audiences in large venues impossible, instead of taking a hiatus for the season, he followed the lead of what Disney+ did with Hamilton, and filmed the production, which you still shouldn’t miss. Maybe, as January comes with heavy sighs, we need it more than ever. It is still playing in theaters and is available in both streaming and DVD formats. Click here https://forgottencarols.com/ to learn how to watch it.

It’s a good thing Michael was on film this year, instead of stage, because smack dab, in the middle of what would have been a slam of performances any …

Flattery has three levels.

Flattery 101:  Money 

Flattery picks up where the sincere compliment ends.  Telling someone he or she is smart, beautiful, strong, handsome, talented, etc., can be sincere, but can also turn into a sweet-talk, soft-soap, kiss-up manipulation.  As Shakespeare put it, “O, flatter me, for love delights in praises.”

The goal at this level is usually monetary gain.

Flattery 202:  Power

At the second level, flattery has a deeper meaning and dangerous purpose which should especially concern us today.  As I explain in my book on agency, every major villain in the Book of Mormon excelled at flattery – sympathetic promising words on the tongue of a charismatic personality – to gain power.  To name a few:     

• Sherem was “learned, that he had a perfect knowledge of the language of the people; wherefore, he could use much flattery …”[i]

• King Noah’s people “became idolatrous,