Mormon Musings

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2004/04/when-thou-art-converted?lang=eng

Christ  said, “I am the true vine, and … ye are the branches.”   2   “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”   3 “Abide in me” is an understandable and beautiful enough concept in the elegant English of the King James  Bible , but “abide” is not a word we use much anymore. So I gained even more appreciation for this admonition from the Lord when I was introduced to the translation of this passage in another language. In Spanish that familiar phrase is rendered “permaneced en mi.”  Like the English verb “abide,”  permanecer  means “to remain, to stay,” but even gringos like me can hear the root cognate there of “permanence.” The sense of this then is “stay—but stay  forever. ” That is the call of the gospel message to Chileans and everyone else in the world. Come, but come to remain. Come with conviction and endurance. Come permanently, for your sake and the sake of all the generation

President Wilford Woodruff said in 1894: “The Almighty is with this people. We shall have all the revelations that we will need, if we will do our duty and obey the commandments of God. … While I … live I want to do my duty. I want the Latter-day Saints to do their duty. Here is the Holy Priesthood. … Their responsibility is great and mighty. The eyes of God and all the holy prophets are watching us. This is the great dispensation that has been spoken of ever since the world began. We are gathered together … by the power and commandment of God. We are doing the work of God. … Let us fill our mission”  (in James R. Clark, comp.,  Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of  Jesus Christ  of Latter-day Saints,  6 vols. [1965–75], 3:258). Quoted by President Gordon B. Hinckley, April 2004 General Conference Full Address by President Hinckley:  http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2004/04/the-dawning-of-a-brighter-day?lang=eng

You can't live on amusement. It is the froth on water - an inch deep and then the mud. George MacDonald

It is a mistaken idea in the inhabitants of the earth to conclude that it will not do for them to yield obedience to the commandments of heaven, lest it should abridge them in their comforts and in their enjoyments; for there is no real peace, there is no real happiness in anything in heaven or on the earth, except to those who serve the Lord. In His service there is joy, there is happiness; but they are not to be found anywhere else. In it there are peace and comfort; but when the soul is filled with joy, with peace, and with glory, and is perfectly satisfied therewith a person even then has but little idea of that which is in store for all the faithful. Thrust a man into prison and bind him with chains, and then let him be filled with the comfort and with the glory of eternity, and that prison is a palace to him. Again, let a man be seated upon a throne with power and dominion in this world, ruling his millions and millions, and without that peace which flows from the Lord of Hos

"Today is not different from ages past. The Lord does not love the people of our day any less than in past times. One of the glorious messages of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ is that God continues to speak to His children! He is not hidden in the heavens but speaks today as He did in ancient days." —Dieter F. Uchtdorf, " Why Do We Need Prophets? ",  Liahona and Ensign , March 2012

"Heavenly Father loves all His children. This is an immensely powerful idea that children can begin to understand through the love and sacrifice of their earthly parents. Love is the most powerful force in the world. I pray that every parent is providing the kind of loving example that encourages the rising generation to understand the love of God toward them and the great desire of our Heavenly Father that all of His children on earth do what is necessary to qualify for the choicest blessings of eternity." —Dallin H. Oaks, " The Gospel Culture ",  Liahona and Ensign , March 2012