Mormon Musings

Does the journey seem long, The path rugged and steep? Are there briars and thorns on the way? Do sharp stones cut your feet As you struggle to rise To the heights thru the heat of the day? Is your heart faint and sad, Your soul weary within, As you toil ’neath your burden of care? Does the load heavy seem You are forced now to lift? Is there no one your burden to share? Let your heart be not faint Now the journey’s begun; There is One who still beckons to you. So look upward in joy And take hold of his hand; He will lead you to heights that are new— A land holy and pure, Where all trouble doth end, And your life shall be free from all sin, Where no tears shall be shed, For no sorrows remain. Take his hand and with him enter in. President Joseph Fielding Smith, LDS Hymn #127

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread.  They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the  last of human freedoms– to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. Viktor Frankl-- Man’s Search For Meaning , 104

We are in a great school; and it is a profitable one, in which we are receiving very important lessons from day to day. We are taught to cultivate our minds, to control our thoughts, to thoroughly bring our whole being into subjection to the Spirit and law of God, that we may learn to be one and act as the heart of one man, that we may carry out the purposes of God upon the earth. Yes, we are taught many principles which tend to our exaltation and glory, which could not be made manifest unto us only as they are revealed unto us by the inspiration of the Almighty, through the mouth of his servants the Prophets. President Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses  6:115

I am … afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self-security. … Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates. Brigham Young Discourses of Brigham Young,  sel. John A. Widtsoe (1941), 135.

The spirit speaks through the voice of the conscience. President David O. McKay 

“President Marion G. Romney (1897–1988), First Counselor in the First Presidency, gave us encouragement: ‘You can make every decision in your life correctly if you can learn to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This you can do if you will discipline yourself to yield your own feelings to the promptings of the Spirit. Study your problems and prayerfully make a decision. Then take that decision and say to him, in a simple, honest supplication, ‘Father, I want to make the right decision. I want to do the right thing. This is what I think I should do; let me know if it is the right course.’ Doing this, you can get the burning in your bosom, if your decision is right. … When you learn to walk by the Spirit, you never need to make a mistake.” President Dieter F. Uchtdorf -in Conference Report, Oct. 1961, 60–61; quoted in “On the Wings of Eagles,”  Ensign , July 2006, 15