Mormon Musings

"Through the ages, God has made covenants with His children. His covenants occur throughout the entire plan of salvation and are therefore part of the fulness of His gospel. For example, God promised to send a Savior for His children, asking in turn for their obedience to His law." —Russell M. Nelson, " Covenants "

"I invite each of us to evaluate how much we love the Savior, using as a measure how joyfully we keep our covenants." —Linda K. Burton, " The Power, Joy, and Love of Covenant Keeping "

"We need to ponder in the scriptures and in the words of living prophets. We need to make plans which are not only wishes but covenants. And then we need to keep our promises to the Lord. And we need to lift others by sharing with them the blessings of the Atonement which have come in our lives." —Henry B. Eyring, " Help Them on Their Way Home ",  Liahona and Ensign , May 2010

Christ  said, “I am the true vine, and … ye are the branches.”   2   “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”   3 “Abide in me” is an understandable and beautiful enough concept in the elegant English of the King James  Bible , but “abide” is not a word we use much anymore. So I gained even more appreciation for this admonition from the Lord when I was introduced to the translation of this passage in another language. In Spanish that familiar phrase is rendered “permaneced en mi.”  Like the English verb “abide,”  permanecer  means “to remain, to stay,” but even gringos like me can hear the root cognate there of “permanence.” The sense of this then is “stay—but stay  forever. ” That is the call of the gospel message to Chileans and everyone else in the world. Come, but come to remain. Come with conviction and endurance. Come permanently, for ...

“How sweet is the assurance, how comforting is the peace that come from the knowledge that if we marry right and live right, our relationship will continue, notwithstanding the certainty of death and the passage of time. Men may write love songs and sing them. They may yearn and hope and dream. But all of this will be only a romantic longing unless there is an exercise of authority that transcends the powers of time and death.” Gordon B. Hinckley 

I will offer a word to all, whether they are mechanics or common laborers.  No matter what calling you may follow in life, you have need, at this juncture of your existence, to observe and treasure up one thing carefully and faithfully in your minds, namely, if you live a proper life before the Lord, you know that you have the fellowship of His Spirit, so that you know your prayers are heard and answered, because you receive the things you ask for.  If you live so as to always have the witness of the good Spirit, you will be saved today and every day, and thus it will be well with you.  But if you are heedless of this day, and calculate on tomorrow, you have no assurance that you will realize your hopes tomorrow.  The only certain stepping stone is...that you be faithful to your covenants with God and secure thereby the fellowship of the Spirit, and walk in the counsels of it today; if you do this, you will have the good that is for you tomorrow. Franklin D. Richa...