Mormon Musings

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude of mind. William James

You are not to suppose that you are going to be jumped into the midst of revelations, and by one great and grand step are to burst the vail, and to rend it from your eyes, do you think that you are to step into the celestial kingdom and see it all at once? No, these blessings are by far too precious to be attained in such a way; they are to be attained by diligence and faith from day to day, and from night to night. Hence you are to become habituated to do good in your thoughts and conduct, in all that you do, until you become perfectly initiated into the great principles of righteousness, and continue to live uprightly until it becomes a kind of second nature to be honest, to be prudent, to govern all your passions, and bring all of the influences of the flesh, of the fallen nature, into the most perfect subjection to the law of God. Orson Pratt, April 13, 1856, Journal of Discourses 3:348

I counsel you to stop and think what you are doing, before you commit any more sins, before you give way to your temper. The temper, or the evil propensities of men, when given way to, are the cause of their sinning so much. The Lord is suffering the devil to work upon and try His people. The selfish will, operated upon by the power of Satan, is the strongest cord that vibrates through the human system. This has been verified a thousand times. Men have sacrificed their money, their health, their good names, their friends, and have broken through every tender tie to gratify their wills. Curb that, bridle the tongue, and then hold the mastery over your feelings, that they submit not to the will of the flesh, but to the will of the Holy Ghost; and decide in your own minds that your will and judgment shall be none other than the will and judgment of the Spirit of God, and you will then go and sin no more. Brigham Young, October 23, 1853, Journal of Discourses 2:9

Laman and Lemuel were angry when Nephi broke his bow (1 Nephi 16:18).   Yet Laman and Lemuel were apparently not self-critical when their own bows had earlier “lost their springs,” nor is there any record of their trying to make new bows to feed their families (1 Nephi 16:21).   One can almost hear them saying, “Let Nephi do it.   This trip was his idea.”   Life’s broken bows can create resentment, as if we have given God a quota of irritants that He must not exceed.   Hence, in our frustrations, some of us murmur over our own equivalents of broken bows.   These hyperventilating moments use up some of the oxygen provided by God’s lending us breath from moment to moment (Mosiah 2:21).   Because God has said He will try our patience and our faith, how should we view such irritating trials? (Mosiah 23:21)   Furthermore, if there were never any broken bows, how else would we be brought to perform certain spiritual calisthenics? Broken bows litter t...

"One things is clear: the safest place and the best protection against the moral and spiritual diseases is a stable home and family.  This has always been true; it will be true forever.  We must keep that foremost in our minds.  The scriptures speak of 'the shield of faith wherewith,' the Lord said, 'ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked' (D&C 27:17).  The shield of faith is best fabricated in a cottage industry.  While the shield can be polished in classes in the Church and in activities, it is meant to be handcrafted in the home and fitted to each individual.  The Lord said, 'Take upon you my whole armor, that ye may be able to withstand the evil day, having done all, that ye may be able to stand' (D&C 27:15). Our young people are in many ways much stronger and better than we were.  They and we should not be afraid of what is ahead.  Encourage our young people.  They need not live in fear (see D&C 6:36)....

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose...What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?...Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:28,31,35, 37-39 "... I will not forget thee, O house of Israel.  Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; they walls are continually before me." Isaiah 49: 15-16; 1 Nephi 21:15-16 "... I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not...

"...see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order...And finally, I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them. But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not." Mosiah 4:27, 29-30

No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, God will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character. He is an unchanging Being; the same yesterday, the same today, and He will be the same throughout the eternal ages to come. We have found that God. We have made Him our friend by obeying His Gospel; and He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace, we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments. George Q. Cannon Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.   Isaiah 41:10 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow th...

"We believe in being virtuous. This may have nothing whatever to do with sexual morality; that is covered by the word chaste. V irtuous, in this case, I believe, means having strength—the strength to do whatever needs doing. Great virtue comes in doing well and consistently the everyday, often rather tedious tasks of life. Blaise Pascal said that 'the strength of a man’s virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts' ( Pensées [1670]). Your virtue will be attained through deliberate practice of those things that bring strength and purity to your life—such things as prayer; consistent study of the scriptures; timely payment of your financial obligations, especially an honest tithe; careful adherence to the law of health, which we call the Word of Wisdom; and faithful observance of all the commandments of God. These and other goodly practices performed on a habitual basis will yield great virtue." Gordon B. Hinckely, " True to t...

"You that have not passed through the trials, and persecutions, and drivings of this people, from the beginning, but have only read of them, or heard some of then related, may think how awful they were to endure, and wonder that the Saints survived them at all.  The thought of it makes your hearts sink within you, your brains reel, and your bodies tremble, and you are ready to exclaim, 'I could not have endured it.'   I have been in the heat of it, and I never felt better in my life; I never felt the peace and power of the Almighty more copiously poured upon me than in the keenest part of our trials.  They appeared as nothing to me .  I hear people talk about their troubles, their sole privations, and the great sacrifices they have made for the Gospel's sake.  It never was a sacrifice to me.  Anything I can do or suffer in the cause of the Gospel, is only like dropping a pin into the sea; the blessings, gifts, powers, honor, joy, tr...

"Now those men, or those women, who know no more about the power of God, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, than to be led entirely by another person, suspending their own understanding, and pinning their faith upon another's sleeve, will never be capable of entering into the celestial glory, to be crowned as they anticipate; they will never be capable of becoming Gods.  They cannot rule themselves, to say nothing of ruling others, but they must be dictated to in every trifle, like a child.  They cannot control themselves in the least, but James, Peter, or somebody else must control them.  They never can become Gods, nor be crowned as rulers with glory, immortality and eternal lives.  They never can hold scepters of glory, majesty, and power in the celestial kingdom.  Who will?  Those who are valiant and inspired with the true independence of heaven, who will go forth boldly in the service of God, leaving oth...