Mormon Musings

  "Our perfect Father does not expect us to be perfect children yet. He had only one such Child. Meanwhile, therefore, sometimes with smudges on our cheeks, dirt on our hands, and shoes untied, stammeringly but smilingly we present God with a dandelion—as if it were an orchid or a rose! If for now the dandelion is the best we have to offer, He receives it, knowing what we may later place on the altar. It is good to remember how young we are spiritually." - Neal A. Maxwell, "That Ye May Believe," p. 100

 “...He is utterly incomparable in what He is , what he knows , what He has accomplished , and what He has experienced .  Yet, movingly, He calls us His friends. We can trust, worship, and even adore Him without any reservation.   As the only perfect person to sojourn on this planet, there is none like Him. In intelligence and performance, He far surpasses the individual and composite capacities and achievements of all who have lived, live now, and will yet live.   He rejoices in our genuine goodness and achievement, but any assessment of where we stand in relation to Him tells us that we do not stand at all.   We kneel.” Elder Neal A. Maxwell, " Even As I Am ", p. 116

What's ahead is made more clear only as the adversary is put behind us.  Lucifer clouds not only our view of the present but also our perception of the future. Neal A. Maxwell, "Even As I Am" p. 77

Brooding over temptations can produce self pity and a false sense of nobility. Prolonged consideration of the temptation only increases the risks—but it does not increase our options; the two options and the consequences remain the same regardless of our dallying. Moreover, protracted consideration of a temptation does not increase the justification to succumb—only our rationalization. When we are well taught we know, initially, what must be done. Therefore, to give heed to temptation is, in effect, to “give place” for Satan’s seeds to grow and sprout and to bring forth its bitter harvest. So it was that Jesus, for the first recorded time, met the awful if . It was a word to be repeated later when the stress was even greater. So we should do likewise. Otherwise, to host an if is like hosting an insect that breeds and multiplies in the sun of circumstance. Soon one is crawling with ifs and thereby overcome. Some doubters who are overcome even become proud of their doubts—rather like...

Enoch surely had received special lessons in patience in the development of his special city "in process of time." Though His enemies hated and feared the city of Enoch, they nevertheless stood "afar off" out of respect for Enoch's access to divine power, which access depended upon Enoch's personal righteousness.  As the results of his tutorials, the Enoch who had earlier felt inadequate later actually moved mountains.  A matured Enoch, once slow of speech, become so powerful the people trembled when he spoke, "so great was the power of the language which God had given him." But Enoch never forgot the Source of his eloquence...Yet it all began with a meek lad who was slow of speech and who was disliked by the people. (See also Ether 12:27) Neal A. Maxwell, Even As I Am , p. 48 In acknowledging that we cannot comprehend all that God comprehends, this attitude should apply not alone to the galaxies, but also to the constellation of characteristics th...

When the respentance process is complete, no scars remain because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ...[He, through t]he Atonement...can wash clean every stain no matter how difficult or how long or how many times repeated.  [He, through t]he Atonement can put you free again to move forward, cleanly and worthily, to pursue that path that you have chosen in life. Boyd K. Packer, "The Plan of Happiness," Ensign, May 2015, 28

"Jesus never doubted His power, but He was never confused about its source, either." "Has not the Lord with equal truth and relevance told us, concerning the resources of this planet, 'For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare'?  Should not this reality sober us in terms of what might be achieved as regards to poverty?  Clearly, it is the attribute of love, not other resources, that is in short supply..." "Though Jesus now governs galaxies, yet of a night He stood by Paul when Paul was in jail.  We do not fully understand how Jesus oversees His vast flock and also provides such individualization in His ministry, but we are counseled: 'Believe in God; believe that He is, and that He created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that He has all wisdom, and all power...believe that man doth not comprehend all things which the Lord can comprehend.'  It is one of the hallmarks of human vanity that we assume, because we cannot...