Mormon Musings

President Wilford Woodruff said in 1894: “The Almighty is with this people. We shall have all the revelations that we will need, if we will do our duty and obey the commandments of God. … While I … live I want to do my duty. I want the Latter-day Saints to do their duty. Here is the Holy Priesthood. … Their responsibility is great and mighty. The eyes of God and all the holy prophets are watching us. This is the great dispensation that has been spoken of ever since the world began. We are gathered together … by the power and commandment of God. We are doing the work of God. … Let us fill our mission”  (in James R. Clark, comp.,  Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of  Jesus Christ  of Latter-day Saints,  6 vols. [1965–75], 3:258). Quoted by President Gordon B. Hinckley, April 2004 General Conference Full Address by President Hinckley:  http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2004/04/the-dawning-of-a-brighter-day?lang=eng

If life gets too hard to stand, kneel. Gordon B. Hinckley

All of us have problems.  We face them every day.  How grateful I am that we have difficult things to wrestle with.  They keep us young, if that is possible.  They keep us alive.  They keep us going.  They keep us humble.  They pull us down to our knees to ask the God of Heaven for help in solving them.  Be grateful for your problems, and know that somehow there will come a solution. President Gordon B. Hinckley, CES Training, February 7, 2003

If there is one thing you or I need in this world it is faith, that dynamic, powerful, marvelous element by which, as Paul declared, the very worlds were framed. Faith – the kind of faith that moves one to get on his knees and plead with the Lord and then get on his feet and go to work – is an asset beyond compare, even in the acquisition of secular knowledge by His Holy Spirit, yea, by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost. Gordon B. Hinckley,  Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley ,  186

Recognize that there is a power greater than ours, that no matter how good a man is, he is not good enough, that no matter how wise he is, he is not wise enough, that no matter how strong he is, he is not strong enough for all of the things which he will face in life, and that there is a source of power to which he can go with the assurance that he will be listened to and that there will be a response. Gordon B. Hinckley ,  "The Message: Gifts to Bring Home from the Mission Field," New Era, Mar. 2007, 4

here is a wonderful message from President Hinckley: http://lds.org/broadcast/ces090901/transcript/0,11006,566,00.html

The year was 1820, the season spring. The boy with questions walked into the grove of his father's farm. There, finding himself alone, he pleaded in prayer for that wisdom which James promised would be given liberally to those who ask of God in faith. (See James 1:5.) There, in circumstances which he has described in much detail, he beheld the Father and the Son, the great God of the universe and the risen Lord, both of whom spoke to him. This transcendent experience opened the marvelous work of restoration. It lifted the curtain on the long-promised dispensation of the fulness of times. For more than a century and a half, enemies, critics, and some would-be scholars have worn out their lives trying to disprove the validity of that vision. Of course they cannot understand it. The things of God are understood by the Spirit of God. There had been nothing of comparable magnitude since the Son of God walked the earth in mortality. Without it as a foundation stone for our faith and org...

"Dan Jones was born 4 August 1810 in Halkin, Flintshire, Wales. . . . In 1840 he came to America. . . . By 1842, when he was thirty-one, the short, stocky Welshman owned a half interest in the Maid of Iowa, a boat large enough to carry three hundred passengers. "While engaged in river traffic, Dan learned of the Mormons, who had been driven from Missouri and had found temporary refuge in Quincy, Illinois, and then had gone on to establish 'Nauvoo the Beautiful.' . . . He wanted to learn more about these people. He met them, was taught, and accepted the truth. In January 1843, he was baptized in the cold waters of the Mississippi River. . . . "In June of the following year, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were arrested and taken to Carthage. Dan Jones was among those who accompanied them and was locked in jail with them. On the last night in Carthage, when apparently the others had gone to sleep, Joseph Smith whispered to Dan Jones, 'Are you afraid [to die...

"That prayer of consecration [dedicating the Salt Lake Temple] is filled with thanksgiving for the blessings of the Lord upon His people. The occasion was the greatest and most significant event in the history of the Latter-day Saints in the Salt Lake Valley. "It is a thing of note that Wilford Woodruff had been the one to drive the stake marking the site of the temple four days after the 1847 arrival of the pioneers. On that occasion President Brigham Young had declared, 'Here we will build a temple to our God.' "Brother Woodruff saw with his own eyes the forty-year pageant of the construction of this magnificent house of the Lord. At the time of the temple dedication he was eighty-six years of age. He had been sustained President of the Church four years earlier. He had known all of the latter-day temples that had been built before this—Kirtland, Nauvoo, St. George, Logan, and Manti. He had presided in the St. George Temple from the time of its dedication in ...

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 ...

By President Gordon B. Hinckley Gordon B. Hinckley, "“If Ye Be Willing and Obedient”",  Liahona , June 1995, 3 Some time ago I stood in Trafalgar Square in London and looked up at the statue of Lord Nelson. At the base of the column are his words uttered on the morning of the Battle of Trafalgar: “England expects every man to do his duty.” Lord Nelson was killed on that historic day in 1805, as were many others; but England was saved as a nation, and Britain became an empire. The image of duty and obedience has been seriously tarnished since that time. This condition is not exactly new; it is as old as human history. Isaiah declared to ancient Israel: “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: “But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” ( Isa. 1:19–20 ). I recall sitting in the Salt Lake Tabernacle when I was 14 or 15—up in the balcony right behind the clock—and hearing President Heber J....

"The year was 1820; the season, spring. The boy with questions walked into the grove of his father's farm. There, finding himself alone, he pleaded in prayer for that wisdom which James promised would be given liberally to those who ask of God in faith (see James 1:5). There, in circumstances which he has described in much detail, he beheld the Father and the Son, the great God of the universe and the risen Lord, both of whom spoke to him. "This transcendent experience opened the marvelous work of restoration. It lifted the curtain on the long-promised dispensation of the fullness of times. "For more than a century and a half, enemies, critics, and some would-be scholars have worn out their lives trying to disprove the validity of that vision. Of course they cannot understand it. The things of God are understood by the Spirit of God. There had been nothing of comparable magnitude since the Son of God walked the earth in mortality. Without it as a foundation stone fo...

When you walk with gratitude, you do not walk with arrogance and conceit and egotism, you walk with a spirit of thanksgiving that is becoming to you and will bless your life. President Gordon B. Hinckley, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley (1997), p. 250 The grateful man sees so much in the world to be thankful for, and with him the good outweighs the evil.  Love overpowers jealousy, and light drives darkness out of his life...Pride destroys our gratitude and sets up selfishness in its place.  How much happier we are in the presence of a grateful and loving soul, and how careful we should be to cultivate, through the medium of a prayerful life, a thankful attitude toward God and man! President Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine , 5th edition (1939), page 263

http://mormonthoughts.wordpress.com/2010/11/02/the-book-of-mormon/

"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...

"A story is told of the Prophet Joseph Smith, who served as both a judge and the mayor of Nauvoo. He was confronted with the case of Anthony, a man of African descent and a former slave. Anthony was accused of a rather serious violation of the law. When Joseph confronted Anthony, he pleaded for mercy, indicating that he needed the money from his illicit activities to purchase the freedom of his child, who was still living in slavery. Joseph expressed his sympathy for Anthony’s plight but insisted that the law must be observed and that a fine would have to be imposed.  The next day, in a sincere effort to do good to his fellowman, Joseph gave Anthony a fine horse that he could use to buy the child's freedom." Gordon B. Hinckely, " True to the Faith ", BYU Devotional, September 18, 2007   http://byub.org/talks/transcripts/devo/2007/9/devo2007918-102.pdf