Holy Ghost - The Spirit of Kindness

President George Albert Smith made this comment in Conference - April 1937 - Quoted in book: "The Teachings of George Albert Smith - Pages 90-91)

"I feel sad sometimes when I hear the unkind things that are spoken not only of people in our church, but of people in the world. Unkind things are not usually said under the inspiration of the Lord. The Spirit of the Lord is a spirit of kindness; it is a spirit of patience; it is a spirit of charity and love and forbearance and long-suffering; and there are none of us who do not need all these virtues that are the result of the possession of the Spirit of our Heavenly Father."

Blind Quilter

Life is a teacher...refiner...and a blessing...How we deal with it...is all up to us...This "sister" is inspiring....Understands...that finding what God wants us to do...takes FAITH...and simply DOING IT, even if most people would think it impossible..."With God...NOTHING is IMPOSSIBLE"...

Transcript of Elder Dallin H. Oaks' Speech Given at Chapman University School of Law

Our Religious FREEDOM - our God-given RIGHTS are being attacked HEAVILY, today...Elder Dallin H. Oaks gave this speech on 4 February 2011 at Chapman University School of Law...explaining this right...The video is 47 minutes long, plus the written transcript..VERY important information on how to PROTECT this right...

Transcript of Elder Dallin H. Oaks' Speech Given at Chapman University School of Law

One Day...You will have been all of these...

"How far you go in life depends on your being TENDER with the young,

COMPASSIONATE with the aged,

SYMPATHETIC with the striving,

and TOLERANT of the weak and the strong.

Because someday in life you will have been all of these."

By: George Washington Carver

Valiant in the Testimony of Christ

"To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to take the Lord's side on every issue. it is to vote as he would vote. It is to think what he thinks, to believe what he believes, to say what he would say and do what he would say and do what he would do in the same situation. it is to have the mind of Christ and be one with him as he is one with his Father." (Elder Bruce R. McConkie "Be Valiant in the Fight of Faith" - Ensign, Nov. 1974, 33)

"Being valiant in our testimony of Jesus, therefore, includes being valiant in our efforts to live more as he lived (see D&C 76:79). We certainly cannot enter His kingdom without receiving the restored ordinances and keeping their associated covenants, but neither can we enter His kingdom without having significantly developed our charity and the other cardinal attributes (see Ether 12:34). Yes, we need the essential ordinances, but we also need the essential attributes. Yes, we need to keep our covenants, but we also need to develop our character." (Elder Neal A. Maxwell - "Apply the Atoning Blood of Christ" - "Ensign" - Nov. 1997, 22)

Faith In Every Footstep!

The House of the Lord

When Elder Russell M. Nelson, of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, spoke in the Priesthood session of the Orlando/Tampa multi-regional conference in Lakeland Florida on January 29, 1994, he directed the Priesthood leaders to "teach the antiquities of the Temple to our people."

I thought this quote from Elder James E. Talmage, in "The House of the Lord", a work published by the Church in 1912, gives a great insight into the endowment we receive in the temple:

"The temple endowment as administered in modern temples comprises instruction relating to the significance and sequence of past dispensations, and the importance of the present as the greatest and grandest era in human history. This course of instruction includes a recital of the most prominent events of the creative period, the condition of our first parents in the Garden of Eden, their disobedience and consequent expulsion from that blissful abode, their condition in the lone and dreary world when doomed to live by labor and sweat, the plan of redemption by which the great transgression may be atoned, the period of the great apostasy, the restoration of the gospel with all its ancient powers and privileges, the absolute and indispensable conditions of personal purity and devotion to the right in present life, and a strict compliance with gospel requirements...

The ordinances of the endowment embody certain obligations on the part of the individual such as covenant and promise to observe the law of strict virtue and chastity, to be charitable, benevolent, tolerant, and pure; to devote both talent and material means to spread the truth and the uplifting of the race; to maintain devotion to the cause of truth; and to seek in every way to contribute to the great preparation that the earth may be made ready to receive her King, the Lord Jesus. With the taking of each covenant and the assuming of each obligation a promised blessing is pronounced, contingent upon the faithful observance of the ordinances.

No jot, iota, or title of the temple rites is otherwise than uplifting and sanctifying. In every detail the endowment ceremony contributes to covenants of morality of life, consecration of person to high ideal, devotion to truth, patriotism to nation, and allegiance to God. The blessings of the House of the Lord are restricted to no privileged class; EVERY MEMBER of the Church may have admission to the temple with the right to participate in the ordinances thereof, if he comes duly ACCREDITED as of worthy life and conduct."

Kyiv Ukraine Temple - Our YOUTH

This was sent to me, today...The Spirit touched me deeply...

The Art of Living or Making the Most of Life

Some years ago...I gained in my possession a book that is filled with many "pearls of great price"...It is one of the few books that never leaves my office......I wish to share...some of its precious teachings...I was introduced to its contents because of Elder Vaughn Featherstone, a former General Authority...May some of the postings from this book (will do so from time to time)...bring joy to you...as it has to me over the years...

"The Art of Living or Making the Most of Life"

"Every one is the son of his own work."
Cervantes

"The art of living deserves a place among the fine arts. Like literature, it may be ranked with the humanities. It is the art of turning the means of living to the best account---of making the best of everything. It is the art of extracting from life its highest enjoyment, and through it, of reaching its highest results."

"Happiness consists in the enjoyment of little pleasures scattered along the common path of life, which in the eager search for some great and exciting joy, we are apt to overlook. It finds delight in the performance of common duties, faithfully and honorably fulfilled."

"The art of living is abundantly exemplified in actual life. Take two men of equal means, one of whom knows the ART OF LIVING, and the other not. The one has the SEEING EYE and the intelligent mind. Nature is ever new to him, and full of beauty. He can live in the present, rehearse the past, or anticipate the glory of the future. With him life has a deep meaning, and requires the performance of duties which are satisfactory to his conscience, and are therefore pleasurable. he IMPROVES himself, acts upon his age, helps to ELEVATE THE DEPRESSED classes, and is ACTIVE in every GOOD WORK. His hand is never tired, his mind is never weary. He goes through life JOYFULLY, HELPING OTHERS TO ITS ENJOYMENT. Intelligence, ever expanding, gives him every day fresh insight into men and things. He lays down his life full of honor and blessing, and his greatest monument is the GOOD DEEDS he has done, and the BENEFICENT example he has set before his fellow-creatures."

"It is not wealth that gives the true ZEST TO LIFE, but reflection, appreciation, taste, culture. Above all, the seeing eye and the feeling heart are indispensable. With these, the humblest lot may be made blessed."

("Happy Homes and the Hearts that Make Them" - By: Samuel Smiles - Pages 11-13)

Another quote...that would fit with this theme is a quote I fell in love with so many years ago...from "Walden's Pond" - By: Henry David Thoreau

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to LIVE DEEP and SUCK OUT ALL THE MARROW OF LIFE..."

Sisters...what precious ray of light do you experience each day? I have come to know, that writing down the GOOD you have looked for in each and every day will LIFT you UPWARDS... GRATITUDE will swell up and sanctify your heart...Seeing Father's divine hand in all things will over-shadow any dark cloud that is on the horizon of your life... Striving to find the good.... often helps you to shape...all your tomorrows...as well as building up the priceless treasure of wonderful memories from all your yesterdays...

To Endure Persecution

Final thought on the Beatitudes from President Harold B. Lee:

"To Endure Persecution for Righteousness' Sake"

"To be persecuted for righteousness' sake in a great cause where truth and virtue and honor are at stake is God-like. Always there have been martyrs to every great cause. The great harm that may come from persecution is not from the persecution itself but from the possible effect it may have upon the persecuted who may thereby be deterred in their zeal for the righteousness of their cause. Much of that persecution comes from lack of understanding, for men are prone to oppose that which they do not comprehend. Some of it comes from men intent upon evil. But from whatever cause, persecution seems to be so universal against those engaged in a righteous cause that the Master warns us, "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets." (Luke 6:26)

...Remember that warning when you are hissed and scoffed because you refuse to compromise your standards of abstinence, honesty and morality in order to win the applause of the crowd. If you stand firmly for the right despite the jeers of the crowd or even physical violence, you shall be crowned with the blessedness of eternal joy. Who knos but that again in our day some of the saints or even apostles, as in former days, may be required to give their lives in defense o the truth? If that time should come, God grant they would not fail!

Gradually as we ponder prayerfully all these teachings, we will make what may be to some the startling discovery that after all, God's measure of our worth in his kingdom will not be the high positions we have held here among men nor in his Church, nor the honors we have won, but rather the lives we have led and the good we have done, according to that "Constitution for a Perfect Life" revealed in the life of the Son of God.

May you make the Beatitudes the Constitution for your own lives and thus receive the blessedness promised therein. (Lee, "Decisions for Successful Living, pages 55-62).