Mormon Musings

"There are two influences ever present in the world. One is constructive and elevating and comes from our Heavenly Father; the other is destructive and debasing and comes from Lucifer. We have our agency and make our own choice in life subject to these unseen powers. There is a division line well defined that separates the Lord's territory from Lucifer's.  If we live on the Lord's side of the line Lucifer cannot come there to influence us, but if we cross the line into his territory we are in his power. By keeping the commandments of the Lord we are safe on His side of the line, but if we disobey His teachings we voluntarily cross into the zone of temptation and invite the destruction that is ever present there. Knowing this, how anxious we should always be to live on the Lord's side of the line ." (emphasis added) George Albert Smith,  Improvement Era,  May 1935, p. 278

You may ask, "Did [God] foreknow that they would be saved?" I have seen many in the world that never have been able to discern the difference between foreknowledge and fore-ordination. I thought that I could always discern the difference. If I know that an act will transpire tomorrow, it by no means follows that I had decreed it. It is the design, wish, desire of our Heavenly Father that every soul in this congregation should be crowned in the celestial kingdom. Will they be? No. I know that some will not. But does it follow that some are ordained to go to hell? No. It is the design of the Gospel to save this congregation, all the Latter-day Saints, and all the world besides that will believe the testimony of Jesus and become obedient to the Gospel of salvation. And none need to turn round and say, "If it is the design of the Lord, I shall be saved;" for its being the will and design of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and of every Saint that ever was or ever will

Know this, that every soul is free To choose his life and what he’ll be; For this eternal truth is given: That God will force no man to heaven. He’ll call, persuade, direct aright, And bless with wisdom, love, and light, In nameless ways be good and kind, But never force the human mind. Freedom and reason make us men; Take these away, what are we then? Mere animals, and just as well The beasts may think of heaven or hell. May we no more our powers abuse, But ways of truth and goodness choose; Our God is pleased when we improve His grace and seek his perfect love. LDS Hymn #240 Text:  Anon., ca. 1805, Boston. Included in the first LDS hymnbook, 1835. Music:  Roger L. Miller, b. 1937. © 1985 IRI Helaman 14:30–31 2 Nephi 10:23–24

If I were to read, much less answer, all the attacks made upon me, this shop might as well close for any other business.  I do the very best I know how--the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end.  If the end brings me out right, what is said against me won't amount to anything.  If the end brings me out wrong, ten thousand angels swearing I was right would make no difference. Abraham Lincoln

"When we came into this world, we brought with us from our heavenly home this God-given gift and privilege which we call our agency. It gives us the right and power to make decisions and to choose. Agency is an eternal law. President Brigham Young, speaking of our agency, taught: 'This is a law which has always existed from all eternity, and will continue to exist throughout all the eternities to come. Every intelligent being must have the power of choice'  (Deseret News, Oct. 10, 1866, 355)." Paul H. Wolfgang ,  "The Gift of Agency," Ensign, May 2006, 34-35

If men decide firmly what they will not do; then they will be free vigorously to do what they ought to do. -Mencius Whenever you see a job to do, ask yourself these two questions: If not by me--by whom?  If not now--when?                                                                         -Arthur Lagueux If we are ever in doubt what to do, it is a good rule to ask ourselves what we shall wish on the morrow that we had done. -Sir John Lubbock

One of the marks of the executive is the ability to decide. One of the obligations of free men is the  willingness to decide. One of the qualities of effective people is the courage to decide.                                                                                      Elder Richard L. Evans

Asking God for our daily bread, rather than our weekly, monthly, or yearly bread, is also a way to focus us on the smaller, more manageable bits of a problem. To deal with something very big, we may need to work at it in small, daily bites. Sometimes all we can handle is one day (or even just part of one day) at a time. Let me give you a nonscriptural example. A book I read recently, titled  Lone Survivor,  recounts the tragic story of a four-man team of U.S. Navy SEALs on a covert mission in a remote sector of Afghanistan five and one-half years ago. When they were inadvertently discovered by shepherds—two men and a boy—these specially trained Navy servicemen had a choice either to kill the two or let them go, knowing that if they let them live they would disclose the team’s location and they would be attacked immediately by al Qaeda and Taliban forces. Nevertheless, they let the innocent shepherds go, and in the firefight that followed, only the author, Marcus Luttrell, survived agai

Look to God for What Is Needed Each Day In Luke it is recorded that one of His disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples” ( Luke 11:1 ). Jesus then gave a pattern for prayer that has become known as the Lord’s Prayer. The same is recorded in Matthew as part of the Sermon on the Mount (see  Matthew 6:9–13 ). Included in the Lord’s Prayer is the petition “Give us this day our daily bread” ( Matthew 6:11 ) or “Give us day by day our daily bread” ( Luke 11:3 ). I believe that we would all readily acknowledge that we have needs each day that we want our Heavenly Father’s help in dealing with. For some, on some days, it is quite literally bread—that is, the food needed to sustain life that day. It could also be spiritual and physical strength to deal with one more day of chronic illness or a painfully slow rehabilitation. In other cases it may be less tangible needs, such as things related to one’s obligations or activities in that day—teaching a less

Man is endowed with power and wisdom sufficient, if he will exercise them, to silence his tongue, and cause his hands to cease their operations.  His feet may be swift to shed blood, but he has power to pause, and combat and conquer the enemy; for good is present with him also and he is influenced in a greater or lesser degree by the Spirit of the Lord.  You experience these two opposites of good and evil in yourselves every day you live, you are tried, tempted and overtaken in sin, by saying and doing that which is wrong.  Now from this time henceforth, pause, and whatever you do, let it be done in a spirit of reflection, never again act in haste, but let your actions always be the result of mature consideration. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 1:92

http://mormonthoughts.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/the-road-not-taken/

As the Great Exemplar and Daystar of our lives, is it any wonder that Christ chooses first and foremost to define himself in relation to his father--that he loved him and obeyed him and submitted to him like the loyal son he was? And what he as a child of God did, we must try very hard to do also. Obedience  is  the first law of heaven, but in case you haven't noticed, some of these commandments are not easy, and we frequently may seem to be in for much more than we bargained for. At least if we are truly serious about becoming a saint, I think we will find that is the case. Let me use an example from what is often considered by foes, and even by some friends, as the most unsavory moment in the entire Book of Mormon. I choose it precisely because there is so much in it that has given offense to many. It is pretty much a bitter cup all the way around. I speak of Nephi's obligation to slay Laban in order to preserve a record, save a people, and ultimately lead to the res

In King Lear (III, vii) there is a man who is such a minor character that Shakespeare has not even given him a name: he is simply called "First Servant." All the characters around him--Regan, Cornwall, and Edmund--have fine long-term plans. They think they know how the story is going to end, and they are quite wrong. The servant, however, has no such delusions. He has no notion how the play is going to go. But he understands the present scene. He sees an abomination (the blinding of old Gloucester) taking place. He will not stand for it. His sword is out and pointed at his master's breast in an instant. Then Regan stabs him dead from behind. That is his whole part: eight lines all told. But, Lewis says, if that were real life and not a play, that is the part it would be best to have acted. The doctrine of the Second Coming teaches us that we do not and cannot know when Christ will come and the world drama will end. He may appear and the curtain may be rung down at any

When the Latter-day Saints make up their minds to endure, for the Kingdom of God's sake, whatsoever shall come, whether poverty or riches, whether sickness or to be driven by mobs, they will say it is all right, and will honor the hand of the Lord in it, and in all things, and serve Him to the end of their lives, according to the best of their ability...If you have not made up your minds for this, the quicker you do so the better. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 1:338

William James, the noted American psychologist and philosopher, states: Neither the nature nor the amount of our work is accountable for the frequency and severity of our breakdowns, but their cause lies rather in those absurd feelings of hurry and having no time, in that breathlessness and tension; that anxiety . . . , that lack of inner harmony and ease. [Quoted by William Osler in A Way of Life (New York: P. B. Hoeber, 1937), p. 30]… I believe the most destructive threat of our day is not nuclear war, not famine, not economic disaster, but rather the despair, the discouragement, the despondency, the defeat caused by the discrepancy between what we believe to be right and how we live our lives. Much of the emotional and social illness of our day is caused when people think one way and act another. The turmoil inside is destructive to the Spirit and to the emotional well-being of one who tries to live without clearly defined principles, values, standards, and goals. Ardeth G. Kapp, “W

http://mormonthoughts.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/the-things-we-are-to-do-and-the-things-we-are-to-be/

One of the illusions of life is that the present hour is not the critical hour decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year. He only is right who owns the day and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded by worry, fret and anxiety. Finish each day, and be done with it. You have done what you could. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

When I look back on my life nowadays, which I sometimes do, what strikes me most forcibly about it is that what seemed at the time most significant and seductive, seems now most futile and absurd. For instance, success in all of its various guises; being know and being praised; ostensible pleasures, like acquiring money or seducing women, or traveling, going to and fro in the world and up and down in it like Satan, exploring and experiencing whatever vanity fair has to offer. In retrospect all of these exercises in self-gratification seem pure fantasy, what Pascal called “licking the earth.” They are diversions, designed to distract our attention from the true purpose of our existence in this world, which is, quite simply: to look for God, an, in looking, to find Him, and, having found Him, to love Him, thereby establishing a harmonious relationship with His purposes for His creation.   (emphasis added) Malcolm Muggeridge

Each good man has in himself a quiet place wherein he lives however torn seemingly by the passions of the world. That is his citadel, which must be kept inviolate against assaults. That quiet place must be founded upon a rock and the rock must be a belief, a fervent and passionate belief, in the existence of the ultimate good, and a willingness to put forth his strength against the ultimate evil. -Dr. Foster Kennedy

THE RACE I "Quit! Give up! You're beaten!" They shout at me and plead. "There's just too much against you now. This time you can't succeed!" And as I start to hang my head In front of failure's face My downward fall is broken by The memory of a race. And hope refills my weakened will As I recall that scene For just the thought of that short race Rejuvenates my being. II A children's race; young boys, young men How I remember it well. Excitement, sure! But also fear. It wasn't hard to tell. They all lined up, so full of hope Each thought to win that race. Or tie for first, or it not that At least take second place. And fathers watched from off the side Each cheering for his son And each boy hoped to show his dad That he would be the one. The whistle blew and off they went Young hearts and hopes afire To win and be the hero there Was each young boy's desire. And one boy in particular Whose