Uprooting The Evil In The Fields That We Know

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“It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule." 

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

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Truth Will Cut Its Own Way

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William Wilberforce applied Christian ethics to abolish the slave trade in Great Britain. Abraham Lincoln drew on the truths of the Bible to heal a divided nation. Mahatma Gandhi spread the religious principles of nonviolence to lead India to independence. And the list goes on. These individuals resisted the grain of their times, and heralded something new.

Being a voice of religious conscience may not lead to popularity, but society is better served when all are allowed to pursue their highest good. We can disagree about important things with good will. It is unwise to stamp rivals as enemies. Indeed, they can prove to be helpful collaborators where social goals align. It feels uncomfortable to listen to critics call our cherished beliefs into question, and yet we show strength by engaging in sincere conversations with those who oppose our views. After all, we trust that “truth will cut its own way” and love will eventually win out in the contest of ideals. 

("The Voice of Religious Conscience", Mormon Newsroom Commentary, 25 Nov 2014)

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The More Intimately You Know Someone

The truth is that the more intimately you know someone, the more clearly you’ll see their flaws. That’s just the way it is. This is why marriages fail, why children are abandoned, why friendships don’t last. You might think you love someone until you see the way they act when they’re out of money or under pressure or hungry, for goodness’ sake. Love is something different. Love is choosing to serve someone and be with someone in spite of their filthy heart. Love is patient and kind, love is deliberate. Love is hard. Love is pain and sacrifice, it’s seeing the darkness in another person and defying the impulse to jump ship. (The Great Kamryn)

But she had wings

“When she transformed into a butterfly, the caterpillars spoke not of her beauty, but of her weirdness. They wanted her to change back into what she always had been.

But she had wings.” (Dean Jackson)

Unity, Liberty and Charity

"in essentials let there be unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things charity"
(B. H. Roberts. Oct 1912 General Conference)

The Man in the Arena

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. ("Citizenship In A Republic" Delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910)

I love this quote. I love Brene Brown. She is my vulnerability hero.



I also love this talk from her, "The power of vulnerability"

Ample Provision

“The great Jehovah … knows the situation of both the living and the dead, and has made ample provision for their redemption.”

“The great Jehovah contemplated the whole of the events connected with the earth, pertaining to the plan of salvation, before it rolled into existence, or ever ‘the morning stars sang together’ for joy; the past, the present, and the future were and are, with Him, one eternal ‘now;’ He knew of the fall of Adam, the iniquities of the antediluvians [those who lived before the Great Flood], of the depth of iniquity that would be connected with the human family, their weakness and strength, their power and glory, apostasies, their crimes, their righteousness and iniquity; He comprehended the fall of man, and his redemption; He knew the plan of salvation and pointed it out; He was acquainted with the situation of all nations and with their destiny; He ordered all things according to the counsel of His own will; He knows the situation of both the living and the dead, and has made ample provision for their redemption, according to their several circumstances, and the laws of the kingdom of God, whether in this world, or in the world to come.” (Joseph Smith Jr., Apr. 15, 1842, History of the Church, 4:596–97)

Found by Mormon Musings

Learn to be Patient

"There will be times when it may appear that things are going badly for the truth of God, that the evidence of the world contradicts God’s utterances. For my part, I have learned to be patient, knowing that, in the end, things will work out." (Dieter F. Uchtdorf. BYU Church History Symposium Mar 7, 2014)

Every creature has someone who could save 'em

"Every creature has someone who could save 'em if only they would try" (Seeking Persephone, Sara M. Eden p. 177)

Despise no Man for Differing

“I have the most liberal sentiments, and feelings of charity towards all sects, parties, and denominations; and the rights and liberties of conscience, I hold most sacred and dear, and despise no man for differing with me in matters of opinion.” (Teachings of Joseph Smith. Letter from Joseph Smith to Isaac Galland, Mar. 22, 1839, Liberty Jail, Liberty, Missouri, published in Times and Seasons, Feb. 1840, pp. 55–56)

We become what we want to be

"We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day."
("The Transforming Power of Faith and Character", Oct 2010, Elder Richard G. Scott)

"Adam was the first man of what we would call the human race"

Larry A. Witham quotes Gordon B. Hinckley in Where Darwin Meets the Bible: Creationists and Evolutionists in America (See also DN)

What the church requires is only belief 'that Adam was the first man of what we would call the human race.'

 "The story of the rib, of course, is figurative" ("The Blessings and Responsibilities of Womanhood", Ensign, March 1976, p.71)

Stride the Planets

"Men’s souls conform to the society in which they live, with very few exceptions, and when men come to live with the Mormons, their souls swell as if they were going to stride the planets." (Hyrum Smith, 7 April 1844, HC 6:300)

Marlin K Jensen Conversations

Here are some notes from the Mormon Channel Conversations Episode with Marlin K. Jensen and his wife.

A paraphrase from Conversations with Marlin K. Jensen

In a sense we've become defrocked   It is interesting to reflect on what we've become. With all the external expectations removed as a General Authority, what kind of people are we?

Elder Jensen quotes Henry Eyring to his son "In this Church you don’t have to believe anything that isn’t true"

"We know that Christ is the be all and end all of our existence. Trying to emulate his life and live His teachings and repent and be worthy of His blessings is really at the heart of our existence. It's a lifelong quest to become a Christian.  The church helps in so many ways, but agency is such a tremendous truth. We have to just want these things they have to be the desire of our hearts." (50:55)

He prefaces this statement with the idea of a final testimony. That this interview is probably his last general exposure because he will no longer be an active general authority. And that hearsay is not generally accepted in a court of law but statements at the end of life are accepted. (53:13)

    I didn't know what to expect when I came to Salt Lake as a General Authority 24 years ago.  I would really want the members of the church, the world really to know, how good my experience has been. How faith promoting to watch at close range, the men and women (one of which you [Sheri Dew] were one at one point in this church's history) who are of the highest caliber and charity and integrity who have given their lives to this cause without a lot of earthly remuneration; but are just tremendously devoted. I think it would be very difficult for anyone to understand how devoted, how serious this matter of the church is taken by those who are general leaders. And our experience has been just, overall tremendously positive and pleasing.

    I really know this is the true church. I know this is God's kingdom. I know this is how he wants us to live our lives. And I just hope that we can do a good enough job of that individually and as families that people who aren't yet of our faith will be able to see it and will want to investigate what it is that makes life what it is for us. So to have the chance to say that one more time with all sincerity and in contemplation of death, is a great blessing for me, thank you for it.

General Conference Quotes

Some GC quotes I took note of from this April.

"I'll drop my burden at his feet and bear a song away"  How Gentle God's Commands  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n40mxKsvMfE,


'This is not missionary work.  This is missionary fun'
Neil L. Anderson

For Peace at Home, Richard G. Scott, Apr 2013

Many voices from the world in which we live tell us we should live at a frantic pace. There is always more to do and more to accomplish. Yet deep inside each of us is a need to have a place of refuge where peace and serenity prevail, a place where we can reset, regroup, and reenergize to prepare for future pressures.
The ideal place for that peace is within the walls of our own homes, where we have done all we can to make the Lord Jesus Christ the centerpiece.

...

Weight-bearing beams in a Christ-centered home
- daily personal and family prayer
- daily personal and family scripture study
- weekly family home evening
"Without these regular practices it will be difficult to find the desired and much-needed peace and refuge from the world."

...

many of us have a personal electronic device that fits into our pocket. We are seldom without its company; we may refer to it many times a day. Unfortunately, these devices can be a source of filth and wasted time. But, used with discipline, this technology can be a tool of protection from the worst of society.

"Humility is the essence of repentance"
L. Whitney Clayton


L. Whitney Clayton, Marriage: Watch and Learn, Apr 2013

There are those whose marriages are not as happy as they would wish, as well as those who have never married, are divorced, are single parents, or for various reasons are not in a position to marry. These circumstances can be full of challenge and heartbreak, but they need not be eternal. To those of you in such situations who nevertheless “cheerfully do all things that lie in [your] power”11 to persevere, may heaven bless you richly. Seek after the ideal of forming an eternal marriage, including by striving or preparing to be a worthy spouse. Keep the commandments, and trust the Lord and His perfect love for you. One day every promised blessing concerning marriage will be yours.

"Obedience to Law is Liberty"
L. Tom Perry

Jeffrey R. Holland, Lord, I Believe, Apr 2013

"Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief" Mark 9:22-24

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I wish to speak directly to the young people of the Church—young in years of age or young in years of membership or young in years of faith. One way or another, that should include just about all of us.

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When those moments come and issues surface, the resolution of which is not immediately forthcoming, hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes.

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Be as candid about your questions as you need to be; life is full of them on one subject or another. But if you and your family want to be healed, don’t let those questions stand in the way of faith working its miracle. 

...

 don’t hyperventilate

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fan the flame of your faith 

Christoffel Golden Jr, The Father and the Son, Apr 2013

President Ezra Taft Benson with prophetic insight said, “Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father [in Heaven] and how familiar his face is to us.” (Jesus Christ--Gifts and Expectations, BYU Devotional Dec 10, 1974)

"When our only desire is to please Him, we will be blessed with a deep inner peace" (Bruce D. Porter, Beautiful Mornings, Apr 2013)


D. Todd Christofferson quoted Les Miserable in Redemption, Apr 2013

‘Forget not, never forget that you have promised me to use this silver to become an honest man.’ Jean Valjean, who had no recollection of this promise, stood confounded. The bishop … continued, solemnly: ‘Jean Valjean, my brother: you belong no longer to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I am buying for you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God!’

"I will be merciful unto your weakness" D&C 38:14 (referred to by Craig A. Cardon, The Savior Wants to Forgive, Apr 2013


From 1st Pre Message Apr 2013, He Is Risen, Pres Henry B. Eyring.

In the sacramental prayers, God promises to send the Holy Ghost to be with us (see Moroni 4:3; 5:2; D&C 20:77, 79). I have found in that moment that God can give me what feels like a personal interview. He brings to my attention what I have done that pleases Him, my need for repentance and forgiveness, and the names and faces of people He would have me serve for Him.
Over the years, that repeated experience has turned hope into feelings of charity and brought an assurance that mercy was unlocked for me by the Savior’s Atonement and Resurrection.

Tomorrows

"One day each of us will run out of tomorrows."
(Finding Joy in the Journey, Thomas S. Monson, Oct 2008)

We can endure almost anything...

"We can endure almost anything if we have someone by our side who really loves us."
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Les Miserable

I watched the new Les Miserable movie tonight.  It was wonderfully acted. Such raw emotion and tragedy. The personification of mercy and justice.  Here are some great quotes from the book.

“To love or have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further. There is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life."

“Let us study things that are no more. It is necessary to understand them, if only to avoid them.”

“He who despairs is wrong.”

“As for methods of prayer, all are good, as long as they are sincere.”


 

General Conference Impressions

A favorite story of Sara from Conference. A lady had no more food to feed her family. She had two very hard biscuits. She decided to put them in a pot and cover them with water. She remembered the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. She prayed that the two biscuits would feed her family. When it was done cooking, it here was plenty to feed her family.

Josh said (with a smirk) that the biggest thing he got out of conference was that he can go on a mission at 18 years old.

I liked Russell T. Osguthorpe this afternoon when he talked about a group of people they were teaching. He asked how many of them had the Teaching No Greater Call manual. Then he jokingly asked who studied it every day. There was one person who raised their hand. They said that they read their scriptures then read out of the manual to know how to best teach their children

Don R. Clarke told a story of his childhood. He said that when he was a young man his teachers had them fill out a card asking what were they thinking about during the sacrament. I imagine that this was a card that they kept for themselves. Something as a self accountability to see where there thoughts went during the sacrament.

Quentin L. Cook: Two challenges we have are the unrighteousness in the world and apathy among the members. He then referred to Alma 5. Asking if we had felt to sing the song of redeeming love can we feel so now?

Robert D Hales repeated the same story that Elder Holland told in the morning session today. The one about Peter going back to fishing after Jesus died.

I need someone to feed my sheep. Someone who loves me. Ours is not a feeble message. It will change the world.

Phrases I loved: "healing balm".
"would you sell your soul for a nickel?"
"do not leave the storm cellar just as the tornado approaches"
"Condemn me not because of my imperfections"

Dallin H Oaks spoke boldly about the welfare of children. Those forced to fight as soldiers. Children that are denied birth. The replacement rates in Europe and Asia have fallen. Nations hollowed out and cease to exist. Marriage becoming less about the bearing and raising of children. Children becoming shadowy characters in the background of marriage. Same sex marriage is an experiment. Studies of same sex parenting is mixed and politically charged

D. Todd Christopherson Manning Up

Gary E Stevenson. Skirmishes, silent and solitary in front of a screen.

Inspirational Quotes

Added Nov 2018

"The most important of all the commandments of God is that one that you are having the most difficulty keeping today." (Harold B. Lee, “Chapter 4: The First Principles and Ordinances of the Gospel,” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Harold B. Lee (2011), 27–36)


Added Aug 2015
"Yes, Armageddon lies ahead. But so does Adam-ondi-Ahman!"
(“O, Divine Redeemer”, Neal A. Maxwell, Oct 1981)

Told to John Taylor before he was baptized. 
"Now, we have nothing particular to promise you, only the favor of God if you will live righteously and keep His commandments. You may be persecuted, afflicted, imprisoned or put to death for the testimony you may have to bear, for the religion you are called upon to obey; but we can promise to you that inasmuch as this is the case you will have eternal life." ("Chapter 4: Obedience, a Sacred Duty", Teachings of Presidents of the Church: John Taylor, (2011), 30–37)


Added Jul 2015
“It takes less courage to end your life in a burst of glory than to face the mistakes you’ve made and start over.” 
Lynn Austin, Fire by Night

“If you go to bed at 10:00 and get up by 6:00 a.m., things will work out for you.”
Gordon B. Hinckley, in Sheri L. Dew, Go Forward with Faith: The Biography of Gordon B. Hinckley (1996), 166–67, As quoted in "Filled with Life and Energy" By Randal A. Wright

"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." - Voltaire
(from BrainyQuote.org)


Added Apr 2015
"So many honorable individuals in the world do so much without what we, as members, call gospel fulness, while some of us, unfortunately, do so little with so much!" (“From the Beginning”, Neal A. Maxwell, Oct 1993)

Added Mar 2015
Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate.

-Thoreau

Added Feb 2015
"The most effective way to preach the gospel is through example. If we live according to our beliefs, people will notice. If the countenance of Jesus Christ shines in our lives, if we are joyful and at peace with the world, people will want to know why. One of the greatest sermons ever pronounced on missionary work is this simple thought attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi: 'Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.' Opportunities to do so are all around us. Do not miss them by waiting too long on the road to Damascus." ("Waiting on the Road to Damascus", Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Apr 2011)

"When you pick up a stick at one end, you also pick up the other end" (As they say in Zanzibar, David Crystal, as found at hancockmcdonald.com)

St. Augustine said “The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.”

Added Jan 2015
“In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.” (C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man)

Added Dec 2014
"Feasting on the word of God each day is more important than sleep, school, work, television shows, video games, or social media. You may need to reorganize your priorities to provide time for the study of the word of God. If so, do it!" ("Make the Exercise of Faith Your First Priority", Richard G. Scott, Oct 2014)

What more can I do to "be persuaded to do good continually"? (Ether 8:26)

"Unlike most other religious denominations, within the LDS Church the higher one's educational attainment, the more likely one is to remain religiously active." ("The LDS Church Is Anti-Intellectualism but Not Anti-Intelligence: The Importance of Light and Truth", Ray DeGraw, Dec 2014)

"When results are recorded, results improve. When they are recorded and reported they increase even more." (Paraphrased from a talk Elder Quincy Wilson gave on Sun Dec 28, 2014, he was a missionary that served in my ward. )

Added Nov 2014
"I do not wish any Latter Day Saint in this world, nor in heaven, to be satisfied with anything I do, unless the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ,—the spirit of revelation, makes them satisfied. I wish them to know for themselves and understand for themselves." (Brigham Young, “Sermon,” Deseret News, Oct. 31, 1855, 267; quoted in Terryl Givens and Fiona Givens, The Crucible of Doubt: Reflections on the Quest for Faith (2014), 63. quoted by D. Todd Christofferson, "Free Forever, to Act for Themselves", Oct 2014)

“The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.” (Joseph Smith Jr. History of the Church, Vol. 3, p. 30)

Added Oct 2014
"To determine if something is good you should be willing to look at it from the perspective of others." (an online friend)

'The calling of 15 men to the holy apostleship provides great protection for us as members of the Church. Why? Because decisions of these leaders must be unanimous. (D&C 107:27) Can you imagine how the Spirit needs to move upon 15 men to bring about unanimity? These 15 men have varied educational and professional backgrounds, with differing opinions about many things. Trust me! These 15 men—prophets, seers, and revelators—know what the will of the Lord is when unanimity is reached! They are committed to see that the Lord’s will truly will be done. The Lord’s Prayer provides the pattern for each of these 15 men when they pray: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." ("Sustaining the Prophets", Russell M. Nelson, Oct 2014)'

"Adulation is a disease I fight every day" (Gordon B. Hinckley, circa 1998)

"In this matter of counterfeit intimacy and deceptive gratification, I express particular caution to the men who hear this message. I have heard all my life that it is the young woman who has to assume the responsibility for controlling the limits of intimacy in courtship because a young man cannot. What an unacceptable response to such a serious issue! What kind of man is he, what priesthood or power or strength or self-control does this man have that lets him develop in society, grow to the age of mature accountability, perhaps even pursue a university education and prepare to affect the future of colleagues and kingdoms and the course of the world, but yet does not have the mental capacity or the moral will to say, "I will not do that thing"? No, this sorry drugstore psychology would have us say, "He just can't help himself. His glands have complete control over his life--his mind, his will, his entire future." (Jeffery R Holland, "Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments")

"The Savior empowers us with His grace, not because we've earned it, but because He loves us perfectly." Sheri Dew

"Even if there be no hereafter, I would live my time believing in a grand thing that ought to be true if it is not. No facts can take the place of truths, and if these be not truths, then is the loftiest part of our nature a waste. Let me hold by the better than the actual, and fall into nothingness off the same precipice with Jesus and John and Paul and a thousand more, who were lovely in their lives, and with their death make even the nothingness into which they have passed like the garden of the Lord. I will go further, Polwarth, and say, I would rather die for evermore believing as Jesus believed, than live for evermore believing as those that deny him." (Fiona Givens personal creed. Taken from a George MacDonald book.)

Do you remember when you first went through the House of the Lord? I do. And I went out disappointed. Just a young man, out of college, anticipating great things when I went to the Temple. I was disappointed and grieved, and I have met hundreds of young men and young women since who had that experience. I have now found out why. There are two things in every Temple: mechanics, to set forth certain ideals, and symbolism, what those mechanics symbolize. I saw only the mechanics when I first went through the Temple. I did not see the spiritual. I did not see the symbolism of spirituality. Speaking plainly, I saw men, physical state, which offended me. That is a mechanic of washing…. I was blind to the great lesson of purity behind the mechanics. I did not hear the message of the Lord, “By ye clean who bear the vessels of the Lord.” I did not hear that eternal truth, “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” The symbolism was lost entirely…. And so with the anointing, following the washing. Do you see the symbolism?… How many of us young men saw that? We thought we were big enough and with intelligence sufficient to criticize the mechanics of it and we were blind to the symbolism, the message of the spirit. And then that great ordinance, the endowment. The whole thing is simple in the mechanical part of it, but sublime and eternal in its significance. (Address delivered by David O. McKay at the dedicatory services of the additions to the Arizona Temple, Mesa, Arizona, December 30, 1956, David O. McKay Scrapbooks #162)

Added Sep 2014
“We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.” (Anaïs Nin)

“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.”
~ Henri J.M. Nouwen, Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life

“That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed but that our power to do has increased.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Just as meekness is in all our virtues, so is pride in all our sins”
(Neal A. Maxwell, "Meek and Lowly", Oct 1986)

Added Mar 2014
"Be excellent to each other." (Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) )

Added Nov 2013
"Heaven is a place, but also a condition; it is home and family. It is understanding and kindness. It is interdependence and selfless activity. It is quiet, sane living; personal sacrifice, genuine hospitality, wholesome concern for others. It is living the commandments of God without ostentation or hypocrisy. It is selflessness. It is all about us. We need only to be able to recognize it as we find it and enjoy it. Yes, my dear brother, I’ve had many glimpses of heaven." ("Glimpses of Heaven", Spencer W. Kimball, Dec 1971)

Added Apr 2013
"Don't think your testimony is meaningless if you didn't have a dramatic conversion. Every conversion cost the same amount of Christ's blood shed on the cross...The determining factor is not how exciting your conversion was but how excited you are about your conversion." Beth Moore

Added May 2012
Nothing is so much calculated to lead people to forsake sin as to take them by the hand, and watch over them with tenderness. When persons manifest the least kindness and love to me, O what power it has over my mind, while the opposite course has a tendency to harrow up all the harsh feelings and depress the human mind. (Joseph Smith, Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book, p. 59, History of the Church, 5:23–24.)


Added Feb 2012
"Pride prefers cheap repentance, paid for with shallow sorrow" (Neal A. Maxwell, "Repentance", Oct 1991)

"Just as meekness is in all our virtues, so is pride in all our sins" (Neal A. Maxwell, "Meek and Lowly", Oct 1986)

"Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent" -unknown

Added Aug 2011
A Facebook friend of mine asked, "Your favorite/most inspiring quote. Go!"  Here are my favorites from among them.

If you do not quarrel, no one earth will be able to quarrel with you...Recompense injury with kindness...To those who are good I am good, and to those who are not good I am good; thus all get to be good. To those who are sincere I am sincere, and to those who are not sincere I am also sincere, and thus all get to be ...sincere...The softest thing in the world...overcomes the hardest.
-Lao Tze


"The unexamined life is not worth living."
--Socrates, as quoted by Plato in The Apology of Socrates

‎"From the cowardice that shrinks from new truth, from the laziness that is content with half truth, from the arrogance that thinks it has all truth-O God of Truth, deliver us." - Unknown


"We cannot be saved until we have risen above all our enemies, not the least of which is ignorance." - Joseph Smith


Learn to like what doesn't cost much.
Learn to like reading, conversation, music.
Learn to like plain food, plain service, plain cooking.
Learn to like fields, trees, brooks, hiking, rowing, climbing hills.
Learn to like people,
even though some of them may be different . . .
Different from you.
Learn to like to work and enjoy the satisfaction
of doing your job as well as it can be done.
Learn to like the songs of birds, the companionship of dogs.
Learn to like gardening,
puttering around the house, and fixing things.
Learn to like the sunrise and sunset,
the beating of rain on the roof and windows,
and the gentle fall of snow on a winter day.
Learn to keep your wants simple and
refuse to be controlled by the likes and dislikes of others.
--Lowell Bennion



 We are the music makers, and the dreamer of dreams. --willy wonka




From V for Vendetta:
Creedy: Die! Die! Why won't you die?... Why won't you die?
V: Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.


You can't force people to approve of you, agree with you, be impressed with you, love you or even like you. Stop trying!...and Remember 3 things and save yourself lots of unneeded heartache: You're not God. This ain't heaven. Don't act like a jerk.- Fr. James Martin, SJ

"You can get a lot further with a kind word and a gun, than just a kind word" (The character of Al Capone in The Untouchables)

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Marianne Williamson

‎"Question with boldness even the very existence of god. because if there be one, he must more approve of the homage to reason than that of blindfolded fear." Thomas Jefferson

‎"If the cosmos could create butterflies and Einstein's mind with a chemistry set that contained hydrogen, oxygen, sodium, and fewer than a gross of other elements, we may be able by mastering the elements of love to perform the alchemy that will change our lives from gross matter to gold." -Sam Keen

As I have loved you, love one another. - Jesus Christ

"It would seem that among those who vigorously pursue the life of the mind in particular, who are committed to the scholarly pursuit of knowledge and rational inquiry, faith is as often a casualty as it is a product. The call to faith is a summons to engage the heart, to attune it to resonate in sympathy with principles and values and ideals that we devoutly hope are true, and to have reasonable but not certain grounds for believing them to be true. I am convinced that there must be grounds for doubt as well as belief in order to render the choice more truly a choice—and, therefore, the more deliberate and laden with personal vulnerability and investment. The option to believe must appear on our personal horizon like the fruit of paradise, perched precariously between sets of demands held in dynamic tension. One is, it would seem, always provided with sufficient materials out of which to fashion a life of credible conviction or dismissive denial. We are acted upon, in other words, by appeals to our personal values, our yearnings, our fears, our appetites, and our egos. What we choose to embrace, to be responsive to, is the purest reflection of who we are and what we love. That is why faith, the choice to believe, is, in the final analysis, an action that is positively laden with moral significance." ~"Lightning Out of Heaven": Joseph Smith and the Forging of Community
Terryl Givens

"There is no victory without honor", from my son's history class in Sep 2011

"a religion which will not help a man in this life will not likely do much for him in the life to come" (Joseph F. Smith quoted by Gordon B. Hinckley Apr 2001 "The Perpetual Education Fund") From a FB friend Sep 2011

"The human soul, like a charioteer, must drive two horses as it progresses toward Heaven. The horses must work together or the chariot will just go round and round. …It would be unfortunate if either should outstretch the other. Over-emphasizing intellect to the neglect of spirituality, and over-emphasizing faith without the application of reason are both unworthy of practicing Latter-Day Saints. We cannot achieve spiritual excellence without intellectual rigor, and intellectual excellence is hollow without active spirituality. We need to have the spirit as we learn, and we need to have learning as we build faith. Working together, faith and intellect help us achieve the Latter-day Saint goal of eternal progression." (Reflections of a Mormon Historian p.229)


Here is what I posted, ‎"Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed" D&C 123:17