“Great power can come from memorizing scriptures,” taught Elder Richard G. Scott (1928–2015) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “To memorize a scripture is to forge a new friendship. It is like discovering a new individual who can help in time of need, give inspiration and comfort, and be a source of motivation for needed change.” Richard G. Scott, “The Power of Scripture,” Ensign, Nov. 2011, 6.
We can be absolutely certain that it will not go well—for the missionaries or for their investigators—if we slide past our teaching of the Divine. We must not point toward mortal leaders before we have taught and testified of celestial ones. We must not try to teach ancillary truths before we have taught the fundamental ones. We must not rush toward baptism and the goal of a new convert before we have taught true faith in God, explained the need for true repentance in Christ, and made certain that those crucial first shoots of a convert’s growing testimony are kept strong and viable through the nourishing agency of the Holy Spirit.
“There are times when the Lord reveals to us things that are intended only for us. Nevertheless, in many, many cases He entrusts a testimony of the truth to those who will share it with others.”
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, “Waiting on the Road to Damascus,” Ensign, May 2011, 76.
Learning to work—training and disciplining our minds, bodies, and spirits to exert, produce, achieve, and progress—is a foundation reality of every mortal life. It is one of the ways we become like God and accomplish His purposes on the earth. Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghostall work. Their work and their glory is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). The reality is there can be no glory without work. Satan is ever alert to destroy the purposes of God and to subvert our mortal experience. To counter the emphasis the Father places on work, the adversary has convinced many in our day that a primary goal in life is to avoid work. In today’s societies, many people concentrate on finding jobs that pay well but require little work, investments or schemes that pay high returns without effort, and programs that pay for what they want at no cost to them. Some seek to avoid work by borrowing and living on money they never intend to repay. They are unwilling to work, budget, and save before they spend. Church leaders have counseled that we should work for what we obtain and “avoid debt except for the most fundamental of needs.” Another insidious tactic the adversary employs in this generation is to channel men’s natural ambition to work and achieve into virtual dead ends. God placed in young men the desire to compete and achieve, with the intent that they use this ambition to become faithful providers for a family. In our youth, this ambition can be channeled into academic, athletic, or other pursuits that help to teach persistence, discipline, and work. Satan, however, would subtly intercept that ambition and channel it into a virtual world of video games that eat up time and ambition and lead to addiction.
President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) encouraged us to “speak of one another’s virtues more than we speak of one another’s faults” and to “more generously compliment virtue and effort.” Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Continuing Pursuit of Truth,” Ensign, Apr. 1986, 4.
“So much in life depends on our attitude. The way we choose to see things and respond to others makes all the difference. To do the best we can and then to choose to be happy about our circumstances, whatever they may be, can bring peace and contentment. … We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. For maximum happiness, peace, and contentment, may we choose a positive attitude.”
President Thomas S. Monson, “Living the Abundant Life,” Ensign, Jan. 2012, 4.
“A perfect time to ask the Lord, ‘What lack I yet?’ is when we take the sacrament. … In this reverent atmosphere, as our thoughts are turned heavenward, the Lord can gently tell us what we need to work on next.” —Elder Larry R. Lawrence, “What Lack I Yet?” 34.
“If we partake of the sacrament in faith, the Holy Ghost will then be able to protect us and those we love from the temptations that come with increasing intensity and frequency.” —President Henry B. Eyring, “The Holy Ghost as Your Companion,” 104. protectio
We know that the path to happiness is well marked. We also know that maintaining happiness is not easy unless, as with the Nephites after the Savior’s visit, “the love of God” dwells in our hearts.
Remember the pioneers, their stories, and the sustaining, saving, delivering power of God that came as a result of their faith and hope. Our pioneer fathers and mothers help us know who we are as a covenant people and confirm that our God—with whom we have covenanted and who “changeth not” (Mormon 9:19)—will bless us in times of difficulty and trial, just as He did our pioneer fathers and mothers.
“Our society is not held together primarily by law and its enforcement, but most importantly by those who voluntarily obey the unenforceable because of their internalized norms of righteous or correct behavior. Religious belief in right and wrong is a vital influence to produce such voluntary compliance by a large number of our citizens.”
Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “Strengthening the Free Exercise of Religion,” address given at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty Canterbury Medal Dinner, New York City, May 16, 2013, 1; available at mormonnewsroom.org.
Societies depend in large part upon religion and churches to establish moral order. Government can never build enough jails to house the criminals produced by a society lacking in morality, character, and faith. These attributes are better encouraged by religious observance than by legislative decree or police force. It is impossible for government to control the attitudes, desires, and hopes that spring from the human heart. And yet these are the seeds that grow into the conduct government must regulate.
Civility in society is achieved when the majority of people do what is moral because they believe they should, not because they are compelled by law or by police force.
Government oversees the conduct of its citizens. It tries to get them to behave in a decent and moral way. Religion, on the other hand, tries to get them to desire to behave in a decent and moral way.
Here's what I'm doing for the last week of February to review I will Follow God's Plan - the game of Life *LDS style. I just drew this on a chart paper. A child will roll a die and move that many spaces. If they land on a pink spot we have to stop and sing the song that goes with that event. Other spots have good choices (read scriptures) or bad choices (said something mean) and we have to move backwards how many it says. And mixed in all of that are lyrics from the song with blank word spots that they have to fill in the blank. If they don't know it or get it wrong, we have to sing I Will Follow God's Plan because that tells me they need to learn it better! Once we hit "death" they will go to paradise or prison depending on how many word blanks they got right/wrong (or you could do how many good vs bad spaces they landed on). Finally when we hit "judgement" they have to sing I Will Follow God's Plan without any help from me. If they forget words - telestial, sing it fine but like they are going through the motions - terrestrial, or sing it primary program perfect - celestial! Haven't tried this out, but hopefully it will be fun!
Over many years I have followed a research project that commenced in the 1930s. Initially, the study involved 268 men at a premier university who were periodically studied over their entire lives. Later, women became part of the study. The study covered approximately 70 years. The goal of the original study was to find out as much as possible about success and happiness.
The study showed that college entrance scores and grade averages did not predict either success or happiness in later life. But one area where there was a high correlation was childhood family happiness. Happy, successful adults usually reported that their mother in particular verbally expressed love and affection and did not use severe discipline. Both of their parents were demonstratively affectionate with each other and available and accessible to their children, with whom they had warm and emotionally expressive relationships. The parents created a stable family environment and were believed to have respected the autonomy of their children.
A concluding book on the study published in 2012 reports: “Many measures of success throughout life are predicted less reliably by early financial and social advantage than by a loved and loving childhood.” A warm childhood correlates with achievement more than intelligence, social class, or athleticism. The study also found that “what goes right in childhood predicts the future far better than what goes wrong.”4
The study as a whole indicates that even when there are significant challenges and some things go very wrong, most children are resilient, and the trust that is built by loving relationships with parents, especially the mother, can result in lasting, lifetime happiness. What was interesting to me, but not surprising, was that the study was completely in line with what the scriptures and the Church teach about the family. The Church emphasizes family home evening, family prayer, expressions of love, family togetherness, and family traditions, which are the very kinds of activities that the study indicated would produce happy, successful adults....
The most important thing you can do is to make sure your children and those you nurture know that you love them. Love is the key ingredient to happiness.
Quentin L. Cook July 2015 Ensign Reaping the Rewards of Righteousness
President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) taught that idols can include credentials, degrees, property, homes, furnishings, and other material objects. He said that when we elevate these otherwise worthy objectives in a way that diminishes our worship of the Lord and weakens our efforts to establish His righteousness and perform the work of salvation among Father in Heaven’s children, we have created idols. See Spencer W. Kimball, “The False Gods We Worship,”Ensign, June 1976, 2–6.
“I counsel our children to do their critical studying in the early hours of the morning when they’re fresh and alert, rather than to fight physical weariness and mental exhaustion at night. I’ve learned the power of the dictum, ‘Early to bed, early to rise.’"
Journal of American College Health, vol. 49, no. 3 (Nov. 2000), 128.
As a new General Authority, Elder Marion G. Romney (1897–1988) felt inadequate in fulfilling his important calling, so he sought advice from his friend Elder Harold B. Lee (1899–1973) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The counsel offered that day both surprised and motivated Elder Romney. Elder Lee said: “If you are to be successful as a General Authority, you will need to be inspired. You will need to receive revelation. I will give you one piece of advice: Go to bed early and get up early. If you do, your body and mind will become rested and then in the quiet of those early morning hours, you will receive more flashes of inspiration and insight than at any other time of the day.”
Years later, reflecting back on that experience, then-President Romney said: “From that day on, I put that counsel into practice, and I know it works. Whenever I have a serious problem, or some assignment of a creative nature with which I hope to receive the influence of the Spirit, I always receive more assistance in the early morning hours than at any other time of the day.”
See Joe J. Christensen, To Grow in Spirit: A Ten-Point Plan for Becoming More Spiritual (1989), 27–28.
“Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love encompasses us completely. …
“What this means is that, regardless of our current state, there is hope for us. No matter our distress, no matter our sorrow, no matter our mistakes, our infinitely compassionate Heavenly Father desires that we draw near to Him so that He can draw near to us [see D&C 88:63].”
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, “The Love of God,” Ensign, Nov. 2009, 22, 23.
As we go to the temple, as we remember the covenants we make there, we will be better able to overcome [our] temptations and to bear our trials. In the temple we can find peace. President Thomas S. Monson, “Blessings of the Temple,” Ensign, May 2015, 93.
Happiness doesn’t come from external circumstances. It comes from the inside—regardless of what is happening around us. By President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Setting and achieving goals can be a wonderful thing. But when success in reaching goals comes at the expense of disregarding, ignoring, or hurting others, the cost of that success may be too precious. By President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
