Mormon Musings

If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you do not like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.   Saint Augustine

If any man has a truth that we have not got, we say, "Let us have it." I am willing to exchange all the errors and false notions I have for one truth, and should consider that I had made a good bargain. We are not afraid of light and truth. Our religion embraces every truth in heaven, earth or hell; it embraces all truth, the whole Gospel and plan of salvation, and the fulfillment of the whole volume of revelation that God has ever given.  Wilford Woodruff (Journal of Discourses 18:117)  

Our willingness to repent shows our gratitude for God’s gift and for the Savior’s love and sacrifice on our behalf. Commandments and priesthood covenants provide a test of faith, obedience, and love for God and Jesus Christ, but even more importantly, they offer an opportunity to experience love from God and to receive a full measure of joy both in this life and in the life to come. These commandments and covenants of God are like navigational instructions from celestial heights and will lead us safely to our eternal destination. It is one of beauty and glory beyond understanding. It is worth the effort. It is worth making decisive corrections now and then staying on course. Remember: the heavens will not be filled with those who never made mistakes but with those who recognized that they were off course and who corrected their ways to get back in the light of gospel truth. The more we treasure the words of the prophets and apply them, the better we will recognize when we are drifting

The education then of our desires is one of the far-reaching importance to our happiness in life...God's ways of educating our desires are, of course, the most perfect...And what is God's way?  Everywhere in nature we are taught the lessons of patience and waiting.  We want things a long time before we get them, and the fact that we wanted them a long time makes them all the more precious when they come. Joseph F. Smith

The Gospel teaches us to be happy, to have faith rather than fear, to find hope and overcome despair, to leave darkness and turn toward the light of the everlasting Gospel. Boyd K. Packer

There is no doubt, if a person lives according to the revelations given to God's people, he may have The Spirit of The Lord to signify to him His will, and to guide and to direct him in the discharge of his duties, in his temporal as well as his spiritual exercises.  I am satisfied, however, that in this respect, we live far beneath our privileges. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 12:104

Our eventual place in eternity turns on whether our knees bend or shake and what we think and do in daily life. Neal A. Maxwell