(5/09/03)
"To be in control of your life, to be a success regardless of your situation, whether happily married, unhappily married, a single parent, a widow, or a wife of an inactive husband, I recommend that you come to know your Father in heaven. Come to love Him, and always remember that He loves you and will give you guidance and support if you will but give Him the chance. Include Him in your decision making. Include Him when you take inventory of your personal worth. 'For behold, this life is the time for men [and women] to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men [and women] to perform their labors.' (Alma 34:32)" — Marvin J. Ashton, "Be of Good Cheer," [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1987], p. 29

(5/10/03)
"Great teacher that he was, Alma focused his teachings upon the duties and opportunities of daily life. Our conduct, he declared, depends on our understanding of the purpose of life. Therefore, frequent references to the meaning of life are found in the Book of Alma." — John A. Widtsoe, "Alma Speaks to the Twentieth Century," "A Book of Mormon Treasury: Selections from the Pages of the Improvement Era," [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1959], p. 91

(5/11/03)
"Some people that I have talked to have the concept that when they die that suddenly, their sins will all be washed away, and they will become white and glorious, pure and clean, in somewhat of an automatic or miraculous way. Such is not the case. According to the ancient prophets, especially the Book of Mormon, sustained by modern revelation, when we die, if we are filthy, we are filthy still. The fact that we die doesn't change us one iota. You and I are dual personages, possessing a spirit body which dwells in a physical body. Death is the separation of that spiritual body from the physical body. All of our good deeds, our bad deeds; the knowledge we have attained; our habits, our evil and good inclinations, are resident in the spirit. The spirit personage contains the personality, or, in other words, the spirit is the real individual. Having an understanding of this doctrine, therefore, we know that when we die we take with us to the other world exactly what we have made of ourselves while living in mortality. There is only one way that I know whereby you and I can purify ourselves, and that one way is through repentance. The things that we should repent of here in mortality will probably be easier to repent of now instead of putting them off until we go to the other world and have to overcome those handicaps at that time; and so I would say, 'today is the day to prepare to meet God.'" — Milton R. Hunter "Conference Report," April 1949, p. 65

(5/12/03)
"Just as a university course is limited as to time,... so our days here in mortal life are limited to an average normal span of years.... You are building today the castles you will live in throughout eternity and deciding the place you will occupy in your Father's business hereafter. There is joy in heaven when you who are failing reform your ways and return to a standard of activity that assures your success. There will be mourning in heaven if you fail in life's education, but there is nothing your Heavenly Father can do about it unless you open the door by prayer and the living of a good life and invite him to counsel with you." — Harold B. Lee, "Decisions for Successful Living," [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1973], p. 86