Feel the Love of a Prophet of God!

June 2009 Pres Gordon B Hinckley's Address at BYU-Idaho Dedication

Clayton Christensen on Religion & Democracy

The Road to Damascus

I'm Elaine Bradley and I'm a Mormon

Yep!

Never Underestimate the Cost of Conversion

New Harmony: Never Underestimate the Cost of Conversion
by Jerry Earl Johnston, Deseret News, 11 June 2014

     Flannery O'Connor, the Catholic novelist, said it surprised her how many people of her faith "constantly underestimated the cost of salvation."
     As I've watched people come into the fold of our little Spanish branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brigham City--and watched others leave to return to their former ways--I've decided we life-long members of the LDS Church "constantly underestimate the cost" of conversion.
     We're excited to see people join us, but we seldom appreciate the price that those people had to pay. For many, the price of admission involves friendships, family, security and much more.
     Religious conversions, like the birth of babies, happen so often we can become a bit jaded to the anguish they entail.
     Evangelism runs deep in the American grain. We probably have a thousand churches in our midst, and almost all of them are actively looking for followers.
     Americans themselves, at times, seem to move from faith to faith the way they move from state to state. Choosing a faith can appear to be like choosing a home or joining a club.
     But, as Terryl and Fiona Givens point out in their book, The God Who Weeps, becoming a believer in a religion is not about picking a path. It is about uncovering our true nature.
     The call to faith, they write, "is not some test of a coy god, waiting to see if we 'get it right.' It is the only summons, issued under the only conditions, which can allow us to fully reveal who we are, what we love and what we most devoutly desire."  
     In other words, when the Apostle Paul converted to Christianity, he wasn't "transformed" from a cruel scoundrel to a spokesman for love. What happened was he peeled off the disguise he was wearing and discovered the person he had really been all along. But shedding those trappings must have been harrowing. Sometimes a rebirth can be as wrenching as a natural one.
     When lifelong members of the LDS Church see others find themselves, we rejoice.
     But those of us who've never been through the fire can never really fathom the cost.
     I once asked the late Maya Angelou how much "steel" it took for her to go from being a madam in a brothel to being a woman who prayed for presidents.
     "Oh, steel is much too supple a substance for that," she said.
     We constantly underestimate the cost of conversion.
     Remembering that, of course, doesn't have to tinge our rejoicing with melancholy. But it should make the moment more sobering and profound.
     Switching faiths can be traumatic, filled with tension, tears, fears, and a feeling of great loss over what was left behind. And for those of us who've never had to do it, keeping that in mind can turn what seems commonplace into a unique moment of noble struggle and sacrifice.
     A leap of faith is more than a mere skip across a ditch.
     It is often a jump across the Grand Canyon.
     And those who are willing to make it should be celebrated, not only for the choice they have made but also for the courage and force of will they've shown to do it.

A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation. -Joseph Smith, Jr.

Drone flight over the Mormon Temple Washington DC - A MUST WATCH IN HD!!!

Gandhi's 7 Dangers to Human Virtue

What Do Women Get in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

Those Who Bring Good News & Proclaim Peace & Salvation

Priesthood Power

A Few Names for the Christ

The Great Mediator by Joseph Brickey

Christ Is Known by Many Names
from “Promised Messiah” by Bruce R McConkie

            Our Lord is and has been known by many names. Some have been revealed in one dispensation, some in another; some have been used in a single age, some in many; and no doubt there are many names yet to be revealed. To collect and analyze all those by which he is known to us would be a work of major proportions and constitute a large volume by itself. Our purpose in this work is to note the more important instances in which he was known both before and after his coming by the same names, thus showing that the mortal Christ and the promised Messiah are one and the same. In addition to the designations so far noted, and to those not scheduled for more elaborate consideration later in this work, we here note the following:

 

            1. He is the Servant of the Lord.

            Jesus came to do the will of his Father because his Father sent him. (3 Nephi 27:13-14.) He was the Servant, not the master, in his relationship with his Father. “I am among you as he that serveth,” he said. (Luke 22:27.) Also: “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” (John 5:19.) Submissive, willing, obedient, walking only in the path charted for him by his Father—such was the course pursued by the Son.

            How natural it is to find Christ serving both the Father and his fellowmen, for so it had been predicted. The introductory sentence of the longest single Messianic prophecy in the Old Testament (and one of the greatest and most comprehensive of them all) says: “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.” (Isaiah 52:13.) Another of Isaiah’s long and plain predictions about the coming of the Messiah begins: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.” (Isaiah 42:1.) “I will bring forth my servant” (Zechariah 3:8) is the scriptural promise, as also: “O Lord, truly I am thy servant: I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem.” (Psalms 116:16-19.)

            And so, truly, did our Lord act during his mortal ministry! Truly, this is he of whom it is written: “He shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; …for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.” (Michah 5:4.)

            2. He is the Star out of Jacob.

            Of him Balaam prophesied: “I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel….Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion.” (Numbers 24:17-19.) “In figurative language, the spirit hosts in pre-existence are referred to as the stars of heaven.” (Mormon Doctrine, 2^nd ed., pp. 765-66.) The morning stars who joined with all the sons of God when the foundations of the earth were laid were the noble and preeminent spirits. As the Star who came out of Jacob, Christ is thus the most outstanding one of all the hosts of that unnumbered house. And so he testified of himself: “I am…the bright and morning star.” (Revelation 22:16.)

            3. He is the Beloved and Chosen One.

            Before, during, and after his mortal ministry he was and is known as the Beloved and Chosen One, terms that carry a connotation of election and selection, of choosing and foreordination. He is “My Beloved and Chosen from the beginning” (Moses 4:2); “My Chosen” (Moses 7:39); “My Beloved” (2 Nephi 31:15); “My Well Beloved” (Helaman 5:47); “His most Beloved” (Mormon 5:14); and “My Beloved Son” (3 Nephi 11:7; Matthew 3:17; Joseph Smith-History 17).

            4. He is the Anointed One.

            A number of Messianic passages speak of “the Lord, and…his anointed” (Psalms 2:2), signifying that the Chosen One was consecrated and set apart for the ministry and mission that was his. Jesus applied these passages to himself by quoting Isaiah’s prophecy, “The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek” (Isaiah 61:1), and then saying: “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:21). Peter made the same application by speaking of “thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed” (Acts 4:27), and by telling “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power” (Acts 10:38). In a revealed prayer, given in our day, we find this petition: “Wilt thou turn away thy wrath when thou lookest upon the face of thine Anointed.” (D&C 109:53.)

            5. He is the Bridegroom.

            “Thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and [as] a wife of youth.” (Isaiah 54:5-6.) “And as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.” (Isaiah 62:5.) So spake the Eternal One to his chosen Israel. Speaking of his Second Coming, this same Jesus called himself the Bridegroom (Matthew 25:1-13), and the same terminology has been preserved in latter-day revelation (D&C 133:10, 19).

            Paul makes quite a point of this concept. “The husband is the head of the wife,” he says, “even as Christ is the head of the church.” That is, it is as though Christ were married to the Church. “Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” Then because of the figurative nature of the language used, he says: “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:23-32.)

            6. He is the Hope of Israel.

            In and through and by and because of him we and all men have a hope of peace in this life and eternal glory in the world to come. He is our Hope. Without him we would have no hope of immortality, no hope of eternal life, no hope of the continuation of the family unit, no hope of eternal progress, no hope of exaltation, no hope of any good thing. All the hopes of all the righteous of all the ages center in him. “O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.” (Jeremiah 17:13; 14:8; 50:7.)

            “We are saved by hope” (Romans 8:24), and the “Lord Jesus Christ…is our hope,” said Paul (1 Timothy 1:1). The lives of the righteous are spent “Looking for that blessed hope,” he also said, which hope is for “the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2:13.)

            7. He is the Nazarene.

            In a prophecy no longer found in any scripture now had among us, it is written: “He shall be called a Nazarene,” which was fulfilled, Matthew tells us, because he dwelt “in a city called Nazareth.” (Matthew 2:23.) Subsequent developments confirmed that he was to bear that designation during and after his mortal probation. While he yet dwelt in mortality, he was called Jesus of Nazareth by his disciples (John 1:45), and after he rose from the dead, he himself said to Paul, “I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutes” (Acts 22:8). Peter spoke of him similarly (Acts 2:22), although when he healed the lame man, he used the more formal words, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6).     

Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy

Happy Father's Day 2014!

"The sacred title of 'father' is shared with the Almighty. In the Church men are called and released. Did you ever hear of a mortal father being released? ...Fatherhood is not a matter of station or wealth, it is a matter of desire, diligence, and determination to see one's family exalted in the celestial kingdom. If that prize is lost, nothing else really matters." -- Ezra Taft Benson




1890 Vincent Van Gogh "First Steps, after Millet"

Forgive...Forget

My Choices - My Responsibility

Words to Live By

Pay Attention!

An honest and sincere truth-seeker may receive a flash of revelation from the Holy Ghost telling him that Jesus is the Christ; that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God; that the Lord has restored the fullness of his everlasting gospel in this day; that the Book of Mormon is the mind and will and voice of God to the world today. That blaze of newly encountered light will be as lightning in a night storm; it will show the path leading to the pure light of day; but unless the one receiving the light walks therein, unless he follows the path, he will remain in darkness and lose the new knowledge he was once ready to receive. -- Bruce R McConkie "The Promised Messiah"

Someone Else Who Isn't Afraid to Defend His Faith

Phil Robertson of "Duck Dynasty" Reality Show

Yesterday Phil Robertson was asked to speak the 2014 Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans.

The Daily Beast reported: "In an address that was not so much a speech as a jeremiad, Robertson, the marquee speaker at this year's confab, harangued his audience to return to biblical values, reminded them that they will one day die--"Obamacare will not save you from the grave"--and told the gathered, "GOP, you can't be RIGHT for America if you are WRONG with God."

Robertson said: "And some of you are saying, 'Are you some kind of idiot?' Actually, I'm a multimillionaire...."

The Promised Messiah: The First Coming of Christ

"The Messiah" series by Bruce R McConkie

"For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases. And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men. And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people. And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary. And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him. And he shall rise the third day from the dead; and behold, he standeth to judge the world; and behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men." -- Mosiah 3:5-10 (prophesized about 124 B.C.)

Give Your Heart

Prayers on Memorial Day

Successful Marriage (and/or Friendship) Recipe

Shawn Bradley: A Hero!

My new hero: Shawn Bradley! Click on his name for ESPN's "30 for 30" short film on this role model!

Don't Roam through Garbage!

"If Ye Lack Wisdom" by Elder Marcos A Aidukaitis
April 2014 General Conference talk

Choose Whom You Will Serve

Every Day You Graduate

One High School's Graduates Leaving on Missions This Summer!

These young men (and one young woman who is turning age 19 in August)

are soon leaving to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the World!

They graduate from high school 22 May 2014.

Brave, Strong, Happy...Apologize, Forgive, Forget

22 Words that Have Completely Different Meaning When You're Mormon

22 Words that Have Completely Different Meaning When You’re Mormon

BuzzFeed 13 May 2014

1. Brother and sister: What it usually means: The terms used to call a male or female sibling who shares one or both of your parent(s).

What it means when you’re Mormon: The terms used to call a male or female sibling who shares one or both of your parent(s) AND anyone else who is also Mormon.

2. New Year’s Eve Dance: What it usually means: Bumping and grinding synced with the bass of the best club remixes from the past year.

What it means when you’re Mormon: Censored songs from the ’90s mixed with the occasional slow song to awkwardly ask your crush to dance to.

3. Apricot Trees: What it usually means: A tree that grows apricot fruit.

What it means when you’re Mormon: A tree that pops popcorn.

4. College: What it usually means: The craziest four years of one’s life filled with partying and experimenting.

What it means when you’re Mormon: BYU.

5. Caffeine: What it usually means: A substance that is found especially in coffee and tea and that makes you feel more awake.

What it means when you’re Mormon: “HURRY BEFORE MOM SEES.”

6. Beer: What it usually means: An alcoholic drink made from yeast-fermented malt flavored with hops.
What it means when you’re Mormon: A&W root beer.

7. Eagle Scout: What it usually means: The highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America.

What it means when you’re Mormon: Literally every one of your male Mormon friends.

8. House Party: What it usually means: Beer pong, lots of making out, and hugging toilets.

What it means when you’re Mormon: Wii, root beer, and a PG-13 movie.

9. BMW: What it usually means: An acronym for “Bayerische Motoren Werke,” one the most popular and lavish car models.

What it means when you’re Mormon: An acronym for your van, the “Big Mormon Wagon.”

10. Mission: What it usually means: Assignment or task needed to be accomplished. Often synonymous with Tom Cruise.

What it means when you’re Mormon: Two rewarding, unselfish years of your life. Often synonymous with door slamming.

11. Refreshments: What it usually means: A light snack or drink, especially one provided in a public place or at a public event.

What it means when you’re Mormon: MAKES EVERYTHING WORTH IT.

12. Fireside: What it usually means: The area around a fireplace (used especially with reference to a person’s home or family life).

What it means when you’re Mormon: Occasional bonus meeting for the youth HOPEFULLY WITH REFRESHMENTS.

13. Engagement: What it usually means: A period of time between dating and marriage usually filled with wedding planning.

What it means when you’re Mormon: One week.

14. Champagne: What it usually means: Sparkling wine produced from grapes. Usually drink to celebrate something.
What it means when you’re Mormon: Welch’s sparkling grape juice. Usually drink to celebrate something.

15. Genealogy: What it usually means: The line of descent traced continuously from an ancestor.

What it means when you’re Mormon: Your mom’s hobby.

16. David Archuletta: What it usually means: The runner-up of the seventh season of “American Idol.”

What it means when you’re Mormon: The returned missionary who every Mormon mother wants their daughter to marry.

17. Seminary: What it usually means: A college that prepares students to be priests, ministers, or rabbis.

What it means when you’re Mormon: Early weekday mornings during the school year that replaces sleep.

18. Utah: What it usually means: The 45th state admitted to the United States.

What it means when you’re Mormon: Where all your relatives live.

19. LDS: What it usually means: A misspelling of the hallucinogen drug “LSD.”

What it means when you’re Mormon: Acronym for “Latter Day Saint,” what you wish people would call you instead of “Mormon.”

20. Elder: What it usually means: An old person.
What it means when you’re Mormon: A surname of great honor and responsibility.

21. The Book of Mormon: What other people think it means: A hit Broadway play representing a satirical view of the Mormon religion.

What it means when you’re Mormon: The greatest book you’ll ever read.

22. Sunday: What it usually means: The day of the week before Monday and following Saturday and (together with Saturday) forming part of the weekend.

What it means when you’re Mormon: The day you devote entirely for religion and family purposes only. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.

Good Advice

It Was Mom: A Mother's Day Tribute To Moms #itwasmom

Defend Your Beliefs

"Be strong. Live the gospel faithfully even if others around you don't live it at all. Defend your beliefs with courtesy and with compassion, but defend them. A long history of inspired voices, ... point you toward the path of Christian discipleship. It is a strait path, and it is a narrow path without a great deal of latitude at some points, but it can be thrillingly and successfully traveled, "with ... steadfastness in Christ, ... a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men." In courageously pursuing such a course, you will forge unshakable faith, you will find safety against ill winds that blow, even shafts in the whirlwind, and you will feel the rock-like strength of our Redeemer, upon whom if you build your unflagging discipleship, you cannot fall." - Elder Jeffrey R Holland

Malady of Unbelief

Moses & Brass Serpent
by Judith Mehr

“Man’s search for bedrock purpose and for core values will be a search in vain if it searches for new answers, or if it moves in the direction of false religion, or merely in the direction of political ideology. These will prove to be only conceptual cul-de-sacs, not the solitary path to happiness. The reality to which we must look is the truth in its fullest sense, contained in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Is it likely that mankind can save itself when the answer is so simple and so obvious? The Book of Mormon speaks of that incident in the Old Testament when Moses lifted up a brazen serpent in the wilderness, that all who had been bitten by the fiery serpents might look upon it and thereby live. But as the Book of Mormon concludes, ‘but few understood the meaning of those things, and this because of the hardness of their hearts; that there were many who were so hardened that they would not look, therefore they perished. Now the reason they would not look is because they did not believe that it would heal them.”   -- Neal A Maxwell

We need to cultivate an attitude of belief by looking to Lord Jesus Christ in everything we do which is what Moses was trying to do with children of Israel.

Spiritual Traction

Ability to Change

Linda K Burton: Wanted: Hands & Hearts to Hasten the Work

God is Anxiously Waiting to Answer Your Prayers

Those With Us Are More than Those Against Us

Which is Your View on Life?

Easter Message from First Presidency

Jesus Christ by Carl Bloch

       Jesus Christ was the promised Redeemer of the world, the Savior of mankind, the Son of the living God. He was with His Father before He came to earth in mortality, the Creator of the earth upon which we stand.
       In His mortal ministry He walked the dusty roads of Palestine, healed the sick, raised the dead, taught His gospel, gave His life on Calvary’s hill, and rose on the third day, a perfected, resurrected being, breaking the bands of death for us all, thus becoming “the firstfruits of them that slept.”
       The Savior paid the price for all of our sins. The prophet Isaiah saw the gift beyond the price of the Atonement of Jesus Christ:
       “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
       “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5).
       We testify that Jesus Christ was resurrected and that He lives today as our Savior and Redeemer.
The First Presidency
President Thomas S. Monson
President Henry B. Eyring
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Inspiring short Video - what is that you desire most?

Where We Learn to Love Him

The Church is not a place

where perfect people gather
to say perfect things, or
have perfect thoughts, or
have perfect feelings.

The Church is a place

where imperfect people gather
to provide
encouragement,
support, and
service
to each other…

We are here with the same purpose:

to learn to love Him
with all our
heart,
soul,
mind, and
strength, and
to love our neighbor as ourselves.   

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Failing Conference

This is from Middle-Aged Mormon Man blog 13 April 2014. He makes some realistic points on how we judge ourselves after our leaders teach us.

     General Conference is a wonderful time of learning, joy and re-charging our spiritual batteries.

     Or not.
     Not everyone has such glowing reviews of their Conference experience – some come away with a very different feel. I was reminded of this last week in a Facebook discussion about Conference. One friend wrote:

“FAIL. As much as I love Conference and look forward to it, it reminds me of my report cards in school.

1. Gratitude for all things even in bad times (FAIL)

2. Prayers are answered.(sometimes FAIL…) Seems like I have plenty of “smallish” prayers answered, but the BIG ONES I got nadda.

3. It is the load that makes us strong (FAIL)  I just get all pissy if things get too hard.

4. LOVE….yay pass pass pass. I PASSED at something.”

            Instead of feeling uplifted, feelings of discouragement and failure rush in.

            And it isn’t just General Conference. Many of us emerge from our regular Church meetings feeling like failures. A talk in Sacrament might point out our shortcomings, a lesson in Relief Society might focus on things we are not doing right. A quorum lesson might spend the entire time shining a spotlight on that one weakness we struggle with most.

            It happens. We then turn off the TV, or leave the meeting with our heads held. Instead of feeling hopeful and enlightened, we leave with heavy hearts and frustration. Failures.

            Here is the problem with that response: General Conference is not an exam. Meetings are not tests. There are no grades attached.

            The people speaking to us are not our judges or proctors. In reality, they are more like tutors instructing us to be prepared for the exam, or even a friend passing a cheat sheet under the desk to help us pass the test. They are there to help.

            While there is an opportunity for self-evaluation, to which we might come up a bit short, there is no permanent mark on our eternal “Report Card.”

            There are occasional “mid-terms” we take in our Church experience. They come in the form of private interviews, usually for Temple Recommends. Those “tests” are administered by those who have been given the task of standing as “Judges in Israel.”  Those mid-terms are very real, and the results do count, but they are only temporary results. They are not Final Exams, and we can still improve or decline. That is why we have to repeat the process every two years.

            There is no final grade until it is Final. And it is not Final until we are safely dead.

            So why do we occasionally feel like failures after being tutored? Is it self-inflicted? Or Spirit- inflicted? And yes, there is a difference.

            When our feelings of failure are self-inflicted, we are focusing on what we are doing wrong and feeling embarrassed, guilty or inadequate – usually followed by discouragement or a desire to throw in the towel.  (Satan LOVES to rub our noses in this.)

            “Lucifer will do all in his power to keep you captive. You are familiar with his strategy. He whispers: ”           …You can’t change; you have tried before and failed.” “It’s too late; you’ve gone too far.” Don’t let him discourage you.” (Richard G. Scott)

            When our feelings of failure are Spirit-inflicted, they usually come in the form of promptings, guilt or enlightenment. It propels us foreword with purpose and joy. “I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy.” (D&C 11:13)

            That does not preclude the chance that we might first get a little smack upside the head – spiritually speaking- but that’s OK, when it leads to repentance: “Guilt is to our spirit what pain is to our body—a warning of danger and a protection from additional damage.” (David A. Bednar)

            The failure is not in our repeated failings. The failure is when we stop trying, and stop repenting.

            Even then, as long as we aren’t dead, we can try and turn it around before the Final Exam. (aka, the Final Judgment.)

            The Final Judgment will be less of a checklist of grades for each of our subjects in life, but more of an evaluation of what we have become here on earth.

            One of the best expressions of this idea comes from Elder Dallin Oaks when he said,

            “From such teachings we conclude that the Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts—what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts—what we have become. It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become.” (Link)

            It isn’t a checklist.

            If we viewed General Conference last week with a “checklist mentality,” a “Spiritual Scorecard” of sorts, and walked away feeling discouraged, then we are simply looking at it wrong.

            When the Lord’s servants teach us, they are giving us training, and ideas, as the Spirit offers insights and inspiration that will help us succeed on or Final Exam.         Why? They all do it out of love and hope for our success.

            President Monson closed out Conference last week with this simple request:

            “As we ponder the messages we have heard, may we resolve to do a little better than we have done in the past.” (Link)

            That’s really not a very high bar, is it? It doesn’t sound to me like he is calling any of us failures. As long as we are on walking around on this earth, the day we fail is the day we label ourselves “Failures” and stop trying.