Mormon Musings

The Lord has told us how he teaches us... “For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more.” (2 Nephi 28:30.)  Therefore, while there are dramatic moments in each of our lives, most individual growth is incremental and quiet. Human growth is not that different, usually, from trying to watch the grass grow. We can’t see it grow, but it grows; and [people you know] will have grown. But it is not something we can usually measure on a day-to-day basis; and yet, when they are righteous, it is relentless.   Neal A. Maxwell

The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

 "One of the most important lessons I have learned is that our capacity as children of God becomes what it has to be.  We should never minimize or underestimate our ability to deal with challenges placed before us.  The size or complexity of challenges need not be the cause for alarm or despair.  Human potentiality is perhaps the most squandered resource on earth, and possibly the least tapped."   David B. Haight

[God] experiences a deep, divine disappointment in us when we are ungrateful and when we are unwilling to confess God‘s hand in all things. (D&C 59:21.) But it is because of what our sustained ingratitude does to us, not to Him. Failure to see His hand in human affairs in bringing to pass His eternal purposes and plans in the world (at the same time leaving us to exercise our agency) is a fatal misreading of life. It also represents a profound spur of selfishness and self-centeredness. It is these faults that lead to the celebration of the appetites rather than of spiritual things. And God knows perfectly what the end result of such trends are so far as human misery is concerned. It is our true happiness which He desires for us, His children, and “wickedness never was happiness". Neal A. Maxwell

It would be interesting...if I were to ask one of you to describe the to the satisfaction of all here the color yellow.  Yellow, of course, is a primary color, but it would be difficult for you to describe it to use without comparing it with other colors.  Yet you have no difficulty recognizing yellow when you see it.  We know more than we can tell!  Sometimes the things we know take the form of knowledge about what is happening to us in life in which we sense purpose, in which we sense divine design, but which we cannot speak about with full articulateness.  There are simply moments of mute comprehension and mute certitude.  We need to pay attention when these moments come to us because God often gives us the assurances we need but not necessarily the capacity to transmit these assurances to anyone else.   Neal A. Maxwell, "But For a Small Moment"

One day we will understand fully how complete our commitment was in our first estate in accepting the very conditions of challenge in our second estate about which we sometimes complain in this school of stress. Our collective and personal premortal promises will then be laid clearly before us. Further, when we are finally judged in terms of our performance in this second estate, we will see that God, indeed, is perfect in his justice and mercy. We will also see that when we fail here it will not have been because we were truly tempted above that which we were able to bear. There was always an escape hatch had we looked for it! We will also see that our lives have been fully and fairly measured. In retrospect, we will even see that our most trying years here will often have been our best years, producing large tree rings on our soul, Gethsemanes of growth! Mortality is moistened by much opportunity if our roots of resolve can but take it in. Just as no two snowflakes are precisely alik