each must make a safe place of his heart,I really like this poem. It makes me picture God as if He were a wild, yet peaceful and curious, animal. With an animal like that we must first show it that we mean it no harm before it will approach us. Similarly, with God, we must make our heart a peaceful place where He can dwell. If we do that then He will come to us.
before so strange and wild a guest
as God approaches.
- Li-Young Lee
[A speaker at] our stake conference ... told the story of losing her daughter. She experienced immense grief and anger at God who would allow this. She said she was given a dream about five days after her daughter's passing.We should never think, "Oh, it's just a prayer. It's not doing much." What if it is? What if it is doing more than you think?
She was hanging white knuckle over the edge of a cliff with a black void below. She was terrified of falling, but her hands were cut and fatigued, and she was afraid of losing her grip. In her dream she got the impression to let go. This seemed impossible to her because the void below was so dark. She was terrified, but again and again she was impressed to let go, and finally she trusted that feeling and released.
As she was falling, she saw a net of light below her. She could tell it was going to give her a soft safe landing. When she hit the net, she felt wrapped in love and warmth. Then she examined the net and what she saw surprised her. She noticed that there were people at the ends of the net, and that the weave of it was made from light that streamed from them.
She was told in the dream that the strands of the net were made up of the prayers they had offered on her behalf. She saw people close to her who loved her, and they had the brightest and the biggest strands, but she also noticed there were hundreds of people she didn't recognize. She was told that the people she didn't recognize were all the people who had heard what had happened and offered prayers from afar. She closed with the message that no prayer is ever wasted.
The ultimate test of our discipleship is found in our willingness to give up and lose our old self and submit our heart and our whole soul to God so that His will becomes ours.Source: Aligning Our Will with His
- Elder Ulisses Soares
There is no substitute under the heavens for productive labor. It is the process by which dreams become realities. It is the process by which idle visions become dynamic achievements.
Most of us are inherently lazy. We would rather play than work. We would rather loaf than work. A little play and a little loafing are good. But it is work that spells the difference in the life of a man or woman. It is stretching our minds and utilizing the skills of our hands that lift us from mediocrity. It is work that provides the food we eat, the clothing we wear, the homes in which we live. We cannot deny the need for work with skilled hands and educated minds if we are to grow and prosper individually and if our nation is to stand tall before the world.
The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best medicine for despair is service. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired.
The more specific we are with our communication with the Lord, the more specific his answers are in return.I have noticed this in my own life. The times I have received the most direct answers to my prayers (questions, miracles, etc) is when my prayers have been the most direct and sincere.
- Dr. Craig Manning
Why is lust such a deadly sin? Well, in addition to the completely spirit-destroying impact it has upon our souls, I think it is a sin because it defiles the highest and holiest relationship God has given us in mortality, the love that a man and a woman have for each other and the desire that couple has to bring children into a family intended to be forever. Someone once said that true love must include the idea of permanence. True love endures, but lust changes as quickly as it can turn a pornographic page or glance at yet another potential object for gratification walking by, male or female.Source: Place No More for the Enemy of My Soul
True love we are absolutely giddy about as I am about Sister Holland. We shout it from the housetops, but lust is characterized by shame, stealth and is almost pathologically clandestine.
The true test of a man's character is what he does when no one is watching.Source: Follow Him Podcast
- Basketball coach John Wooden
One of the first signs that you may be doing something you shouldn't be doing is if you try to keep it a secret. ... keeping something secret is hiding because you're ashamed of what you're doing, you don't want people to know and you seek to cover up what you're doing or to hide. ... The first thing that Satan does when we've sinned is to tell us to hide. "Hide. Cover it up." He knows that if we hide that we are not seeking the Lord and we're not seeking light.Source: Follow Him Podcast
It's a good rule to live by. And with adults, it's the same thing. The scriptures say, "Anytime that you endeavor to hide your sin..." There's Adam and Eve in the garden. One of the first things, the first impulse is quick, run, hide. Instead of seek the Lord. Go to the Lord for refuge. The Lord can cleanse you and heal you. Satan knows that that is the pathway to freedom and joy, so he doesn't want us to do that. He wants us to stay in chains and bondage of sin. The only way to do that is to hide and to stay away from the source of light and truth.
Though it may not be reciprocated, such love is never wasted.Showing love to others by serving them or by reaching out to them is never a bad thing. It does not matter if an invitation is ignored or even if your love is responded to with disdain. We should continue to show love to as many others as we can.
- Elder Neal A. Maxwell
The less you want, the richer you are. No person has the power to have everything they want, but it is in their power not to want what they don’t have and to cheerfully put to good use what they do have.
- Seneca
It is not the man who has little, but he who desires more, that is poor.
- Seneca
Wealth is the accumulation of all the things you didn't buy but could have.It brings more happiness to learn to be content with what we have instead of buying more things. Also, when we do not buy the things we want in the short-term, we are able to afford more in the long-term.
- The White Coat Investor
You're smart, you're even exceptional, but you're not that smart. You are not resilient enough to tangle with the adversary. You can never match his cunning or his talent for deception and diversion. He will outsmart, outmaneuver and outlast you every time you willingly consent to a duel.Alma chapter 47, when Amalakiah was trying to stir up the Lamanites to fight the Nephites, the majority of the Lamanite army refused. They went up to the top of a hill, which was easily defensible, and appointed Lehonti to be their leader. Amalakiah then tried three times to get Lehonti to come down to meet with him. Each time Lehonti refused. Then Amalakiah went up near to the camp of Lehonti and asked him to only come down a little ways and to bring his guards. Amalakiah did everything he could to get Lehonti to come down from his place of security. All Amalakiah needed was just one opening.
- Sherry Dew
Between stimulus and response, there is a space. And in that space lies our freedom to choose our response. And in that space lies our growth and our happiness.We are agents for ourselves. When something acts on us, we have received a stimulus of some kind. We are free to choose our response to that stimulus. Growth comes as we overcome our natural insticts, which are usually a negative response. By overcoming the "natural man" we achieve growth. This self-mastery gives us true freedom and lasting happiness.
I must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.The Little Prince offers to protect his Rose from all pests, including caterpillars. The Rose responds with the quote above. We need to be patient with people when they are not at their best and learn to look for the good in them. We also never know how people will change and grow over time.
I'm occasionally asked, "Why doesn't the church spend more money on humanitarian work? Why doesn't it stop building expensive temples and focus its resources on relieving the poor?"Source: Follow Him podcast
This is a legitimate question for the church of Jesus Christ. But is it money that solves society's ills? The world has poured $2 trillion into addressing chronic issues in Africa. Why isn't the situation better? Because money isn't really the issue. Lasting progress comes through trusted relationships, infrastructure, reducing corruption and the ability of people to work together. Money doesn't necessarily create those things. They must be developed alongside resources and frankly, it's much harder work.
I will never discount the one thing this church does that lifts entire communities in rapid development. It invites men and women of all social classes and backgrounds to enter sacred buildings and make the most binding and important promises of their mortal lives. In those buildings, they promise not to steal, not to lie. They promise to be faithful to their spouse and children and they vow they will seek the interest of their neighbors and be peacemakers and become devoted to the idea that we're all one family, all valued and all alike unto God. If those promises made in holy temples are kept, it transforms society faster than any aid or development project ever could. The greatest charitable development on the planet is for people to bind themselves to God and mean it. Thank goodness the church builds 335 temples and counting. It's the greatest poverty alleviation system in the world.
Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just ordinary people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. ...- Jenkin Lloyd Jones
Life is like an old-time rail journey — delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.
