Your vision of your future will help you press forward. Take a few minutes to envision where you want to be in one year or two or five. Then take action to prepare yourselves. People don’t just run a marathon when they decide to do it. They must train daily, slowly building stamina and endurance […]
Our eternal purpose is to come unto Christ and actively join Him in His great work. It is as simple as doing what President Nelson taught: “Anytime we do anything that helps anyone … make and keep their covenants with God, we are helping to gather Israel.”4 And when we do His work together with Him, […]
Much of the confusion we experience in this life comes from simply not understanding who we are. Too many go about their lives thinking they are of little worth when, in reality, they are elegant and eternal creatures of infinite value with potential beyond imagination. – Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “The Reflection in the Water,” The […]
If we are only willing to open our hearts and minds to the spirit of Christmas, we will recognize wonderful things happening around us. It is usually something small—we read a verse of scripture; we hear a sacred carol and really listen, perhaps for the first time, to its words; or we witness a sincere […]
Why Bethlehem? Is there symbolic significance in the meaning of the name Bethlehem, which in Hebrew means “house of bread”? The Great Provider declared Himself to be the “bread of life.” (See John 6:48.) How appropriate it was that He, the “bread of life,” was to come from the “house of bread.” – Russell M. […]
At this Christmas season, we have many chances to think of our Savior, Jesus Christ. What gifts have we received because of Him? What gifts will we yet receive? We can find answers in the scriptures, in the document “The Living Christ,” and from personal revelation. The Lord Himself is a gift from our Heavenly […]
With the Apostle Paul, we declare, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15). But what is our gift in return? The gift He asks of us cannot be bought with money. We will not find it in an online store. We cannot ask someone to make it for us. We cannot […]
Emerson counseled that rings and jewels are not gifts, but substitutes for gifts. The only real gift is a portion of oneself. (See “Gifts,” by Ralph Waldo Emerson.) We remember that during the meridian of time a bright, particular star shone in the heavens. Wise men followed it and found the Christ child. Today wise […]
It is not always easy to follow the Polar Star of love. It requires a discipline almost beyond the power of many to observe. I think it is the most difficult and also the most important of all commandments. But out of its observance comes a remarkable discipline and a refining influence that are wonderful […]
Friends, in our present moment we find all manner of divisions and subdivisions, sets and subsets, digital tribes and political identities, with more than enough hostility to go around. Might we ask ourselves if a “higher and holier”12 life, to use President Russell M. Nelson’s phrase, is something we could seek? – Jeffrey R. Holland, “The […]