Mormon Musings

http://mormonthoughts.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/care-for-the-life-of-the-soul-2/

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8 Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work.  And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.  Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and the willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days. D&C 64:33-34

If you want the mind and will of God … , get it, it is just as much your privilege as of any other member of the Church and Kingdom of God. It is your privilege and duty to live so that you know when the word of the Lord is spoken to you and when the mind of the Lord is revealed to you. I say it is your duty to live so as to know and understand all these things. President Brigham Young,  Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young  (1997), 68.

The more I try to unravel the mysteries of the world we live in, the more I come to the conception of a single overruling power-----God. -Henry Eyring Sr.  When a load of bricks, dumped on a corner lot, can arrange themselves into a house; when a handful of springs and screws and wheels, emptied onto a desk, can gather themselves into a watch, then and not until then will it seem sensible, to some of us at least, to believe that all these thousands or millions of worlds could have been created, balanced and set to revolving in their separate orbits, all without any directing intelligence. -Bruce Barton If a clock proves the existence of a clockmaker, and the world does not prove the existence of a Supreme Architect, then I consent to be called a fool. -Voltaire I don’t believe scientists have discovered anything that God didn’t already know. -President Harold B. Lee

There is not a young man in our community who would not be willing to travel from here to England to be married right [in the Holy Temple], if he understood things as they are; there is not a young woman in our community, who loves the Gospel and wishes its blessings, that would be married in any other way. Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young,  p. 195.

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we invite people of all backgrounds—many of which are very different from our own—to come unto Christ. We should not hesitate to invite those of other religions. Many of these good people have been seeking for the truth, even by study and also by faith, for a long time. We need to reach out to them in a courageous way with a sweet boldness, with love, and with a pure desire to share the truth from which they have been kept “because they know not where to find it” (D&C 123:12). President Gordon B. Hinckley said: We do not stand out in opposition to other churches. We respect all men for all the good that they do, and we say to those of all churches, we honor the good that you do and we invite you to come and see what further good we can do for you.  [ TGBH, 667] The Prophet Joseph Smith explained: We don’t ask any people to throw away any good they have got; we only ask them to come and get more.  [ HC ...

But all things must come to pass in their time. D&C 64:32 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1 Patience is not indifference. Actually, it means caring very much but being willing, nevertheless, to submit to the Lord and to what the scriptures call the "process of time."  Patience is tied very closely to faith in our Heavenly Father. Actually, when we are unduly impatient we are suggesting that we know what is best--better than does God. Or, at least, we are asserting that our timetable is better than His. Either way we are questioning the reality of God's omniscience as if, as some seem to believe, God were on some sort of postdoctoral fellowship and were not quite in charge of everything. Elder Neal A. Maxwell, " Patience " (BYU Devotional, November 27, 1979)

I should like to spend the few minutes I stand before you today to salute a group of people who have developed what I believe to be a Christlike characteristic, and that is the ability to “hang on.” At this very moment, there is a man, a good member of the Church, who hovers between life and death in a nearby hospital. In the last few weeks he has withstood crisis after crisis; and yet to the amazement of all, he still hangs on. I know not whether the Lord will ordain that he should ultimately live or die at this time, but I do know there is something noble about his tenacious fight for life and the desire to hang on. In the lives of each of us come these trials—trials of all kinds which shake us to the very core and cause us to explore to the very depths our ability to hang on. I think of the person who, in the quiet of night, could not be persuaded to compromise virtue and decides instead to hang on, though the temptation is great. I think of those who have withstood the test of man...