updated November 17 2024
50 minutes seems like such a short time to discuss the most important things.
A life built upon the sandy soil of falsehood will ultimately collapse. But so will families, organizations, cities, churches, governments, and even nations. The fatal flaw in such foundational construction is the unwillingness to recognize or accept the fact that the architect is the prince of darkness whose only purpose is to wreak havoc and chaos which will produce unending misery for everyone willing to believe him.
A life perspective that doesn’t include immortality frees one to be more reckless with their choices when seeking happiness only to discover at some point that wickedness never produces lasting happiness because immortality and its attendant accountability cannot be simply swept away by denying its existence. A personal confrontation with immortality is ultimately inescapable.
A person’s integrity can be ascertained by comparing the difference between their public and private persona.
Adam and Eve sought redemption because they recognized what they had lost. If one doesn’t believe anything has been lost redemption has no meaning. If redemption has no meaning or purpose what need is there for a Redeemer? I believe Adam and Eve. I believe something has been lost but can yet be sought and found in even greater measure in and through our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
As the looming storm clouds of evil grow forebodingly darker, the light of truth will appear correspondingly brighter by comparison, enabling those seeking truth to see it clearly and flock to the safety it offers.
Because agency is divinely honored, persuasion is paramount.
Can we do God’s will if we don’t know what His will is?
Charity is more than an attribute, it is the core of divine nature. It must become what we are rather than just a part of us.
Every willful thought I embrace, every willful word I utter, or every willful thing I do which draws me away from rather than closer to God deepens and strengthens my commitment to him who is the enemy off all righteousness and more completely certifies my affinity for the pleasurable yet transitory rewards of evil and shapes me more in his image. Conversely, every willful thought I embrace, every willful word I utter, or every willful thing I do which draws me closer to rather than away from God deepens and strengthens my commitment to Him who is the fountain of all truth and righteousness and more completely certifies my affinity for the joyful and eternal rewards offered by God our Eternal Father and enables me to become more like Him.
Faith displaces doubt – doubt displaces faith – your choice.
Fear may coerce behavior but it will never purify the reason why we behave. Only divine love can accomplish that.
For fifty years I have been afflicted by one disproportionate thorn in my flesh. The intense measure of its constant irritation by no means lessons the combined compression a plethora of smaller yet persistent thorns have on my soul. But the big one, the one which plagues me most, remains as effectively entrenched in my flesh as if it was Excalibur, encased in stone with no King Arthur in sight. I know for a certainty that only the healing power of the Savior can extricate it, but as of yet, that timetable remains a mystery to me.
God uses flawed servants, but serving God enables those flaws to be converted into God’s own characteristics.
Happiness is not the absence of opposition but rather it is overcoming it through obedience to God’s commandments.
How can one fully submit their will to God if they aren’t willing to accept His timing?
How much different could one’s life be if their aspirations were focused on Godlike goodness rather than selfish mortal motives?
I am amazed that a loving Heavenly Father would give each of His children the right to make their own choices, regardless of where the consequences will lead. What I find even more amazing is that most of His children then surrender their freedom of choice to a heinous individual who is hell-bent on making each of them as miserable as he is.
I believe the love a person has for another can be measured best by what they are willing to sacrifice for the one they love.
I have always been amazed that the judge of us all is also the least judgmental.
I have come to believe the most important qualities any priesthood leader can possess or develop is the ability to discern God’s will and the courage to act upon it.
I have ears, but I cannot hear.
I have eyes, but I cannot see.
I have a heart, but I cannot feel.
I have a mouth, but my words are as wind.
I can think, but I do not understand.
I can act, but my actions are vain.
Oh Lord, heal me.
Heal my ears that I may hear Thy word.
Heal my eyes that I might see Thy hand in my life.
Heal my heart that I may feel Thy love.
Heal my mouth, that my words may testify of Thee.
Heal my mind that I may understand Thy will.
Heal my will that I may choose to follow Thee.
My Lord, My God.
I suppose the thoughts we entertain will be included in our judgment because, more than even our words or actions, the thoughts we embrace reflect accurately the values of our heart.
I was fortunate enough to have been raised on a farm where the resplendent vista of living things was daily before my eyes, and my nostrils. I learned early that sustaining life requires appropriate and unrelenting attention. This attention was dictated by the needs of what was living. Obviously the cows needed something different than the alfalfa and barley which fed them. The stark reality of this truth is not limited to material concerns. Immaterial things such as feelings that bind relationships are equally real. For example, the love that binds people together and to a common cause is dependent upon mutual and enduring commitment, attention, and effort. This love left unattended will invariably wither and die. Conversely, given constant and devoted attention and emphasis, love will continue to grow and blossom through every season of life and become more fulfilling than was ever initially imagined. Likewise a personal witness and testimony of God, our relationship to Him, His divine plan to bless His children through His gospel, restored in this last dispensation through the prophet Joseph Smith is a living, dynamic entity. One may experience a spiritual witness or connection with God that cannot be denied in the moment. However, that witness is not static. Rather, this spiritual witness will either grow with appropriate and devoted attention or wither and ultimately die with indifferent neglect. Therefore, the faith and trust in God needed to accept His plan of redemption under the direction of prophetic guidance here on earth will require not only an initial spiritual witness but an attentive, devoted commitment to building an ongoing and ever growing relationship with Deity. As with love, the constant attention and effort applied to one’s spiritual testimony will ultimately yield fruit far more compelling and fulfilling than any mortal could ever imagine.
If Christ’s atonement is infinite, which the scriptures indicate it is, wouldn’t that cover your sins? If not, His atonement would have limits. And if His atonement covers your sins, wouldn’t He be interested in and willing to help you overcome them by granting you His grace and strength in order to do so?
If I require some grand or magnificent manifestation to certify the reality of God, what does that say about my spiritual sensitivity?
If I’m honest with myself, the reason I deny Christ’s help in overcoming my sins and weaknesses is because I love them too much and don’t want to live without them. If I truly want to change, I will want to forsake my sins and weaknesses and willingly pay any price to engage His help overcoming them. A fullness of salvation isn’t a halfhearted matter. It requires my entire devotion. However, achieving such a monumental outcome is the process of a lifetime.
If the highway of life is always downhill we may get great gas mileage, but we’ll never get home.
If the principle of personal agency occupies a premier place in heaven’s hierarchy of doctrines, wouldn’t I be wise to use my agency to yield my will to the will of Him who knows best what will produce my greatest joy and fulfillment?
If the words rendered by those in authority to preach and protect the true doctrines of God don’t reach one’s soul to the extent that change occurs, it’s as if these words fall to the ground in vain.
If there is distance between me and God, it isn’t because He has moved.
If you feel there is no hope for you, why did Christ suffer and pay the price for all your sins?
If you wonder why it’s important to pray every day, to search and ponder the scriptures daily, to hearken to the words of the living prophets and apostles, to find ways to serve God and others around you, to constantly strive to become more like Christ, and intentionally keep your testimony not only alive but growing, please consider that darkness can only exist in the absence of light. All of these things invite the Light of Christ through the Holy Ghost. Satan hunts his prey in the darkness because they are much easier to prey upon.
If we bargain with God, we’ll only short ourselves.
In the equation of salvation, Christ is the constant and we are the variable. Consequently, the value of the outcome will be determined by the extent to which the will of the variable becomes subject to the will of Christ.
In the process of redemption the Savior has a role that only He can play. But each individual has a role that only they can play. It is the correct combination of these two roles that produces the fullest blessings of Christ’s Atonement. Trying to play a role that is not ours, nor cannot be, results only in empty frustration.
In the process of yielding and consecrating one’s will to God, it is just as important to accept what does not result as what does.
Inclusivity as a prime doctrine of the cancel culture seems like pairing strange bedfellows.
It’s always easier to draw boundary lines for someone else than to draw them for yourself.
Isn’t it ironic that Lucifer, someone so driven by the need for personal recognition, exerts unimaginable effort to hide, disguise, minimize, or distort his own influence in the process of persuading others to embrace the same misery that torments him?
Joy is not the absence of tribulation, but the certainty of its eternal value in the process of drawing nearer to God.
Laziness requires no effort but work does
Daydreaming requires no effort but turning dreams into reality does
Doubt requires no effort but faith does
Hate requires no effort but love does
Bitterness requires no effort but forgiveness does
An undisciplined mind requires no effort but learning does
Neutrality requires no effort but devotion does
Unhappiness requires no effort but happiness does
Which path will lead to the greatest fulfillment?
Many find it as easy to expect perfection in others as it is to excuse imperfection in themselves.
Many of us, perhaps most, spend our lives looking for pennies to pick up while at the same time our exalted, eternal Father in Heaven offers us all that He has.
Not only did Job’s circumstantial losses become progressively more personal, intimate, and intense but also increasingly extended. Endurance was unimaginably stretched, eating away at his resolve and hope. Hope infers an end. How then is the unexpectedly difficult life lived without hope? When suffering extinguishes hope, what’s left? Christ! Help of the helpless and the only One eternal hope.
Often a person’s measure of conversion to God is determined by the limits they place on their willingness to comply with God’s expectations. His commandment to love Him will all of our heart, might, mind, and strength is an invitation to push past those personal limits into territory intended to expand our development until we are no longer limited, until we have become like Him.
One cannot seek greater wisdom and understanding if they believe that they already know more than anyone else. Humility is the key that unlocks the acquisition of understanding.
One of my hard and fast rules is never be bound by my own hard and fast rules.
Over the years I have learned, sometimes by sad experience, that when I have been asked to pronounce a blessing on someone in need, an added measure of spiritual guidance and acceptance is available when those present unite themselves in prayerful supplication for God’s wise and merciful blessings prior to the formal blessing being pronounced.
Praise should always be an unwelcome guest unless it comes from God.
Several people, even endowed people, have chosen not to return to church activity post Covid. While pondering on why that is, I wonder if part of the reason is that the pandemic provided an opportunity for comparison. For those whose membership was in name only, or whose membership was only socially or traditionally grounded, even if they were actively involved, but who never developed a personal, spiritual relationship with Christ, who never engaged and felt humbled by the Savior’s redeeming power in their lives, who never personally felt God’s love, are betrayed by a false comparison. Unfortunately, not having experienced any of these spiritual things, nor having a living affirmation of their reality, they essentially compare their new non church life to the Church life they had before Covid, but they failed to experience all of the spiritual and eternal benefits that come from true devotion to God. Essentially they cannot tell the difference between the two because, for them, there is no difference. They have known nothing else and mistakenly walk away thinking that what they are walking toward will be better than what they are leaving.
Sundays are the mortar that strengthens the bricks of our weeks.
Sometimes I feel that striving to live the gospel in its fullness is like carrying two dozen tomatoes home from the store in my arms. There just isn’t enough room for all of them and some always drop. When trying to pick up the ones I drop, others inevitably drop also. No matter how hard I try, no matter how much I want to get all the tomatoes home in perfect condition, I just can’t keep all the tomatoes safely in my arms. My best efforts are never enough. It becomes discouraging at times, even to the point of wanting to give up. After all, why try if the best I can do is get home with with only a few undamaged tomatoes? However, imagine my surprise when I arrive home only to see that all of the tomatoes are just as undamaged as when I left the store. There is not a single flaw in any of them. I wondered how such a thing could be. Understanding came sweetly. It never was about the tomatoes. It was always about how I responded to the challenge of getting the tomatoes home safely. This changed how I perceived the process. Regardless of how seemingly impossible it was to get the tomatoes home in store-like condition, the Lord isn’t worried about the condition of the tomatoes. He wanted me to keep picking up the tomatoes as best I could, even if I had to pick them up over and over and over again, until I got home. He wanted my best effort even if it wasn’t good enough to preserve the tomatoes. The struggle I had with the tomatoes was evidence of my desire and effort to complete the process even if my performance was flawed. I came to realize it was a way I could express what I wanted most and the extent to which I would go to complete my task. Now I know that by struggling forward, seeking Christ, wanting to get closer to Him, and returning home to Him is the task of greatest importance in my life and it doesn’t matter if I’m bruised, or broken, or flawed in the process. He is incredibly patient with each of us as we struggle to do something far more challenging than juggling tomatoes. And best of all, if we are persistently diligent in seeking Him, regardless of how inadequate we sometimes feel, no matter how many tomatoes we drop, He will accept our devotion and enable us to complete the process of becoming whole, no matter how flawed we once were. That is the meaning of Christ’s atonement. It’s what He offers to all.
The boundary line between appropriate and inappropriate never seems dangerous until crossed.
The price we pay for what God requires of us pales in comparison to the price He paid for what He gives us.
The survival and longevity of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is not in question. The question, as it always has been, is whether or not one will be a covenant part of it. Individual survival and longevity will depend upon how one answers that question.
The veracity of a person’s belief can be measured by the price they are willing to pay not to betray it.
There are no hearts which have not ached, currently ache, or will yet ache for one reason or another. Such aching comes for many reasons, some self inflicted, some unjustly inflicted by others, and some simply as a result of being mortal. Regardless of origin, such burdens can weigh heavily upon one’s soul. However, there is One whose sacrificial preparations attuned Him perfectly to anyone’s personal pain. There is One whose perfect obedience qualifies Him to render help and aid that is guaranteed to heal any aching heart. Furthermore, He invites every wounded soul to lean upon His matchless comfort and healing care. There is no appointment needed, no waiting lines, no forms to complete. His office is always open. Healing is what He does because He loves each of us beyond measure. Why else would He have suffered and endured what He did on our behalf? He is Jesus Christ. Come and See!
There is a depth to the Gospel of God that lies hidden by its simplicity but which is available to all who are willing to pay the price for seeking it.
Though not recognized as such, the waters that latter day Israel must pass through are much deeper than the Red Sea and the howling army hounding them is far more ferocious and numerous. However, if they follow the current Moses, as Israel did then, the ground will be just as dry and the outcome even more majestically miraculous.
Wanting God to answer all of my prayers exactly the way I want and according to my timetable is expecting Him to submit His will to mine rather than me offering to submit my will to His.
What I once was, I am not now. What I hope to be, I am not yet.
Why is it when we are hurt by someone else, justice is our weapon of choice while when we hurt someone else, we much prefer mercy?
Without a belief in and an acceptance of God our Heavenly Father we are left without traffic management at the intersections of our lives. We are left without a rock, so firmly entrenched that it never moves, upon which we can build our lives safely. We are left without an unmoving star in the sky upon which we can rely for certain and unwavering direction. In other words, we are left to ourselves to determine our own destiny all while blindfolded. It’s amazing to me that so many eagerly abandon their belief in God and consequently reject any accountability to Him simply because it mistakenly feels liberating.
Without a knowledge of God, His divine character and purposes, and our relationship to Him, adjudicating goodness in our fallen, mortal world is left up to each individual. Thus, goodness is entirely relative and one person’s values are as viable as another’s. No man is safe from the acts of another. Chaos reigns and certainty is subjugated.
Without revelation from God and sacred records, man would be at the mercy of him who is merciless.
Worry is just fear dressed up.
Your future is well within your God given power to determine. It cannot be changed by others or governments or disaster or any extraneous influence. Your future is eternal. Because of your divine origin and Christ’s atoning sacrifice on your behalf and with His willing and eager assistance being ever available, your future is entirely up to you.
While not my own, this quote has long been one of my favorites. “If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant’s life, she will choose to save the infant’s life without even considering if there are men on base.” – Dave Barry