Boyd K. Packer -The Key to Spiritual Protection
- Parents today wonder if there is a safe place to raise children. There is a safe place. It is in a gospel-centered home. We focus on the family in the Church, and we counsel parents everywhere to raise their children in righteousness.
- We must be ever watchful and diligent.
- If the language of the scriptures at first seems strange to you, keep reading. Soon you will come to recognize the beauty and power found on those pages.
- "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and if profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction righteousness."
- "Be not afraid, only believe." Righteousness is more powerful than wickedness.
- If you are set on a course of faith and activity in the Church, stay on course and keep your covenants. Continue forward until the time when the Lord's blessings will come to you and the Holy Ghost will be revealed as a moving force in your life.
- Repentance is individual, and so is forgiveness. The Lord requires only that one turn from their sin, and "[He] will forgive their iniquity, and ... remember their sin no more."
- Paul and others warned about the trials of our time and the days yet to come. But peace can be settled in the heart of each who turns to the scriptures and unlocks the promises of protection and redemption that are taught therein.
D. Todd Christofferson -The Moral Force of Women
- A woman's moral influence is nowhere more powerfully felt or more beneficially employed than in the home.
- In all events, a mother can exert an influence unequaled by any other person in any other relationship.
- "When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses?"
- A pernicious philosophy that undermines women's moral influence is the devaluation of marriage and of motherhood and homemaking as a career. Some view homemaking with outright contempt, arguing it demeans women and that the relentless demands of raising children are a form of exploitation. They ridicule what they call "the mommy track' as a career. This is not fair or right. We do not diminish the value of what women or men achieve in any worthy endeavor or career--we all benefit from those achievements--but we still recognize there is not a higher good than motherhood and fatherhood in marriage. There is no superior career, and no amount of money, authority, or public acclaim can exceed the ultimate rewards of family. Whatever else a woman may accomplish, her moral influence is no more optimally employed than here.
- There has long been a cultural double standard that expected women to be sexually circumspect while excusing male immorality. The unfairness of such a double standard is obvious, and it has been justifiably criticized and rejected. In that rejection, one would have hoped that men would rise to the higher, single standard, but just the opposite has occurred--women and girls are now encouraged to be as promiscuous as the double standard expected men to be. Where once women's higher standards demanded commitment and responsibility from men, we now have sexual relations without conscience, fatherless families, and growing poverty. Equal-opportunity promiscuity simply robs women of their moral influence and degrades all of society. In this hollow bargain, it is men who are "liberated" and women and children who suffer most.
- "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." In blurring feminine and masculine differences, we lose the distinct, complementary gifts of women and men that together produce a greater whole.
- My plea to women and girls today is to protect and cultivate the moral force that is within you. Preserve that innate virtue and the unique gifts you bring with you into the world. Your intuition is to do good and to be good, and as you follow the Holy Spirit, your moral authority and influence will grow. To the young women I say, don't lose the moral force even before you have it in full measure. Take particular care that your language is clean, not coarse; that your dress reflects modesty, not vanity; and that your conduct manifests purity, not promiscuity. You cannot lift others to virtue on the one hand if you are entertaining vice on the other.
- Dear sisters, we rely on the moral force you bring to the world, to marriage, to family, to the Church. We rely on blessings you bring down from heaven by your prayers and faith. We pray for your security, welfare, and happiness and for your influence to be sustained.
S. Gifford Nielson -Hastening the Lord's Game Plan!
- We need to be engaged as never before to match the excitement of our leaders and the commitment of our full-time missionaries. This work is not going to move forwards in the Lord's intended way without us!
- "Until you know a person's name and face, the Lord cannot help you know his or her heart."
Timothy J. Dyches -Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?
- Jesus Christ heals body, mind, and spirit, and His healing begins with faith.
- "Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."
- When we lay down "the weapons of [our] rebellion," we become "agents unto [ourselves]," no longer blinded by the sophistry of Satan or deafened by the discordant noise of the secular world.
- "There is one life that sustains those who are troubled or beset with sorrow and grief--even the Lord Jesus Christ."
- Be assured the Savior still seeks to mend our souls and heal our hearts. He waits at the door and knocks. Let us answer by beginning again to pray, repent, forgive, and forget.
Jeffrey R. Holland -Like a Broken Vessel
- So how do you best respond when mental or emotional challenges confront you or those you love? Above all, never lose faith in your Father in Heaven, who loves you more than you can comprehend. As President Monson said to the Relief Society sisters so movingly last Saturday evening: "That love never changes. ... It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God's love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve [it]. It is simply always there." Never, ever doubt that, and never harden your heart. Faithfully pursue the time-tested devotional practices that bring the Spirit of the Lord into your life. Seek the counsel of those who hold keys for your spiritual well-being. Ask for and cherish priesthood blessings. Take the sacrament every week, and hold fast to the perfecting promises of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Believe in miracles. I have seen so many of them come when every other indication would say that hope was lost. Hope is never lost. If those miracles do not come soon or fully or seemingly at all, remember the Savior's own anguished example: if the bitter cup does not pass, drink it and be strong, trusting in happier days ahead.
- In preventing illness whenever possible, watch for the stress indicators in yourself and in others you may be able to help.
- Fatigue is the common enemy of us all--so slow down, rest up, replenish, and refill. Physicians promise us that if we do not take time to be well, we most assuredly will take time later on to be ill.
- Don't assume you can fix everything, but fix what you can. If those are only small victories.
- For caregivers, in your devoted effort to assist with another's health, do not destroy your own.
- Whatever your struggle, my brothers and sisters--mental or emotional or physical or otherwise--do not vote against the preciousness of life by ending it! Trust in God. Hold on in His love.
M. Russell Ballard -Put Your Trust in the Lord
- "Perhaps the greatest reason for missionary work is to give the world its chance to hear and accept the gospel. The scriptures are replete with commands and promises and calls and rewards for teaching the gospel. I use the word command deliberately for it seems to be an insistent directive from which we, singly and collectively, cannot escape."
- We know from our research that most active members of the Church want the blessings of the gospel to be part of the lives of others whom they love, even those whom they have never met. But we also know that many members hesitate to do missionary work and share the gospel for two basic reasons.
- You don't have to be an outgoing person or an eloquent, persuasive teacher. If you have an abiding love and hope within you, the Lord has promised if you "lift up your voices unto this people [and] speak the thoughts that [He] shall put into your hearts. ... you shall not be confounded before men.
L. Tom Perry -The Doctrines and Principles Contained in the Articles of Faith
- This doctrine is to the Church like a battery is to a cell phone. When you remove the battery fro your cell phone, it becomes useless. A church in which true doctrine is no longer taught is similarly useless. It cannot guide us back to our Heavenly Father and our eternal home.
- The truths taught in the Articles of Faith build upon one another like the components of a cell phone mutually supporting one another. Like the elaborate supply chain that adds components to a cell phone, the Articles of Faith supply us with key doctrines of the Restoration. Each article of faith adds unique value to our understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
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