Whether or not the world would be vastly benefited by a total banishment from it of all intoxicating drinks seems now not an open question. Three-fourths of mankind confess the affirmative with their tongues, and I believe all the rest acknowledge it in their hearts.
Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our nation was founded.
In all of us is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage ? to know who we are, and where we have come from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, and an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness?
Our 5-year-old son came home from Primary one day singing "Keep the Commandments." We overheard him sing, "Keep the commandments, keep the commandments, unless there is safety, unless there is peace."
We sometimes have a tendency to drown the seedling when a light watering is adequate.
According to film critic Michael Medved, the claim that the entertainment industry merely reflects the level of violence in society simply is not true: If this were true, then why do so few people witness murders in real life but everybody sees them on TV and in Movies? The most violent ghetto isn't in South Central L.A. or Southeast Washington, D.C.; it's on television. About 350 characters appear each night on prime-time TV, but studies show an average of seven of these people are murdered every night. If this rate applied in reality, then in just 50 days everyone in the United States would be killed - and the last left could turn off the TV. If the entertainment industry is a mirror that reflects the level of violence in society, it is a treacherous funhouse mirror that provides a distorted image of reality. There is far more violence in the "reel" world than in the real world.
You have to develop under the influence of the spirit if you want the spirit to show through in the final product.
Our leisure, even our play, is a matter of serious concern. [That is because] there is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.
Closely related to the feeling of comfort is the...purpose or function of revelation, to uplift. At some time in our lives, each of us needs to be lifted up from a depression, from a sense of foreboding or inadequacy, or just a plateau of spiritual mediocrity. Because it raises our spirits and helps us resist evil and seek good, I believe that the feeling of uplift that is communicated by reading the scriptures or by enjoying wholesome music, art or literature is a distinct purpose of revelation.
If a matter appears of little or no consequence, we should proceed on the basis of our own judgment. If the choice is important for reasons unknown to us, the Lord will intervene and give us guidance.
We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best...
These principles and precedents, and others too numerous to cite in this limited space, are persuasive evidence that even an oppressive government that limits freedom is preferable to a state of lawlessness and anarchy in which the only ruling principle is force and every individual citizen has a thousand oppressors. Abraham Lincoln was espousing this preference when he said, "There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law." (Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, p. 635, 14th ed.) There are exceptions. The command of loyalty to laws and rulers does not compel a citizen to participate in or submit to a government edict that runs counter to the common consensus of humanity, such as genocide or other cold-blooded murder. Nor should it require a person to violate the fundamental tenets of religious faith.
All governments formed and administered by imperfect men will be oppressive and limit our freedoms in some measure, since they will inevitably mirror the imperfections of those who rule and those who are ruled. For this reason, we promote the cause of freedom and good government when we fulfill our religious duty to work for good laws, seek diligently for honest and wise rulers, and preach repentance to all citizens.
Most of us have more things expected of us than we can possibly do. As breadwinners, as parents, as Church workers and members, we face many choices on what we will do with our time and other resources. We should begin by recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it. The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives.
If anyone thinks that godly or parental love for an individual grants the loved one license to disobey the law, he or she does not understand either love or law.
When one person purports to receive revelation for another person outside his or her own area of responsibility - such as a Church member who claims to have revelation to guide the entire Church or a person who claims to have a revelation to guide another person over whom he or she has no presiding authority according to the order of the Church—you can be sure that such revelations are not from the Lord.
Sometimes we are delayed in the receipt of revelation, and sometimes we are left to our own judgment. We cannot force spiritual things. It must be so. Our life’s purpose to obtain experience and to develop faith would be frustrated if our Heavenly Father directed us in every act, even in every important act. We must make decisions and experience the consequences in order to develop self-reliance and faith.
I agree with whoever first said, “In order to keep Sunday holy, we must keep Saturday hopping.” It’s wonderful to greet the Sabbath with clothing clean and pressed, hair shampooed, church clothes laid out, and food for dinner prepared in advance.
We are the people being raised up in this new millennium. We are the ones who have been well educated. We are the ones who have been raised by good parents.The Lord is depending upon us to rise to the occasion. Be as good as you ought to be. Look as good as you ought to look. Be doing the things that you know are needed and are part of a good life.
One of the most significant ways you can improve learning and teaching is to take the time to orient new teachers, preferably before they give their first lessons.
In June of 1965, a group of brethren in the Physical Facilities Department of the Church was doing some work outside the Hotel Utah apartment of President David O. McKay. As President McKay stopped to explain to them the importance of the work in which they were engaged, he paused and told them the following: "Let me assure you, Brethren, that some day you will have a personal priesthood interview with the Savior, Himself. If you are interested, I will tell you the order in which He will ask you to account for your earthly responsibilities. "First, He will request an accountability report about your relationship with your wife. Have you been actively been engaged in making her happy and ensuring that her needs have been met as an individual? "Second, He will want an accountability report about each of your children individually. He will not attempt to have this for simply a family stewardship but will request information about your relationship to each and every child. "Third, He will want to know what you personally have done with the talents you were given in the pre-existence. "Fourth, He will want a summary of your activity in your Church assignments. He will not be necessarily interested in what assignments you have had, for in his eyes the home teacher and a mission president are probably equals, but He will request a summary of how you have been of service to your fellowmen in your Church assignments. "Fifth, He will have no interest in how you earned your living, but if you were honest in all your dealings. "Sixth, He will ask for an accountability on what you have done to contribute in a positive manner to your community, state, country and the world."
When the Lord tells you what to do, you've got to have the courage to do it or you had better not ask him again.
Marriage is that relation between man and woman in which the independence is equal, the dependence mutual, and the obligation is reciprocal.
Our central quest is to learn and to live the celestial law...If we can learn to abide the celestial law, we become what the scripture calls persons of a celestial spirit.
..the more effective we are at training our children to make right choices, the easier it is to correct them when they don't. This is because the better we teach our children, the more correcting them becomes merely an extension of that teaching. The particular method of discipline we use will then matter less because: (1) we will be doing it less often, and (2) whichever method we use will feel to our children more like teaching and less like retribution. Far from seeing our children as irritations, or as disloyal and ungrateful burdens who require correction, we will begin to see them instead as children who have not yet learned. The emotional character of our correction will be loving and helpful rather than impatient and angry.
I have realized that one essential key to effective parenting is to reverse this order in expenditure of time and energy. In spite of the situation or circumstances, I must begin focusing my energy on helping things go right rather than on handling them once they have gone wrong.
In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
Depictions of violence often glamorize vicious behavior. They offend the spirit and make you less able to respond to others in a sensitive, caring way.They contradict the Savior's message of love for one another.
Before we get on a bus, we should ask the bus driver a few questions...When we get on the "gospel" bus, we are both passenger and driver. The bus itself is what carries us to our ultimate goal, powered by the most efficient and perfect engine in the universe — the Atonement. But we decide where we are going to go, how fast we get there, and how firmly we put the "pedal to the metal". We all take detours, and it can be a bumpy ride. But this is a "smart bus" with a Gospel Positioning System that invariably points us back to our destination. Our refueling stations are beautiful, and our bus doesn't go very far if we don’t visit them and refuel often enough. And if we can see clearly, we will notice the cheering crowds on either side of our road, smiling and waving as we head toward the Eternal City. And the best thing is that we can invite others along for the ride!
Death is not the ultimate tragedy. The ultimate tragedy is not doing what you were born to do.
When we are living hand in hand with our Savior and Father in Heaven, doors will open so we can accomplish what needs to be done.
Ignorance is expensive; in fact, it is the most expensive commodity we know anything about. Certainly we make many mistakes through ignorance. If it is a violation of a commandment of God which we have never received and thus do not know, then the Lord does not hold us guilty of the sin. ??to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.? (James 4:17.) And in Paul?s words, ??where no law is, there is no transgression.?(Rom. 4:15.)But even though we may not be guilty of the sin because of our ignorance, neither can we receive the blessing, which is predicated on obedience, without rendering obedience to that law. Therefore, we are denied the blessing through our ignorance. If it is a traffic law we have violated through ignorance, the penalty assessed us is exactly the same as if we had known. Also, if we stick a finger in an electric light socket, we will receive the same shock, irrespective of our knowledge of electricity. I repeat, ignorance is expensive. Particularly is this true since the Lord has decreed, ?It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance.? (D&C 131:6.) For surely no man is truly enlightened unless he knows the Lord.
We can expect in our service to have help sent to us at the right time who will see strength in us and lift us up. And we can look forward to being the one sent by the Lord to encourage another.
When those feelings of inadequacy strike us, it is the time to remember the Savior. He assures us that we don't do this work alone. There are scriptures to put on your mirror and to remember in the moments when you are doubting your capacity.
Increased spritual strength is a gift from God which He can give when we push in His service to our limits. Through the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our natures can be changed. Then our power to carry burdens can be increased more than enough to compensate for the increased service we will be asked to give. That helps me understand when I see someone else who makes priesthood service look easy. I know that they have either passed hard tests or that the tests lie ahead. So rather than envying them, I stand ready to help when the going gets harder for them, because it surely will.
Those of you further down the road are smiling because you know something about priesthood service. It is this: the more faithful service you give, the more the Lord asks you. Your smile is a happy one because you know that He increases our power to carry the heavier load. The tough part of that reality, however is that for him to give you that increased power you must go in service to and faith to your outer limits. It is like building muscle strength. You must break down your muscles to build them up. You push muscles to the point of exhaustion. Then they repair themselves, and they develop greater strength.
But exactly what are the things of the world? An easy and infallible test has been given us in the well-known maxim "You can have anything in this world for money." If a thing is of this world, you can have it for money; if you cannot have it for money, it does not belong to this world.
The great battles of this world often are not fought on the front lines but in the general?s tent, where tears are shed as difficult decisions are made that mean the expenditure of lives and equipment. Still, those battles must be fought...Make those decisions now...so that when you are on the battlefield all of the tough decisions will have already been made.?
The great battles of this world often are not fought on the front lines but in the general?s tent, where tears are shed as difficult decisions are made that mean the expenditure of lives and equipment. Still, those battles must be fought...Make those decisions now...so that when you are on the battlefield all of the tough decisions will have already been made.
Sometimes excellence has come to mean a narrow focus on a single quality. A solitary virtue is a very lonely, austere reality. Godly virtues travel with companions...The focus on a single virtue to the exclusion of others can be very dangerous.
We must recognize that our natural gifts and abilities are limited, but when augmented by inspiration and guidance of The Holy Ghost, our potential increases manyfold. You need help from a power beyond your own to do something extraordinarily useful. You young men can have opportunities and receive blessings beyond your wildest dreams and expectations. Your future may not hold fame or fortune, but it can be something far more lasting and fulfilling. Remember that what we do in life echoes in eternity.
The word variety is not found in the standard works; the word is reserved for our most sacred houses of worship. We learn there that the Creator glories in variety. This little detail speaks volumes. It practically opens up a whole new subclass of theology. It takes God from the realm where nothing is authorized except strict adherence to narrow and unyielding law, to a realm where anything good and beautiful is possible and permissible. I like to think, for example, that the Creator had an infinite variety of possible choices in how to fashion, say, the lilies of the field. Innumerable choices were sufficiently good and righteous. He simply chose how to form the lily according to what gave him joy. Having a perfect command of all eternal laws and possessing an infinite creativity, his palette was endless. Goodness and beauty was the only requirement. And looking at slugs and grubs and houseflies it’s obvious God’s idea of beauty is infinitely more expansive than mine. This idea of creative process makes perfect sense when we observe the universe around us - every planet, star, and galaxy have some eternal law in common, yet all are different in form and all possess their own distinctive beauty.
The combination of a simple gospel truth with an appealing melody is one of the greatest teachers we will ever have.
In the most difficult and discouraging days of World War II, Winston Churchill said to the people of England: "To every man there comes...that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a special thing unique to him and fitted to his talent. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour."
Watch for the right time and season, show gratitude for your gifts by magnifying and using them with pure intentions with an eye single to the glory of God and He will bless your efforts.
Priciple for Answers to Prayer... (1) Show Faith Through Works: "The legendary football coach Knute Rockne implied the same principle when he said, I've found that prayers work best when you have big players.' (2) Stop Worrying: "When we worry about the future, we create unhappiness in the present." Instead, we should do all we can and "leave the worrying to your Heavenly Father". (3) Do Good: "As we do good, the Lord can bless our efforts. As our actions contradict our professions of faith, our prayers become weak. When we do good, the Lord can work though us and magnify our efforts." (4) Delight in the Lord: Instead of displaying concern about unanswered prayers, be grateful and happy. "Know that the Lord, in his time, will bring about all your righteous desires, sometimes in ways we predict, others in ways we could not have possibly foreseen." (5) Commit to keeping the Lord's commandments. (6) Wait: "The Lord has his own timetable and, although it may frustrate us, his timing is always perfect,"
When we go into debt, we give away some of our precious, priceless agency and place ourselves in self-imposed servitude. We obligate our time, energy, and means to repay what we have borrowed - resources that could have been used to help ourselves, our families, and others...
It is true we are all engaged in a warfare, and all of us should be valiant warriors in the cause in which we are engaged. Our first enemy we will find within ourselves. It is a good thing to overcome that enemy first and bring ourselves into subjection to the will of the Father, and into strict obedience to the principles of life and salvation which he has given to the world for the salvation of men. When we shall have conquered ourselves, it will be well for us to wage our war without, against false teachings, false doctrines, false customs, habits and ways, against error, unbelief, the follies of the world that are so prevalent, and against infidelity, and false science, under the name of science, and every other thing that strikes at the foundations of the principles set forth in the doctrine of Christ for the redemption of men and the salvation of their souls. We should war against covetousness, against pride, vanity, haughtiness of spirit, against self-sufficiency, and imagined or supposed almighty power that some people think they possess. God is the greatest man of war of all, and His Son is next unto Him, and their warfare is for the salvation of the souls of men.
Our nation, which possesses greater resources than any other, is rent, from center to circumference, with party strife, political intrigues, and sectional interest; our counselors are panic stricken, our legislators are astonished, and our senators are confounded, our merchants are paralyzed, our tradesmen are disheartened, our mechanics out of employ, our farmers distressed, and our poor crying for bread, our banks are broken, our credit ruined, and our states overwhelmed in debt, yet we are, and have been in peace...
Could you gaze into heaven for 5 minutes, you would know more than you would by reading all that ever was written on the subject.
(Words of James Burgess): In the month of May 1843, several miles east of Nauvoo, the Nauvoo Legion was on parade and review, at the close of which Joseph Smith made some remarks upon our condition as a people and upon our future prospects, contrasting our present condition with our past trials and persecutions by the hands of our enemies; also upon the Constitution and government of the United States, stating that the time would come when the Constitution and government would hang by a brittle thread and would be ready to fall into other hands, but the righteous people will step forth and save it. I, James Burgess, was present and testify to the above,
Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world's goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all.
Then I realized that every time we ask our Father for anything in prayer we are asking for His mercy. We are asking Him to do something for us we cannot do for ourselves. We cannot expect to receive his mercy unless we ourselves are being merciful to others.
For those of us who believe in the Second Coming of the Savior, the speed with which events can unfold (as evidenced by the collapse of communism in Europe) should not be lost on us.
Now, the prospect of death overshadows all others for me. I am like a man on a sea voyage nearing his destination. When I embarked, I worried about having a cabin with a porthole, whether I should be asked to sit at the captain's table, who were the more attractive and important passengers. All such considerations become pointless, however, when I shall soon be disembarking.
Your knowledge of your life before birth will be restored.
I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart.
God wants men to do good, but he never forces them and does not want them to be forced. He placed in and left with them the power of election. When they do good, he honors them because they could have done evil. When they are coerced, they are entitled to no such honor. God allows men to make their own choices, and he has reserved to himself the judgment as to the correctness of their choices. Free agency has always had rough going, however. Over it the War in Heaven was fought. In the earth it has been abridged by almost all governments, civil and ecclesiastical. Apostate churchmen, kings, and other rulers have from the beginning arrogated judgment unto themselves. They have, contrary to God's law of liberty, preempted man's right, with or without his consent, to determine what would be best for them to do and by every means within their power have undertaken to force men to do their bidding.
The house of Israel is paramount in the history of mankind. It has the leading role on the stage of religious mortality. The sacred history of this world will someday be written in terms of Israel — God's covenant with Israel; God's struggles with wayward Israel; God's subsequent scattering of Israel; God's latter-day restoration of the gospel to Israel; God's gathering of Israel, and Israel's ultimate habitation of this world when it becomes celestialized.
The scriptures clearly give to understand that the elect of Israel, together with Abraham and all of the foreordained prophets, were the more obedient and valiant spirits in their pre-mortal defense of Jehovah, the pre-mortal Christ, and of his gospel plan of individual freedom and exaltation. They were those who followed him, seeking truth and righteousness. God is no respecter of persons. His organization and foreordination of the house of Israel (or Jacob) in pre-mortality to become his elect and covenant people on earth was justly occasioned by obedience and valor. God identified, among all of the pre-mortal hosts, those who had qualified themselves to be counted among his chosen people.
I'm often extremely busy, and yet I'm wasting time. How about you? Other times I can be relaxing, thinking and feeling, pondering - and I'm using time very, very well! I don't want to mistake busyness for being effective or using time well. More busyness is not evidence that I'm good at using my time.
We don't put first things first to get them done and out of the way - we put them first because of the critical effect they have on everything that follows.
Whatever it is, figuring out your own best time will save you time. I find that when I'm tired, when my battery is running low, when I'm exhausted and weary, is not a good time to plan because I don't always make my best decisions then. Everything looks bigger and harder.
We may enjoy a few do-nothing days, but there are no do-nothing seasons.
Let's be supportive and kind to each other because we may be in a different season than our neighbor, our sister, our mother at our age, or whatever. We can't judge each other because we're in different seasons and situations.
Somehow, when we do what God asks us to do, the best we can, keeping first things first, out time seems to come back to us, added upon and multiplied. It's a miracle.
God sometimes answers your pleas for help in invisible ways, like a silent hand upon your shoulder, a waft of light across your heart, a moment of sudden clarity. It is subtle. Sometimes, however, his interventions are direct and tangible and so evident you can remember it years later.
Find some quiet time regularly to think deeply about where you are going and what you will need to do to get there. Jesus, our exemplar, often 'withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed' (Luke 5:16). We need to do the same thing occasionally to rejuvinate ourselves spritually as the Savior did.
The family is the basic unit of society; it is the basic unit of eternity. Thus, when forces threaten the family, Church leaders must respond.
Because of its sheer size, media today presents vast and sharply contrasting options. Opposite from its harmful and permissive side, media offers much that is positive and productive. Television offers histroy channels, discovery channels, education channels. One can still find movies and TV comedies and dramas that entertain and uplift and accurately depict the consequences of right and wrong. The Internet can be a fabulous tool of information and communication, and there is an unlimited supply of good music in the world. Thus our biggest challenge is to choose wisely what we listen to and what we watch.
The choices we make in media can be symbolic of the choices we make in life. Choosing the trendy, the titillating, the tawdry in the TV programs or movies we watch can cause us to end up, if we're not careful, choosing the same things in the lives we live.
Often the media's most devistating attacks on family are not direct or frontal or openly immoral. Intelligent evil is too cunning for that, knowing that most people still profess belief in family and in traditional values. Rather the attacks are subtle and amoral - issues of right and wrong don't even come up.
Besides making our voices heard, let me conclude with seven things that every parent can do to minimize the negative effect media can have on our families: (1) We need to hold family councils and decide what our media standards are going to be. (2) We need to spend enough quality time with our children that we are consistently the main influence in their lives, not the media or any peer group. (3) We need to make good media choices ourselves and set good examples for our children. (4) We need to limit the amount of time our children watch TV or play video games or use the internet each day. Virtual reality must not become their reality. (5) We need to use Internet filters and TV programming locks to prevent our children from "chancing upon" things they should not see. (6) We need to have TVs and computers in a much-used common room in the home, not in a bedroom or a private place. (7) We need to take time to watch appropriate media with our children and discuss with them how to make choices that will uplift and build rather than degrade and destroy.
We should strive to change the corrupt and immoral tendencies in television and in society by keeping things that offend and debase out of our homes. In spite of all the wickedness in the world, and in spite of all the opposition to good that we find on every hand, we should not try to take ourselves or our children out of the world. Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven," or yeast. (Matt. 13:33.) We are to lift the world and help all to rise above the wickedness that surrounds us.
The Lord does not need a society that hides and isolates itself from the world. Rather, he needs stalwart individuals and families who live exemplary lives in the world and demonstrate that the joy and fulfillment come not of the world but through the spirit and the doctrine of Jesus Christ.
I believe that the desensitizing effect of such media abuses on the hearts and souls of those who are exposed to them results in a partial fulfillment of the Savior's statement that 'because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.'
There is no role in life more essential and more eternal than that of motherhood.
"...I know something of a mother's emotions that accompany her commitment to be at home with young children. There are moments of great joy and incredible fulfillment, but there are also moments of a sense of inadequacy, monotony, and frustration. Mothers may feel they recieve little or no appreciation for the choice they have made. Sometimes even husbands seem to have no idea of the demands upon their wives.
Recognize the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction.
Water cannot be drawn from an empty well, and if you are not setting aside a little time for what replenishes you, you will have less and less to give others, even to your children.
Parents can offer a unique and wonderful kind of prayer because they are praying to the Eternal Parent of us all. There is great power in a prayer that essentially says, "We are steward-parents over Thy children, Father; please help us to raise them as Thou wouldst want them raised."
Come home from work and take an active role with your family. Don't put work, friends, or sports ahead of listening to, playing with, and teaching your children.
May I suggest that the bishopric and the ward council members be especially watchful and considerate of the time and resource demands on young mothers and their families. Know them and be wise in what you ask them to do at this time in their lives.
If any of you are struggling with contention in your homes, you can change this. Talk with your family. Ask for their help. Tell them you don't want a contentious spirit in the home anymore and discuss what each family member can do to prevent it.
Parents need to give children choices and should be prepared to appropriately adjust some rules, thus preparing children for real-world situations.
Help children understand the reasons for the rules, and always follow through with appropriate discipline when rules are broken. It is important as well to praise appropriate behavior.
It can be equally destructive when parents are too permissive and overindulge their children, allowing children to do as they please. Parents need to set limits in accordance with the importance of the matter involved and the child's disposition and maturity.
Parents should work to create loving, eternal connections with their children. Reproof or correction will sometimes be required. But it must be done sensitively, persuasively, with an increase of love thereafter lest the child esteem the parent to be an enemy (see D&C 121:43).
As husbands, wives, and children recognize the difference between basic necessities and material wants, they lessen family financial burdens and contribute to helping mothers be at home.
Because our mothers love us, we learn, or more accurately remember, that God also loves us.
A mother's nurturing love arouses in children, from their earliest days on earth, an awakening of the memories of love and goodness they experienced in their premortal existence.
We know that a father's role does not end with presiding, providing, and protecting family members. On a day-to-day basis, fathers can and should help with the essential nurturing and bonding associated with feeding, playing, storytelling, loving, and all the rest of the activities that make up family life.
Couples unhappy in their marriages tend not to give appropriate gospel instruction in the home. They are less likely to be committed to gospel principles in their own lives.
I'm wondering if many of you parents, you couples, have lost that essential moment of kneeling together at the end of the day, just the two of you, holding hands and saying your prayers. If that has slipped away from your daily routine, may I suggest you put it back - beginning tonight!
Learning the power of calmness was one of the greatest lessons I learned. From the beginning of time, the forces of evil have tried to get the forces of good to lose control of their emotions. If we lose emotional control, then we are easily manipulated by the evil force. The evil forces would have us selfishly destroy all our most precious relationships by losing control of our emotions...Years ago, when I had troubled foster teens living with me I made a conscious choice. I decided that behaviors were not people, they were behaviors. I knew I had to love the person with or without the behavior, so I could not allow the behavior to manipulate my emotions or my relationship.
We will yet have Miltons and Shakespeares of our own. God's ammunition is not exhausted. His brightest spirits are held in reserve for the latter times. In God's name and by His help we will build up literature whose top shall touch heaven, though its foundation may now be low on earth.
The sooner the present generation lose all reverence and respect for modern "Christianity" with all its powerless forms and solemn mockeries, the sooner they will be prepared to receive the kingdom of God. The sooner the treasuries of nations, and the purses of individuals, are relieved from the support of priestcraft and superstitions, so much sooner will they be able and willing to devote their means and influence to print and publish the glad tidings of the fullness of the Gospel, restored in this age, to assist in the gathering of the house of Israel, and in the building of the cities and temples of Zion and Jerusalem.
Heaven is a continuation of the ideal home.
He that hath knowledge spareth his words. Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace is counted wise; and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his footsteps
God's delays are not always God's denials.
Upward growth occurs in cycles that build upon each other in an ascending spiral of capacity and understatnding.
Knowledge carefully recorded is knowledge available in time of need.
As you live high standards publicly and privately, and even under great pressure adhere to them, you raise the vision of others, helping them realize more of their divine capacity. Like a worthy magnet, you will draw others to a higher standard.
Choose good friends, those who have made similar decisions in their lives, those like yourself who are wise enough to live a life of order and restraint. When one gets off track, it is generally because the other kind of friends were chosen. Be surrounded by true friends who accept you the way you are and leave you better because of their association.
When the things that you acquire are used as tools to help others, they won't rule your life.
The whole course of your life may be altered for your happiness and the Lord's purposes.
Then, when you find yourself in the battlefield of life, don't change your standards.
Your quiet, uncompomising determination to live a righteous life will couple you to inspiration and power beyond your capacity now to understand.
Life is a workshop where you can test the correctness of the principles you have chosen to guide your life. Now is the time to set your course, to establish fundamental priorities.
Satan will use rationalization to destroy you. That is, he will twist something you know to be wrong so that it appears to be acceptable and thus progressively lead you to destruction.
Because of great men and women who were willing to use their unique gifts and talents and make sacrifices for the benefit of mankind, Joseph was born in a free land where people were allowed to worship as they pleased. The Restoration took place when all was prepared here on earth...
It is not enough just to save ourselves. It is equally important that parents, brothers, and sisters are saved in our families. If we return home alone to our Heavenly Father, we will be asked, 'Where is the rest of the family?' This is why we teach that families are forever. The eternal nature of an individual becomes the eternal nature of the family.
Whoever approaches a child without humility, without wonderment and without infinite respect, misses his judgment of what is before him...Children are greater than the grown man. All grown men have more experience, but only a very few retain the greatness that was theirs before the system of compromises began in their lives.
As experiences accumulate in our lives, they add strength and support to each other.
It has been my experience that very little occurs in the way of transgression that is not first rehearsed and debated in one's own own mind. A key to avoiding these pitfalls is to let virtue guide our thoughts and deeds always, not allowing our minds to wander into places where they should not go.
While divine love can be called perfect, infinite, enduring, and universal, it cannot correctly be characterized as unconditional. The word does not appear in the scriptures. On the other hand, many verses affirm that the higher levels of love the Father and the Son feel for each of us — and certain divine blessings stemming from that love — are conditional.
If families fail, many of our political, economic, and social systems will also fail.
Most of the disaffected have separated themselves from full fellowship in the Church not because of doctrinal disputations, but because of hurt, neglect, or lack of love. Progress toward full participation in the blessings of the gospel needs no new programs, only a new vision of love that can be rendered best by friends and neighbors.
We cannot wish our way into the presence of God. We are to obey the laws upon which those blessings are predicated.
When giving necessary correction, do it quietly, privately, lovingly, and not publicly. If a rebuke is required, show an increase of love promptly so that seeds of resentment may not remain.
...the future of nations is linked to children. Families with children need to be re-enthroned as the fundamental unit of society.
In God's eternal plan, salvation is an individual matter; exaltation is a family matter.
Do not try to control your children. Instead, listen to them, help them to learn the gospel, inspire them, and lead them toward eternal life.
Education is the continuing process of learning which carries on long after the classrooms close behind you.
Much of the success in life comes from simply showing up, working hard and paying attention. Invariably, what we learn in school or on the job can assist us later, sometimes in circumstances we do not expect...But the 'school of hard knocks' will not teach us all we need to know to return back to the presence of the Father. The Lord does not desire we simply be acted upon in order to learn.
Sometimes, life's greatest lessons come to us at the most dreadful times of our lives...How we respond at such times of crisis determines if such challenges will be times for progression or merely times of suffering.
Participate in class discussions in Sunday School, Priesthood and Relief Society. The Spirit comes in greater abundance when class members come prepared to act, not just be acted upon. By participating in class discussions during Sunday worship, individuals fulfill the charge in the Doctrine and Covenants to teach one another. Read the lessons beforehand, and come prepared to share your insights in the class discussion. Participation in a gospel-teaching setting provides added opportunities for the Holy Ghost to act upon those in attendance. A question or comment expressed during a class discussion can many times be more effective than the best and most well-prepared gospel lecture. We cannot afford to come to gospel classes simply expecting to be entertained. Real learning occurs if we come prepared and then to participate in the gospel discussion.
...studying shouldn't stop with the scriptures. Education comes as individuals seek to understand all points of view and study out of all of the 'best books'. The Lord does not want the members of His Church to be ignorant and uninformed. We have a responsibility to know what is going on in our world. We cannot be experts in all things, but an expanded general knowledge will help us to be better parents, citizens, teachers and members of the Church.
The Lord has promised us that which we learn in this world will be a benefit to us in the worlds to come.
You, alone, are responsible for your spiritual growth and accumulation of worldly knowledge...
Let the scriptures be your guide, and you will never find yourself on the road to nowhere.
I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and non-existent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey — now.
...As you walk through life, always walk toward the light, and the shadows of life wil fall behind you...
It would be easy to become discouraged and cynical about the future — or even fearful of what might come — if we allowed ourselves to dwell only on that which is wrong in the world and in our lives. Today, however, I'd like us to turn our thoughts and our attitudes away from the troubles around us and to focus instead on our blessings as members of the Church. … My beloved brothers and sisters, fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith.