"Sometimes the Lord Calms the storm;
Sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms the child."
"Everyman has secret sorrows that the world knows not;
And oftentimes we call a man cold when he is only sad."
Longfellow
"As if you could kill time without injuring eternity!"
Henry David Thoreau
"All that is required for evil to win is for good men to do nothing!"
Edmund Burke
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because of it I see everything else."
C. S. Lewis
"Oftentimes the devil behaves as a perfect gentleman."
"There will come a time when the rapidity with which we respond to prophetic counsel will be the difference between spiritual safety and spiritual peril."
Elder David Bednar
"IF"
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too.
If you can wait and not be tired of waiting
Or be lied about--don't deal in lies.
Or be hated--don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look to good, nor talk too wise.
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim.
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to--broken,
And stoop and build them up with worn out tools.
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch and toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss.
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve their turn long after they are gone.
And to hold on when there is nothing within you
except the will which says to them, "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue
or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch.
If neither foes or loving friends can hurt you
If all men count with you, but none too much.
If you can fill the unforgiving minutes
with sixty seconds worth of distance run
Yours is the earth and everything that's in it,
And which is more, you'll be a man, my son.
Rudyard Kipling
The place to take the true measure of a man is not in the darkest place or in the amen corner, not the cornfield, but by his own fireside. There he lays aside his mask and you may learn whether he is an imp or an angel, cur or king, hero or humbug. I care not what the world says of him: whether it crowns him boss or pelts him with bad eggs. I care not a copper what his reputation or religion may be: if his babies dread his homecoming and his better half swallows her heart every time she has to ask him for a five-dollar bill, his is a fraud of the first water, even though he prays night and morning until he is black in the face.... But if his children rush to the front door to meet him and love's sunshine illuminates the face of his wife every time she hears his footfall, you can take it for granted that he is pure, for his home is a heaven... I can forgive much in that fellow mortal who would rather make men swear than women weep; who would rather have the gate of the whole world than the contempt of his wife; who would rather call anger to the eyes of a king than fear to the face of a child.
--H. Burke Peterson Oct. 1982 from Elbert Hubbard's Scrapbook
Neal A. Maxwell, All Things Shall Give Thee Experience, pg.29
C.S. Lewis put it well when he gave us the analogy of remodeling the human soul and a living
house: "Imagine yourself as a living house, God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: You knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently, He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace."
(Mere Christianity {New York: Macmillan, 1960}, p. 174.)
"The reason we do not have secrets of the Lord revealed unto us is because we do not keep them but reveal them; We do not keep our own secrets, but reveal our difficulties to the world, even to our enemies, then how would we keep the secrets of the Lord? I can keep a secret till Doomsday."
Joseph Smith, 19 Dec. 1841 [Alma 12:9, etc.]
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be, you are a child of God. your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so others won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the Glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
Nelson Mandela, Presidential Inauguration 1994
"The trouble with talking too quickly is that you may say something you haven't thought of yet."
Ann Landers
Rationalizing-- Bringing one's ideals down to the level of one's conduct.
Repentance-- Bringing one's conduct up to the level of one's ideals.
"Having children makes you no more a parent than having a piano makes you a pianist."
Michael Levine
"You don't pay for things with money, you pay for them with bits of your life. The phrase "spending your time" is not a metaphor, it is how life works."
Charles Spezanno
"Promise yourself to be strong so that nothing can disturb your peace of mind, to make friends feel that there is something inside them. Look on the bright side of everything and make your dreams come true. To think the best, to forget the mistakes of the past, and to press on to other things. To give so much time to improving yourself, that you don't have time to criticize others. To be too large for worries, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, too happy to permit the presence of trouble. To think too well of yourself and to proclaim this force to the world, not in loud voices, but in great works."
James E. Talmage
"If you begin to live life looking for the God that is all around you, every moment becomes a prayer."
Frank Bianco --- Archdiocese of Hartford, Conn
Godliness and thus true genius would seem to lie close to that unique capacity of recognizing uniqueness in the unimpressive:
It is looking at a
A homely caterpillar
An ordinary egg or
A selfish infant
and seeing
A butterfly
An eagle and
a saint
William Arthur Ward
"Too often we realize too late....that the marvel of life was in the passing moment."
Francios Miheraad
"What win I if I gain the thing I seek
Who buys a minute's mirth to wail a week?
Or sells eternity to buy a toy
For one sweet grape -- who would the vine destroy?
And the winner is....
Between Power and Patience ---
Always bet on Patience.
W.B. Prescott
"It was neither preaching nor praying that made a better man of me, but one or two people who believed in me better than I deserved, and I hated to disappoint them."
Owen Wister
"If we haven't chosen the Kingdom of God first, it will make no difference in the end what you have chosen instead."
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
"The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken."
Samuel Johnson
"It takes less time to do a thing right, than to explain why you did it wrong."
Longfellow
Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.
(Margaret D. Nadauld, CR, Oct. 2000, pp. 16-17).
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost,
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
J.R.R. Tolkien
"The Lord has no confidence in those who reveal secrets, for he cannot safely reveal himself to such persons"
Brigham Young, Discourses pp 62-63
"There is a need for decisions of character aside from sympathy"
Joseph Smith, Jr.
Joe Wright's prayer of calling good evil and evil good.
The prayer delivered January 23, 1996 by the Reverend Joe Wright to the Kansas House.
Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and seek your direction and guidance. We know your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but that's exactly what we've done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.
We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it moral pluralism.
We have worshipped other gods and called it multi-culturalism.
We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem.
We have abused power and called it political savvy.
We have coveted our neighbors' possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us O God and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless those men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by you, to govern this great state. Grant them your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of your will. I ask it in the name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ.
"Would a man go into battle without his armor unless he underestimated the enemy?"
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
You got it from your father, it was all he had to give.
So it's yours to use and cherish, for as long as you may live.
If you lose the watch he gave you, it can always be replaced,
But a black mark on your name, son, can never be erased.
It was clean the day you took it and a worthy name to bear,
When he got it from his father, there was no dishonor there,
So make sure you guard it wisely, after all is said and done,
You'll be glad the name is spotless, when you give it to your son.
"Let us review some of these less conspicuous gifts; the gift of asking; the gift of listening; the gift of hearing and using a still, small voice; the gift of being able to weep; the gift of being agreeable; the gift of avoiding vain repetition; the gift of seeking that which is righteous; the gift of not passing judgment; the gift of looking to God for guidance; the gift of being a disciple; the gift of caring for others; the gift of being able to ponder; the gift of offering prayer; the gift of bearing a mighty testimony; and the gift of receiving the Holy Ghost."
Elder Marvin J. Ashton CR Oct. 87 p. 23
In a conversation in the Bednar home shortly after Elder Maxwell was recovering from his bout with Leukemia, Elder Bednar asked Elder Maxwell what he had learned from his battle with leukemia, and without hesitation Elder Maxwell said, "I have learned that it is more important not to shrink than to survive"
Elder Bednar, BYU-Idaho Devotional 11/16/04
"Men, be careful not to make women cry, for God counts their tears."
President Thomas S. Monson, November Conference, 1990
"People are often unreasonable and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of having ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you.
Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Give the world your best and it may never be enough.
Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway."
Mother Theresa
"To believe in God is to know that all the rules will be fair and there will be some wonderful surprises."
Mary Corita Kent
The Old Fisherman
Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore . We lived downstairs and rented the room upstairs to outpatients at the clinic.
One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. "Why, he's hardly taller than my eight-year-old," I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled body. But the appalling thing was his face-lopsided from swelling, red and raw.
Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, "Good evening. I've come to see if you've a room for just one night. I cam for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there's no bus till morning." He told me he'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no success-, no one seemed to have a room. "I guess it's my face...I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments..."
For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: "I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning."
I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch meanwhile. Then I went inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old man if he would join us. "No, thank you. I have plenty." And he held up a brown paper bag.
When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him a few minutes. It didn't take long to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body.
He told me that he fished for a living to support his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury. He didn't tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence we prefaced with a thanks to God for a blessing. He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going.
At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's room for him. When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and the little man was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favor, he said, "Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won't put you out a bit. I can sleep fine in a chair." He paused a moment and then added, "Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don't seem to mind."
I told him he was welcome to come again. And on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had shucked them that morning before he left so that they'd be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4:00 am...and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us.
In the years he came to stay overnight with us there was never a time that he didn't bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden.
Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special deliver; fish and oysters packed in a box of fresh young spinach or kale, every leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these, and knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious.
When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made after he left that first morning. "Did you keep that awful looking man last night?? I turned him away! He can lose roomers by putting up such people!"
Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice. But oh!-if only they could have known him, perhaps their illnesses would have easier to bear. I know our family always will to grateful to have known him; from him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to God.
Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse. As she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all-a golden chrysanthemum, bursting wit blooms. But to my great surprise, it was growing in an old, dented, rusty bucket. I thought to myself, "If this were my plant, I'd put it in the loveliest container I had!"
My friend changed my mind. "I ran short of pots," she explained, "and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn't mind starting out in this old pail. It's just for little while, till I can put it out in the garden."
She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imagining just such ha scene in heaven. "Here's an especially beautiful one." God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet fisherman. "He won't mind starting in this small body."
All this happened long ago-and now, in God's garden, how tall this lovely soul must stand. IF WE COULD JUST SEE IN OTHERS WHAT GOD IS ABLE TO SEE!
|
"Trials are medicines which our gracious and wise Physician prescribes because we need them; and he proportions the frequency and weight of them to what the case requires. Let us trust his skill and thank him for his prescription." |
The Throne of his father David] Our Lord was heir to David's throne in both the temporal and eternal sense of the word. Mary his literal mather and Joseph his foster father were descendants of David. Indeed, their lineage was in the royal house itself. "Had Judah been a free and independent nation, ruled by her rightful sovereign, Joseph the carpenter would have been crowned king; and his lawful successor to the throne would have been Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." (Talmage, pp. 87, 90.) Thus Jesus was an heir to the throne of the temporal kingdom. But in a far greater sense, he is the Eternal King of Israel -- the King whom they once served in all their ancient trials and tribulations, the King whom they shall serve again when the scattered remnants of Israel are gathered into one great millennial kingdom, with our Lord, the King, reigning personally upon the earth. (Ezek. 37:21-28; Tenth Article of Faith.)Bruce R McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, Vol. 1, p83-84 |
"If we had the Old Testament as it was originally written, mankind would have a most powerful--an infallible--witness that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Christ, that He gave the Law of Moses, that He was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that His coming into mortality was plainly foretold in a detailed manner, in holy writ."When Nephi spoke of the 'plain and precious parts' of the scripture which were eliminated, he spoke of the WITNESS FOR CHRIST which is no longer in the Old Testament."The witness for Christ was the most important thing in that ancient record, and that is what was eliminated by enemies of Christ who sought to destroy all scriptural marks of identification which might have clearly identified Him as the Savior of the world."Church News, 22 January 1966, p. 16.) |
"No man knows how bad he is till he has tried so hard to be good. A silly idea is current, that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of the wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives into temptation after five minutes simply doesn't know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of an evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it. And Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the the only man who knows in full what temptation means. The only complete realist."C.S. Lewis |
Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.Margaret D. Nadauld, CR, Oct. 2000, pp. 16-17 |
The AtonementWith reference to our mortal acts and the Atonement, President J. Rueben Clark Jr. contributed this valuable insight when he said: "I feel that [the Savior] will give that punishment which is the very least that our transgression will justify. I believe that he will bring into his justice all of the infinite love and blessing and mercy and kindness and understanding which he has.."And on the other hand, I believe that when it comes to making the rewards for our good conduct, he will give us the maximum that it is possible to give, having in mind the offense which we have committed."President James E. Faust (Ensign, Nov. 2001, p. 19) |
The Master Said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). Some people scoff at that, saying, "How can we be made perfect, even as He is perfect?" But the Prophet-Leader of this Church declared "that it is like a ladder in this Church: you climb step by step, until you arrive at the top. But it will be a long while after we go through the veil until we have reached the fullness of the glories of the Celestial Kingdom."In a revelation, the Lord has declared that those who live the laws of the celestial kingdom here, when they pass through the veil and are resurrected, will be quickened by a portion of celestial glory and then will continue onward until they receive the perfectness (D&C 88:28-29).Be Loyal to the Royal Within You, Harold B, Lee, BYU Devotional, 1973 |
"We know not what lies ahead of us. We know not what the coming days will bring. We live in a world of uncertainty. For some, there will be great accomplishment. For others, disappointment. For some, much of rejoicing and gladness, good health, and gracious living. For others, perhaps sickness and a measure of sorrow. We do not know. But one thing we do know. Like the polar star in the heavens, regardless of what the future holds, there stands the Redeemer of the world, the Son of God, certain and sure as the anchor of our immortal lives. He is the rock of our salvation, our strength, our comfort, the very focus of our faith."Gordon B. Hinckley |
"Power in the priesthood comes from doing your duty in ordinary things; attending meetings, accepting assignments, reading the scriptures, keeping the Word of Wisdom."Boyd K. Packer, Oct. 1981 general conference |
"It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule."J. R. R. Tolkien |
