- The gift of resurrection and immortality is given is given freely through the loving grace of Jesus Christ to all people of all ages, regardless of their good or evil acts.
- We are all the spirit sons and daughters of a loving God who is our Father. We are part of His family. He is not a father in some allegorical or poetic sense. He is literally the Father of our spirits. He cares for each one of us. Through this world has a way of diminishing and demeaning mean and women, the reality is we are all royal, divine lineage.
- I believe our Heavenly Father's everlasting purpose for His children is generally achieved by the small and simple things we do for one another. Sadly, in today's world, a person's importance is often judged by the size of the audience before which he or she performs.
- Yet, in the eyes of the Lord, there may be only one size of audience that is of lasting importance--and that is just one, each one, you and me, and each one of the children of God. The irony of the Atonement is that it is infinite and eternal, yet it is applied individually, one person at a time.
- Brothers and sisters, never, never underestimate how precious is the one.
- "Satan [has been going] about, leading away the hearts of the people," and his influence is increasing. But no matter how evil the world becomes, our families can be at peace. If we do what's right, we will be guided and protected.
- I want to remind all of us today that no family has reached perfection. All families are subject to the conditions of mortality. All of us are given the gift of agency--to choose for ourselves and to learn from the consequences of our choices.
- Our families should be in our thoughts continually.
- Hold family councils.
- We should regularly counsel with each of our children individually.
- They can choose their actions but not the consequences of those actions. We can also gently help them understand what the consequences of their actions may be in their own lives.
- Leave the door to our hearts open.
- An understanding and compassionate heart, a soft answer, a listening ear, and a forgiving embrace.
- Liken the scriptures to our lives.
- Take advantage of everyday teaching moments.
- Trust the Good Shepherd.
- "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; ... for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."
- Today we are witnessing an unending assault on marriage and the family. They seem to be the adversary's prime targets for belittlement and destruction. In a society where marriage is often shunned, parenthood avoided, and families degraded, we have the responsibility to honor our marriages, nurture our children, and fortify our families.
- "When the satisfaction or the security of another person becomes as significant to one as is one's own satisfaction or security, then the state of love exits."
- Marriage is meant to be and must be a loving, binding, harmonious relationship between a man and a woman.
- 'Youth needs fewer critics and more models [to follow].'
- The world may be a little better because we were important in the life of a boy or a girl.
- The Lord restored His gospel through Joseph Smith because there had been a apostasy. Since the fifth century, Christianity taught that Adam and Eve's Fall was a tragic mistake, which led to the belief that humankind has an inherently evil nature. That view is wrong--not only about the Fall and human nature, but about the very purpose of life.
- The Fall was not a disaster. It wasn't a mistake or an accident. It was a deliberate part of the plan of salvation. We are God's spirit "offspring," sent to earth "innocent" of Adam's transgression. Yet our Father's plan subjects us to temptation and misery in this fallen world as the price to comprehend authentic joy. Without tasting the bitter, we actually cannot understand the sweet. We require mortality's discipline and refinement as the "next step in [our] development" toward becoming like our Father. But growth means growing pains. It also means learning from our mistakes in a continual process made possible by the Savior's grace, which He extends both during and "after all we can do."
- If you have problems in your life, don't assume there is something wrong with you. Struggling with those problems is at the very core of life's purpose. As we raw close to God, He will show us our weaknesses and through them make us wiser, stronger. If you're seeing more of your weaknesses, that just might mean you're moving nearer to God, not father away.
- We grow in two ways--removing negative weeds and cultivating positive flowers.
- It isn't enough just to mow the weeds. Yank them out by the roots, repenting fully to satisfy the conditions of mercy.
- Once we've cleared our heartland, we must continually plant, weed, and nourish the seeds of divine qualities.
- Only the restored gospel has the fullness of these truths! Yet the adversary is engaged in one of history's greatest cover-ups, trying to persuade people that this Church knows least--when in fact it knows most--about how our relationship with Christ makes true Christians of us.
- Some people want to keep one hand on the wall of the temple while touching the world's "unclean things" with the other hand. We must put both hands on the temple and hold on for dear life. One hand is not even almost enough.
- Almost is especially enough when our own sacrifices somehow echo the Savior's sacrifice, however imperfect we are. We cannot really feel charity--Christ's love for others--without at least tasting His suffering for others, because the love and the suffering are but two sides of a single reality. When we really are afflicted in the afflictions of other people, we may enter, "the fellowship of his sufferings" enough to become joint-heirs with Him.
- You have a choice. You can wring your hands and be consumed with concern for the future or choose to use the counsel the Lord has given to live with peace and happiness in a world awash with evil. If you choose to concentrate on the dark side, this is what you will see. Much of the world is being engulfed in a rising river of degenerate filth, with the abandonment of virtue, righteousness, personal integrity, traditional marriage, and family life. Sodom and Gomorrah was the epitome of unholy life in the Old Testament. It was isolated then; now that condition is spread over the world. Satan skillfully manipulates the power of all types of media and communication. His success has greatly increased the extent and availability of such degrading and destructive influences worldwide. In the past some effort was required to seek out such evil. Now it saturates significant portions of virtually every corner of the world. We cannot dry up the counting river of evil influences, for the result from the exercise of moral agency divinely granted by our Father. But we can and must, with clarity, warn of the consequences of getting close to its enticing, destructive current.
- Now the brighter side. Despite pockets of evil, the world overall is majestically beautiful, filled with many good and sincere people. God has provided a way to live in this world and not be contaminated by the degrading pressures evil agents spread throughout it. You can live a virtuous, productive, righteous life by following the plan of protections created by your Father in Heaven: His plan of happiness. It is contained in the scriptures and in the inspired declarations of His prophets. He clothed your intelligence with spirit and made it possible for you to enjoy the wonder of a physical body. When you use that body in the way He has decreed, you will grow in strength and capacity, avoid transgression, and be abundantly blessed.
- "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."
- Moral agency allows you to choose what you will, but you cannot control the outcome of those choices.
You cannot ever sample those things that are forbidden of God as destructive of happiness and corrosive to spiritual guidance without tragic results.
- May what we have heard and experienced remain with us as a residual of love and peace, an attitude o repentance, and a resolve to stand a little taller in the radiant sunlight of the gospel.
General YW Meeting
Susan W. Tanner -All Things Shall Work Together for Your Good
- In a sense all of us are in the middle of our own novels, our own lives stories. Sometimes our stories feel very intense, and we would like to read ahead to know our own end, to make sure that everything is going to turn out all right. While we don't know the particular details of our life's experiences, fortunately we do know something about our futures, if we live worthily.
- All things shall work together for our good is repeated many times in the scriptures, particularly to people or prophets who are suffering through the trials of their own life stories.
- "God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other in the kingdom."
- I learned the importance of following promptings, even when it involves a lot of work and seems improbable."
- You have not already developed the habit of daily scripture study, start now and keep studying in order to be prepared for your responsibilities in this life and in the eternities.
- Just as eating and breathing sustain my physical body, the scriptures feed and give life to my spirit.
- The Lord has promised us that as we "search diligently, pray always, and be believing, ... all things [will] work together four [our] good." That doesn't mean that everything will be perfect or that we will not have any trials, but it does mean that everything will be okay if we just "hang in there."
- Don't give in when the going is rough, for you are laying the foundation of a great work, and that great work is your life.
- "I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."
- Believe in yourselves. Believe that you are never alone. Believe that you will be guided.
- You are the strength of the present, the hope of the future.
- You are the sum of all the generations that have gone before, the promise of all that will come hereafter.
- You are second to none. You are daughters of God.
- "It may make a difference to all eternity whether we do right or wrong today."
- You have the potential to become anything to which you set your mind. You have a mind and a body and a spirit. With these three working together, you can walk the high road that leads to achievement and happiness. But this will require effort and sacrifice and faith.
- Life has become so complex and competitive. You cannot assume that you have entitlements due you: You will be expected to put forth great effort and to use your best talents to make your way to the most wonderful future of which you are capable. Occasionally, there will likely be serious disappointments. But there will be helping hands along the way, many such, to give you encouragement and strength to move forward.
- As you walk the road of life, be careful of your friends. They can make you or break you. Be generous in helping the unfortunate and those in distress. But bind to you friends of your own kind, friends who will encourage you, stand with you, live as you desire to live; who will enjoy the same kind of entertainment; and who will resist the evil that you determine to resist.
- I do not hesitate to say that you can be attractive without being immodest.
- Your appeal to others will come of your personality, which is the sum of your individual characteristics. Be happy. Wear a smile. Have fun. But draw some rigid parameters, a line in the sand, as it were, beyond which you will not go.
- Never assume that you can make it alone. You need the help of the Lord. Never hesitate to get on your knees in some private place and speak with Him. What a marvelous and wonderful thing is prayer. Think of it. We can actually speak with our Father in Heaven. He will hear and respond, but we need to listen to that response. Nothing is too serious and nothing too unimportant to share with Him.
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
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