Mormon Musings

"As with any other germ, a little preventive medicine ought to be practiced in terms of those things that get us down. There is a line from Dante that says, 'The arrow seen before cometh less rudely' (Divine Comedy). President John F. Kennedy put the same thought into one of his state of the union messages this way: 'The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.' Jeffrey R. Holland For Times of Trouble, BYU Devotional, March 1980

Are you prepared for the day of vengeance to come, when the Lord will consume the wicked by the brightness of His coming?  No.  Then do not be too anxious for the Lord to hasten His work.  Let our anxiety be centered upon this one thing, the sanctification of our own hearts, the purifying of our own affections, the preparing of ourselves for the approach of events that are hastening upon us.  This should be our concern, this should be our study, this should be our daily prayer...Seek to have the Spirit of Christ, that we may wait patiently for the time of the Lord, and prepare ourselves for the times that are coming.  This is our duty. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 9:3

Jesus, our Redeemer, has given to us for our use in this day a powerful parable to stress the importance of constant personal preparedness. It is known as the parable of the Ten Virgins, a warning to all mankind everywhere. “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. “And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. “They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: “But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. “While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. “Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. “And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. “But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. “And while they went to buy, the b...

"We all need to build a personal ark, to fortify ourselves against the rising tide of evil, to protect ourselves and our families against the floodwaters of iniquity around us. And we shouldn’t wait until it starts raining, but prepare in advance. This has been the message of all the prophets.   When it starts raining, it’s too late to build the ark 1 … We need to listen to the Lord’s spokesman. We need to calmly continue to move ahead and prepare for what will surely come. We need not panic or fear, for if we are prepared, spiritually and temporally, we and our families will survive any flood. Our arks will float on a sea of faith if our works have been steadily and surely preparing for the future." W. Donn Ladd, General Conference, November 1994 1 In the words of President Monson, “when the time for performance has come, the time for preparation has ended.”