- The Church grows ever larger. It touches more and more lives for good. It is spreading over the earth in a wonderful way.
- Failing to understand the "dealings" of the Lord with His children-meaning His relations with and treatment of His children-is very fundamental. Murmuring is but one of the symptoms, and not the only consequence either; in fact, brothers and sisters, this failure affects everything else.
- To misread something so crucial constitutes a failure to know God, who then ends up being wrongly seen as unreachable, uninvolved, uncaring, and unable-a disabled and diminished Deity, really-about whose seeming limitations, ironically, some then quickly complain.
- We have enablers in our society too. They allow themselves to be stirred up against that which is good. They are not entitled to a free pass...their comparative visibility is low, but their hypocrisy is high!
- Laman and Lemuel's own lack of character kept them from understanding the perfect character of God! No wonder the Prophet Joseph Smith said, "If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves."
- Laman and Lemuel were intimidated by Laban's power, but their fear of power merely showed the power of fear. Since "perfect love casteth out all fear," their limited capacity to love was thereby very evident.
- Easily riled and quick to complain, they could scarcely remember their last rescue long enough to meet their next difficulty. Instead, lacking gospel perspective, the situational cares of the day, like worry over a broken bow, of all things, dominated the things of eternity. Ours, too, is a day of every-man-for-himself situational ethics, as if the Ten Commandments came from a focus group!
- Ironically, many like Laman and Lemuel who are the first to demand signs are then the first to discount them. Some demand more miracles even while consuming a daily menu of manna and forgetting its remarkable Source.
- Laman and Lemuel became rebels instead of leaders, resentful instead of righteous-all because of their failure to understand either the character or the purposes of God and His dealings with His children.
- Most active members believe that less-active members behave differently because they don't believe the Church's doctrine.
- A study by the Church's Research Information Division does not support this assumption.
- It shows that almost all less-active members interviewed believe that God exists, that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that the Church is true.
- As part of another study, a group of active members who previously had been less active were asked why they did not attend church. The most common reasons given were:
- Feelings of unworthiness.
- Personal or family problems.
- Parents or spouse were less active.
- Teenage rebelliousness or laziness.
- Conflicts with work schedules.
- Church too far away, lacked transportation.
- They were then asked what had influenced them to return to activity in the Church. The most common answers were:
- Faced with a crisis in life.
- Overcame personal problems
- The example of a spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend.
- Influence of family members.
- Wanted the gospel influence for family.
- Fellowshipping from ward members, moved to a new ward where people cared about them.
- No one can effectively take your place as a father and mother.
- Agency is the power to think, choose, and act for ourselves. It comes with endless opportunities, accompanied by responsibility and consequences. It is a blessing and a burden. Using this gift of agency wisely is critical today because never in the world's history have God's children been so blessed or so blatantly confronted with so many choices.
- Choice becomes inescapable. The world's two opposing forces seek our commitment. On the one hand, there is the reality of Satan, and on the other, the more powerful love of the Savior.
- If there was no opposition, there would be no righteousness nor wickedness, neither good nor bad. WE can't act for ourselves if there is no choice.
- If we are not consciously and deliberately choosing the kingdom of God, we will in fact be moving backwards as the kingdom of God moves forward.
- "The devil will not support his children."
- Making right choices frees us and blesses us, even in choosing what may appear trivial in our lives.
- Isn't it incredible? There are six billion people on this planet, and Heavenly Father cares what I watch for entertainment, and He cares what I eat and drink. He cares how I dress and how I earn and spend my money. He cares what I do and don't do. Heavenly Father cares about my happiness.
- "If [we] have not chosen the Kingdom of God [first], it will make in the end no difference what [we] have chosen instead."
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn referred to shortsighted concessions: "A process of giving up and giving up and giving up and hoping and hoping and hoping that perhaps at some point the wolf will have had enough."
- My wonderful young friends, let me promise you, the wolf will never have enough.
- "Where the spirit invades the heart, there can be no rest. For even in the dark of night, one link of the chain still holds, one light that will not go out."
- Doesn't it make you deeply grateful to belong to a church with apostles and prophets at the head-knowing that one link will always hold, one light will never go out? As the world moves deeper and deeper into sin, this wonderful Church stands like a giant granite boulder.
- No matter how strong the winds of public opinion may blow, the Church is immovable.
- Your friends are a safeguard.
- A word to adults and parents. Elder Bruce R. McConkie's father counseled that when we violate any commandment, however small, our youth may choose to violate a commandment later on in life perhaps 10 times or 100 times worse and justify it on the basis of the small commandment we broke.
- "Rightly done, teaching is a precious work. It is, however, the one human endeavor most damaging in consequence when done without care or competence. To carry a student in harm's way because of either ignorance or arrogance--because we do not know or do not care- is an act far worse than a bungled surgery. Our mistakes will not bleed. Instead, they carry hidden scars whose mean and tragic consequence may not be seen until years have passed and remedy is painful and impossible."
- It is a wonderful feeling to turn on the lights in our parent's eyes.
- I thank God for the one link that still holds, the one light that will not go out.
- Those who choose to serve the Lord will always listen attentively and specifically to the Prophet.
- In these days of much beauty, our challenges in choosing to serve the Lord are more subtle than those of former days, but without question they are as spiritually pervasive.
- Never ignore the warnings.
- Never be smug in our independence.
- "Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you."
- "God gave us memories, that we may have June roses in the December of our lives."
- I came to your room to ask something and found you on your knees praying to Heavenly Father. If He's important to you, He'll be important to me.
- You never know what kind of influence you'll be until a child observes you doing yourself what you have tried to teach him to do.
- "When someone gives another person a flower, the fragrance of the flower lingers on the hands of the giver."
- Real faith is not restricted to childhood, but rather applies to all.
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
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