20 July 2018

Accept yourself

"I plead with you young women to please be more accepting of yourselves, including your body shape and style, with a little less longing to look like someone else. We are all different. Some are tall, and some are short. Some are round, and some are thin. And almost everyone at some time or other wants to be something they are not! But as one adviser to teenage girls said: 'You can’t live your life worrying that the world is staring at you. When you let people’s opinions make you self-conscious you give away your power. … The key to feeling [confident] is to always listen to your inner self—[the real you.]'"

- Jeffrey R. Holland ("To Young Women" October 2005 General Conference)

Choose your clothes like your friends.

"Young women, choose your clothing the way you would choose your friends—in both cases choose that which improves you and would give you confidence standing in the presence of God.7 Good friends would never embarrass you, demean you, or exploit you. Neither should your clothing."

Jeffrey R. Holland ("To Young Women" October 2005 General Conference)

Modesty in dress

"In the gospel of Jesus Christ, modesty in appearance is always in fashion. Our standards are not socially negotiable."

-Jeffrey R. Holland ("To Young Women" October 2005 General Conference)

19 July 2018

Defend your Faith

"You will one day find yourself called upon to defend your faith or perhaps even endure some personal abuse simply because you are a member of The Church of Latter-day Saints. Such moments will require both courage and courtesy on your part."

Jeffrey R. Holland ("The Cost and Blessings of Discipleship", May 2014)

Stand Up, Speak Up, and Shine

"I promise you that whether it's in the boardroom or the bakery, at some point, as a disciple of Christ, you will be called upon to articulate what you know and believe."

Joy D. Jones ("Stand Up, Speak Up, and Shine", June 21, 2018)

17 July 2018

Better to trust

"It is better to trust and sometimes be disappointed than to be forever mistrusting and be right occasionally."

Neil A. Maxwell ("Insights from my Life" Devotional, October 26, 1976)

Christ is with us the whole way

"Christ is not waiting at the finish line once we have done 'all we can do.'  He is with us every step of the way."

- Brad Wilcox ("His Grace is Sufficient")

Repentance is a pattern

"When we understand grace, we understand that God is long-suffering, that change is a process, and that repentance is a pattern in our lives."

- Brad Wilcox ("His Grace is Sufficient")

Practice makes perfect

"when a young pianist hits a wrong note, we don't say he is not worthy to keep practicing.  We don't expect him to be flawless.  We just expect him to keep trying. [...] Why is this perspective so easy to see in the context of learning piano but so hard to see in the context of learning Heaven?"

- Brad Wilcox ("His Grace is Sufficient")

Christ will beg us to take advantage of the atonement

"I realize that in the final judgment it will not be the unrepentant sinner begging Jesus, 'Let me stay,' no, He will probably be saying 'get me out of here!'  Knowing Christ's character, I believe that if anyone is going to be begging on that occasion, it would probably be Jesus begging the unrepentant sinner, 'please, choose to stay. Please, use my atonement- not just to be cleansed but to be changed so that you want to stay.'"

- Brad Wilcox ("His Grace is Sufficient")

Christ's Atonement was an investment

"While many Christians view Christ's suffering as only a huge favor he did for us, Latter-Day Saints also recognize it as a huge investment he made in us."

-Omar Canal (Unknown- referenced by Brad Wilcox in "His Grace is Sufficient")

How to repay Christ's gift

"Christ's arrangement with us is similar to a mom providing music lessons for her child.  Mom pays the piano teacher. [...] Because mom pays the debt in full, she can turn to her child and ask for something. [...] Does the child's practice pay the piano teacher? No.  Does the child's practice repay the mom for paying the piano teacher? No.  Practicing is how the child shows appreciation for mom's incredible gift.  [...]  Mom's joy is found not in getting repaid, but in seeing her gift used: seeing her child improve."

- Brad Wilcox ("His Grace is Sufficient")

Jesus is the difference

"Jesus doesn't make up the difference; Jesus makes all the difference.  Grace is not about filling gaps. It is about filling us."

- Brad Wilcox ("His Grace is Sufficient")

Critics must be met by meekness

"Therefore, Brothers and Sisters, quiet goodness must persevere, even when, as prophesied, a few actually rage in their anger against that which is good.  Likewise, the arrogance of critics must be met by the meekness and articulateness of believers."

- Neil A. Maxwell ("Becometh As A Child" April 1996 General Conference)

"They leave the Church, but they cannot leave the Church alone."

"Church members will live in this wheat-and-tares situation until the millennium.  Some real tares even masquerade as wheat, including the few eager individuals who lecture the rest of us about church doctrines in which they no longer believe.  They criticize the use of church resources to which they no longer contribute.  They condescendingly seek to counsel the brethren whom they no longer sustain.  Confrontive, except of themselves, of course, they leave the Church, but they cannot leave the Church alone."

- Neil A. Maxwell ("Becometh As A Child" April 1996 General Conference)

Follow God and you'll always be right

"The wisdom of God ofttimes appears as foolishness to men, but the greatest single lesson we can learn in mortality is that when God speaks and a man obeys, that man will always be right."

Thomas S. Monson "Be Your Best Self"

Choose the hard way

"I plead with youth to choose the hard way and to tax their talents, and our Heavenly Father will make them equal to their tasks."

Thomas S. Monson "Be Your Best Self"

LDS Church in politics

"Because the laws of man, by and large, do not raise moral issues, we are taught to honor, sustain, and obey the law [...].  When morality is involved, we have both the right and the obligation to raise a warning voice.  We do not as a church speak on political issues unless morality is involved."

Boyd K. Packer ("Our Moral Obligation" April 1992 General Conference)

Measuring our success as parents

"The measure of our success as parents [...] will not rest solely on how our children turn out.  That judgment would be just only if we could raise our families in a perfectly moral environment[...]."

Boyd K. Packer ("Our Moral Obligation" April 1992 General Conference)