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One Elder Holland Quote to Help You in Different Situations

One Elder Holland Quote to Help You in Different Situations by Emily Abel LDSLiving

http://www.ldsliving.com/An-Elder-Holland-Quote-for-Every-Situation/s/90924?utm_source=ldsliving&utm_medium=email

            As much as we would all love to get in-person life advice from Elder Holland (and he would probably love to give it), that is unlikely to happen to most of us. But somewhere on this handy list, there's a quote from this passionate apostle that will speak directly to your situation.  

If You Need a Good Pep Talk

"Please remember tomorrow, and all the days after that, that the Lord blesses those who want to improve, who accept the need for commandments and try to keep them, who cherish Christlike virtues and strive to the best of their ability to acquire them. If you stumble in that pursuit, so does everyone; the Savior is there to help you keep going. If you fall, summon His strength. Call out like Alma, 'O Jesus, … have mercy on me.' He will help you get back up. He will help you repent, repair, fix whatever you have to fix, and keep going. Soon enough you will have the success you seek." "Tomorrow the Lord Will Do Wonders Among You," April 2016 General Conference

If You Feel Like Life Is Slipping Out of Control

"Are we all just hanging in a cold canyon somewhere in an indifferent universe, each of us searching for a toehold, each of us seeking for something to grip—with nothing but the feeling of sand sliding under our fingers, nothing to save us, nothing to hold on to, much less anything to hold on to us? Is our only purpose in life an empty existential exercise—simply to leap as high as we can, hang on for our prescribed three score years and ten, then fail and fall, and keep falling forever?

"The answer to those questions is an unequivocal and eternal no! With prophets ancient and modern, I testify that “all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things." "Where Justice Love and Mercy Meet," April 2015 General Conference

If You Need Some Solid Common Sense

"One would truly need a great and spacious makeup kit to compete with beauty as portrayed in media all around us." "To Young Women," October 2005 General Conference

"No misfortune is so bad that whining about it won’t make it worse." "The Tongue of Angels," April 2007 General Conference

"Imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we." "Lord, I Believe," April 2013 General Conference

“Like thieves in the night, unwelcome thoughts can and do seek entrance to our minds. But we don't have to throw open the door, serve them tea and crumpets and tell them where the silverware is kept!” "Place No More for the Enemy of My Soul," April 2010 General Conference

If It Feels Like Your Service Isn’t Amounting to Anything

"A journalist once questioned Mother Teresa of Calcutta about her hopeless task of rescuing the destitute in that city. He said that, statistically speaking, she was accomplishing absolutely nothing. This remarkable little woman shot back that her work was about love, not statistics. Notwithstanding the staggering number beyond her reach, she said she could keep the commandment to love God and her neighbor by serving those within her reach with whatever resources she had. 'What we do is nothing but a drop in the ocean,' she would say on another occasion. 'But if we didn’t do it, the ocean would be one drop less [than it is].' Soberly, the journalist concluded that Christianity is obviously not a statistical endeavor. He reasoned that if there would be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the ninety and nine who need no repentance, then apparently God is not overly preoccupied with percentages." "Are We Not All Beggars?" October 2014 General Conference

If You Need a Healthy Dose of Optimism 

"We know for certain that if and when everything else in the latter days is down or dying; if governments, economies, industries, and institutions crumble; if societies and cultures become a quagmire of chaos and insecurity, nevertheless, through it all the gospel of Jesus Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that bears that gospel to the world will stand triumphant. It will stand undefiled in God’s hand until the very Son of God Himself comes to rule and reign as Lord of lords and King of kings. Nothing is more certain in this world. Nothing is more sure. Nothing could be more of an antidote to anxiety." "Be Not Afraid, Only Believe," February 6, 2015, Address to CES Religious Educators

If You Feel Far from God

"I do not know who in this vast audience today may need to hear the message of forgiveness inherent in this parable, but however late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines." "The Laborers in the Vineyard," April 2012 General Conference

If You Feel Like a Bit of an Oddball

“On those days when we feel a little out of tune, a little less than what we think we see or hear in others, I would ask us, especially the youth of the Church, to remember it is by divine design that not all the voices in God’s choir are the same. It takes variety—sopranos and altos, baritones and basses—to make rich music. To borrow a line quoted in the cheery correspondence of two remarkable Latter-day Saint women, 'All God’s critters got a place in the choir.' When we disparage our uniqueness or try to conform to fictitious stereotypes—stereotypes driven by an insatiable consumer culture and idealized beyond any possible realization by social media—we lose the richness of tone and timbre that God intended when He created a world of diversity.” "Songs Sung and Unsung," April 2017 General Conference

If the Future Feels Daunting

"There is help. There is happiness. There really is light at the end of the tunnel. It is the Light of the World, the Bright and Morning Star, the 'light that is endless, that can never be darkened.' It is the very Son of God Himself. In loving praise far beyond Romeo’s reach, we say, 'What light through yonder window breaks?' It is the return of hope, and Jesus is the Sun. To any who may be struggling to see that light and find that hope, I say: Hold on. Keep trying. God loves you. Things will improve. Christ comes to you in His 'more excellent ministry' with a future of 'better promises.' He is your 'high priest of good things to come.'” "An High Priest of Good Things to Come," October 1999 General Conference

If You Wonder If God Knows You

"Brothers and sisters, I testify that no one of us is less treasured or cherished of God than another. I testify that He loves each of us—insecurities, anxieties, self-image, and all. He doesn’t measure our talents or our looks; He doesn’t measure our professions or our possessions. He cheers on every runner, calling out that the race is against sin, not against each other." "The Other Prodigal," April 2002 General Conference

If You Are Confronted with Emotional or Mental Illness

"So how do you best respond when mental or emotional challenges confront you or those you love? Above all, never lose faith in your Father in Heaven, who loves you more than you can comprehend. As President Monson said to the Relief Society sisters so movingly . . . 'That love never changes. . . . It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve [it]. It is simply always there.' Never, ever doubt that, and never harden your heart. Faithfully pursue the time-tested devotional practices that bring the Spirit of the Lord into your life. Seek the counsel of those who hold keys for your spiritual well-being. Ask for and cherish priesthood blessings. Take the sacrament every week, and hold fast to the perfecting promises of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Believe in miracles. I have seen so many of them come when every other indication would say that hope was lost. Hope is never lost. If those miracles do not come soon or fully or seemingly at all, remember the Savior’s own anguished example: if the bitter cup does not pass, drink it and be strong, trusting in happier days ahead." "Like a Broken Vessel," October 2013 General Conference

Mary & Martha in Art

Walter Rane

Does our Artwork of Mary & Martha Change How We View Them? by Jennifer Champoux

Years ago I brought a friend with me to a Relief Society activity at church, and when she asked me why we had a painting of Mary and Martha hanging in the room, I really didn’t know how to answer.  Of all the possible depictions of scripture stories of women that the Church might choose from, why that one? Although the scene was painted by old masters like Vermeer and

Velazquez, it has never been especially popular among other Christian groups. Yet, it is a subject painted by many artists in the Church and these images are common in meetinghouses and lesson manuals.

My study of art history and religious visual culture later led me back to thinking about the Church’s images of these New Testament sisters. Here are five things I learned as I investigated the portrayal of Mary and Martha in art:

Latter-day Saint images of Mary and Martha and of the parable of the ten virgins share visual symbolism.

Diego Velazquez

Portrayals of biblical women are scarce among images that are endorsed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Those women who are depicted are frequently shown as simplified, didactic, and solitary figures. The only time we see groups of women are in portrayals of the parable of the ten virgins and of Jesus at the home of Mary and Martha, and in all cases the women are divided into two groups: wise or foolish. Artists use symbols, such as candles, and formal elements, such as color and figure placement, to identify one group as wise and one as foolish. Latter-day Saint artists tend to apply the same symbolism to images of the ten virgins and to images of Mary and Martha, so we perceive a sharp division between the women in both cases.

Latter-day Saint images of Mary and Martha tend to follow earlier Christian interpretations that see Mary as inactive and, therefore, better than Martha.

Johannes Vermeer

The idea of Mary being the superior sister because she listens quietly is an ancient one. Philosophers as far back as Aristotle advocated for this kind of contemplative, unhurried life. In early Christianity, Augustine specifically applied this debate about the active life versus the contemplative life to Martha and Mary. In The Trinity, Augustine described heaven as a place of rest where the righteous will sit quietly at Jesus’s feet as Mary did. Following this tradition, all images of Mary and Martha that are included in the Gospel Media library, owned by the Church, or sold by the Church show Mary as a passive and focused listener and Martha as a busy and preoccupied housekeeper.

Although images of Mary and Martha endorsed by the Church all follow the same pattern, Church leaders have offered various readings of Mary and Martha.

Minerva Teichert

The story of Jesus visiting the home of Mary and Martha that is found in Luke 10 has been interpreted in various and nuanced ways by Church leaders. In an October 2007 general conference talk, President Dallin H. Oaks said, “It was praiseworthy for Martha to be ‘careful and troubled about many things,’ . . . but learning the gospel from the Master Teacher was more ‘needful.’”  Yet, in the October 2003 general conference, Relief Society General President Bonnie D. Parkin took a somewhat different view when she explained, “On this occasion, it seems to me that Mary expressed her love by hearing His word, while Martha expressed hers by serving Him. . . . I don’t believe the Lord was saying there are Marthas and there are Marys.” Similarly, in the April 2010 general conference, Elder Gregory A. Schwitzer pointed out that in John 11 Martha is the sister who runs out to Jesus and expresses great faith in the Savior. Clearly, Mary and Martha are not one-dimensional characters, although they often appear that way in art.

Minerva Teichert’s painting Jesus at the Home of Mary and Martha (1935), offers a dramatically different visual interpretation.

Church member Minerva Teichert’s rendition of the scene—which does not appear in the official art of the Church—is unique in that it shows both Mary and Martha as actively engaged disciples. Mary is shown reading Hebrew scripture from a scroll, while Martha reads over her shoulder as she carries in a tray of food. The three figures are a unified group. Very few images of Mary and Martha—both from within and without the Church of Jesus Christ—include written text, and never so boldly as in Teichert’s painting. Teichert also uses symbolism and formal elements to include both sisters equally. This distinctive imagining of the scene, along with Teichert’s sketchy style, creates space for new meanings and varied interpretations by the viewer.

These images of Mary and Martha illustrate broader patterns and questions about how the Church visualizes religious scripture and history.

Examining the way Mary and Martha are shown in the Church’s art raises broader questions about how religious art is created and viewed, such as the scarcity of images of biblical women and the way Church members incorporate visual imagery into their religious experience. Art can affect the way we think about scripture stories.

Just like we think of Nephi’s enormous forearms being barely contained in their leather gauntlets thanks to Arnold Friberg’s Book of Mormon paintings, our understanding of Mary and Martha is influenced by artists’ portrayals of them.  When all the images of a particular scripture story are essentially the same, as they are in the case of the Church’s images of Mary and Martha, then that interpretation can eclipse other perspectives and limit careful consideration by the viewer.  

Happy Easter: Jesus Christ is the Difference!

Listen to General Conference this weekend & learn more about our Savior

Ask, Seek, Knock...

Historic Photo Taken Today at Rome Italy Visitor Center

First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles 

in front of statues of Jesus Christ and original Twelve Apostles

Treasure Heavenly Things

Three Tools to Help Us Navigate Tough Topics

Why We Shouldn't Be Afraid of Church History + 3 Tools to Help Us Navigate Tough Topics

by Katie Lambert 06 Feb 2019

The history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is full of beautiful moments. The First Vision, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, the organization of church meetings, and the restoration of temple ordinances are all just a few examples of moments from our history that impacted the world. 

However, as with all histories, there are moments that were not beautiful. In fact, there are moments in our history that have caused many to doubt the truthfulness of the gospel. So do we avoid studying Church history for fear that it will cause us to doubt as well? 

Or is it that we arm ourselves with tools to help us discover and understand our past?

"My boss for a long time was Rick Turley, and he would always say, 'The problem is not Church history. The problem is not reading enough Church history,'" Latter-day Saint historian Dr. Janiece Johnson says in an LDS Living All In podcast. 

As Latter-day Saint historians Dr. Jenny Reeder and Johnson discuss in the podcast, history is often messy, but there are valuable lessons to be learned from the past. To help Latter-day Saints navigate studying Church history, Reeder and Johnson mention a few things members need to take in consideration. 

1. Understand the context.

Reeder says often we look at Church history through a lens of presentism, meaning we look at the past with a 21st-century point of view. Instead, we should try to understand the context surrounding Church history events.

For example, Reeder discusses early Church polygamy and how the women of the Church at the time had to develop their own testimonies and witnesses of plural marriage because it was so grating to their time and culture. 

"Part of me is really grateful that I didn't have to be there and when the clipboard was passed around in heaven, I did not sign up for Nauvoo," Reeder says. "But part of me is completely respectful of them and their experiences, and I believe them and I recognize the torment they had to go through, but I also recognize the power of personal revelation."

2. Know the source.

Reeder says, as historians, she and Johnson are trained to be very careful when it comes to sources. Knowing who the source is and the time period they lived in can greatly impact the way facts are presented and the overall tone. 

"There's no such thing as an objective history," Reeder says. "It's always subjective. You're always looking at it from a specific lens. But if you can recognize who's talking, who's giving the sources, who's giving the facts even, you recognize that there are some kind of biases."

In the podcast, Reeder shares an experience where she came across some material about Joseph Smith and plural marriage that she hadn't seen before. 

"I was sitting there and it was like my mind was being blown," Reeder says. "I was completely disgusted. I was like, 'What is this?'"

Reeder says when she has these moments and she prays about it and tries to use a historian's lens, she realizes that she is looking at history with a presentist's point of view or she looks at the source and finds they could be someone who wrote what they did to defame the Church or its leadership. 

"I actually think the study of history has allowed me to recognize sources and to recognize content and to recognize bias and to recognize the need for me to find out for myself and to pray for myself," Reeder says.

Both Reeder and Johnson suggest that if members are looking for sources about Church history that they begin with a book like Saints and the sources the book uses, along with the Gospel Topics Essays. 

"That is a good jumping off place," Reeder says. "Once you understand some of the foundation, you can dig in deeper wherever you are interested." 

3. Real life is messy.

"Real life is messy, and understanding the past is a foreign place and it's going to take the ability to deal with some messiness to be able to really understand what has happened in the past," Johnson says in the podcast. 

Having worked for 10 years researching the Mountain Meadows Massacre, Johnson is no stranger to the messy side of history. 

"When we are dealing with human beings who are limited and mortal, there is going to be messiness," she says. "And I believe that if we approach the messiness head on, there is strength and power in that. The gospel will still be true. . . . As I am methodical, as I lay things out, as I try to understand and I always use the Spirit as a guide, I'm going to be okay." 

Reeder also says that seeing the messiness in Church history has helped her in her personal life. 

"Seeing this messiness in these people's lives from our past helps me realize that my messiness in my life is okay," she says. "I read these women's stories to know that I am not alone."

Your Diet

Your diet is not only what you eat.

It's what you WATCH, 
what you LISTEN TO, 
what you READ, and 
the PEOPLE you hang around.

Be mindful of the things you put into your body 
EMOTIONALLY, 
SPIRITUALLY and 
PHYSICALLY.

This is the beginning of a new day.

You have been given this day to use as you will.

You can waste it or use it for good.

What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it.

When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever.

In its place is something that you have left behind.

Let it be something good.

Each and Every ONE of Us Is of Infinite Worth to Our Heavenly Parents

           Since she was a small girl, Sister Jean B. Bingham — now the Relief Society general president — has loved to watch the night sky.

“If you look up into the sky on a clear night, you can see glowing planets and twinkling stars,” she told students at Brigham Young University-Idaho during a campus devotional on Nov. 27. “On some nights, you will see the moon, depending on whether there’s clouds or not, sometimes you may see a meteor or shooting star scooting across the sky.”

From the darkest parts of the earth, the naked human eye is able to see about 5,000 stars, but from a brightly lit city street, only around 100 stars are visible, Sister Bingham said. Depending on lighting and location, a person may see a few stars or “an incredible array of stars dusting the velvet expanse that is so numerous it boggles the mind.”

Using some of the world’s most powerful instruments to calculate, astronomers in Australia concluded there are at least 70 sextillion stars in the entire visible universe.

“Does knowing that make you feel small?” Sister Bingham asked. “Contemplating that incredible number fills me with a humble yet exhilarating realization that, among all that vastness, our Father in Heaven knows not only where I am but who I am and what I am thinking and doing and struggling with. And He knows everything about you, and loves you more than you can even comprehend.”

That knowledge helps individuals know that they are valued and essential in God’s plan of happiness.

“Among all those millions and billions and quadrillions of stars, no two are exactly alike,” she said. “They differ in brightness and color, in size and location, in age and mass — and they are all important in God’s design.”

Recognizing that sometimes individuals may feel they don’t fit in or they don’t have much to contribute, Sister Bingham reminded listeners that from a Heavenly Parents’ perfect perspective, each one of Their children has been created for a divine purpose, has infinite worth and has a vital work to accomplish in life.

Jesus is Holding on to Us

Elder Jeffrey R Holland

"I hear many who struggle with this issue: 'I am just not good enough.' 'I fall so far short.' 'I will never measure up.' I hear this from teenagers. I hear it from missionaries. I hear it from new converts. I hear it from lifelong members.

"I believe in God’s perfection, and I know we are His spiritual sons and daughters with divine potential to become as He is. I also know that as children of God we should not demean and vilify ourselves, as if beating up on ourselves is somehow going to make us the person God wants us to become in eternity. No! 

"With a willingness to repent and a desire for increased righteousness in our hearts, I would hope we could pursue personal improvement in a way that doesn’t include getting ulcers or bulimia, feeling depressed, or demolishing our self-esteem. That is not what the Lord wants for children or anyone else who honestly sings, 'I’m trying to be like Jesus.'

"I testify of that very Jesus, who Himself continued 'from grace to grace' until He received in His immortality a perfect fulness of celestial glory. I testify that in this and every hour He is, with nail-scarred hands, extending to us that same grace, holding on to us and encouraging us until we are safely home in the embrace of Heavenly Parents."

O Come Little Children

Light the World 2018

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday, 22 November 2018

Recipe for Happy Life

Family Council--Important Tradition

https://www.lds.org/blog/the-beginners-guide-to-family-councils?lang=eng

General Conference Time

Forgiveness

Reap as you plant!

During Adversity

Questions to ask during adversity: Elder Richard G. Scott said: “When you face adversity, you can be led to ask many questions. Some serve a useful purpose; others do not. To ask, Why does this have to happen to me? Why do I have to suffer this now? What have I done to cause this? will lead you into blind alleys. It really does no good to ask questions that reflect opposition to the will of God. Rather ask, What am I to do? What am I to learn from this experience? What am I to change? Whom am I to help? How can I remember my many blessings in times of trial?” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1995, 18; or Ensign, Nov. 1995, 17).

Keeping perspective during adversity: President Spencer W. Kimball said: “If we looked at mortality as the whole of existence, then pain, sorrow, failure, and short life would be calamity. But if we look upon life as an eternal thing stretching far into the premortal past and on into the eternal post-death future, then all happenings may be put in proper perspective.

“… Are we not exposed to temptations to test our strength, sickness that we might learn patience, death that we might be immortalized and glorified?

“If all the sick for whom we pray were healed, if all the righteous were protected and the wicked destroyed, the whole program of the Father would be annulled and the basic principle of the gospel, free agency, would be ended. No man would have to live by faith” (Faith Precedes the Miracle [1975], 97).

Ask for Angels to Help You

Embrace the Plan by Kim B Clark

Embrace the Plan

Kim B Clark of Seventy 20 Mar 2018 Devotional

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR9ju8CWrD4

Brothers and sisters, it is a joy to be with you today. I love you, and I love this university. I remember what it felt like to be a student. I remember the stress of papers and exams and the worry and the uncertainty about the future. But I also remember the sense of possibilities and opportunities ahead and the feelings of hope and faith in the Savior.

Now, looking back on those years, I can see that the Lord Jesus Christ was way ahead of me, working in my life and preparing the way before me. I want each of you to know that He is working in your life right now and preparing the way before you. It is all part of Heavenly Father’s plan. That is what I want to talk about today. My message is a simple invitation: embrace the plan!

I will begin with a story that I hope will help you begin to understand what that invitation means.

Almost twenty years ago I was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. My kidney doctor told me that in ten to twelve years I would need to go on dialysis or have a transplant.

In my mind I said to myself, “No, I won’t. I will be disciplined and diligent, and the Lord will bless me. I will die of something else.”

That was my plan. And for several years it worked pretty well. But then my kidneys began to fail. My doctor told me I needed to prepare for a transplant.

With my plan not working, I went to my Heavenly Father in prayer and asked Him for His help and His guidance. I received a very clear impression: my plan was not His plan. His plan had a transplant in it, and I needed to get ready.

So I sent out a simple message to my children and my siblings: “I need a transplant. If any of you would like to give me a kidney, please call this number.”

On August 2, 2011, my son Andrew gave me a kidney.

As I prepared for the operation, I felt impressed to embrace Heavenly Father’s plan—every bit of it. Here is an example: Every night that I was in the hospital, the nurses woke me several times to give me a shot, check my fluids and my vital signs, weigh me, or give me medicine. Every time they woke me up, I said to them, “I am so happy to see you.” Those nurses helped give me new life. That was the plan, and I embraced it.

My dear brothers and sisters, with all my heart I invite you to follow Jesus Christ and embrace Heavenly Father’s great plan of salvation. I use the word embrace because I want you to accept the plan gladly and eagerly—to adopt it into your life fully and completely.¹ I want you to put your arms around the plan and draw it in close to your heart with love and gratitude for your Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

I love this description of the Father’s great plan in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”:

In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life.²

At the very heart of the Father’s plan is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Our Father knew that mortality would be hard and blessed, dangerous and peaceful, and full of adversity and glorious opportunities. He knew we would all sin and all face the challenges of mortal life. So He sent His Son to be our Savior and Redeemer. As Alma taught:

[Jesus] will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death . . . ; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy . . . , that he may know . . . how to succor his people. . . .

. . . The Son of God . . . [will] take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance.³

The Atonement of Jesus Christ makes the Father’s plan of happiness a reality. Not only will all be resurrected, but those who come unto Christ, repent of their sins, and make and keep sacred covenants with Him may receive peace in this life and the great gift of exaltation and eternal life with their families in the world to come.⁴ Indeed, the redeeming power of Jesus Christ

enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.⁵

This is the Father’s great plan of happiness. All of you, no matter what your situation is, may come unto Christ and become the seed of Abraham—the covenant people of the Lord—with a special place in the Father’s plan.⁶ Each of you has been given a combination of personality, gifts and talents, experiences, and capacities that is unique in God’s universe.⁷ There is no one else like you, and the Lord has a special place in His plan for you.⁸

If you act with faith in Jesus Christ to embrace the plan, He will direct your path, open doors for you, put you where He wants you, and give you opportunities to serve Him in the greatest of all the causes on the earth—the cause of Christ.⁹ You will be the means of bringing hope, joy, happiness, and salvation to your family, to your friends and loved ones, and to literally thousands of God’s children.¹⁰

Embracing the plan is not something we do once; we embrace the great plan of salvation and our role in it by the choices we make all through our lives. Every wonderful opportunity in the Father’s plan comes to us in a “crucible of choice.” Every crucible contains two things: the opportunities created by Heavenly Father’s plan and opposition. No matter what the opportunity may be, there is always opposition.

It is the combination of opportunity and opposition that creates the need for choice. Which path will you walk? Whose voice will you hear? Whose plan will you follow? The crucible of choice is a test of your faith in Jesus Christ.

I will focus on three crucibles of choice that are essential to eternal life and that are particularly important for you at this wonderful time in your lives. They are (1) deep learning, (2) serving the Lord, and (3) creating an eternal family. My purpose is to help you see what you must do to embrace the plan and to receive the marvelous blessings Heavenly Father has prepared for you.

Crucible 1: Deep Learning

In the crucible of choice that governs learning, there are many wonderful opportunities created by Heavenly Father’s plan. Indeed, as Elder David A. Bednar has taught, “The overarching purpose of Heavenly Father’s great plan of happiness is to provide His spirit children with opportunities to learn.”¹¹

The learning that fulfills the “overarching purpose of Heavenly Father’s great plan” is “deep learning: learning of the whole soul—the mind, the heart, the body, and the immortal spirit.”¹² Learning is deep when it increases our power to do three things: (1) to know and understand; (2) to take effective, righteous action; and (3) to become more like our Heavenly Father.¹³ That is Heavenly Father’s plan.

We are the spirit children of Heavenly Father. Every single one of us has the potential to become like Him. We all have different gifts and talents and we all have different challenges in mortality, but our Father has blessed us with the opportunity and the capacity to learn deeply through His eternal plan.

The power of deep learning has great value in your family, in your service in the Church, in your work, and in your community. It also brings great joy. Think of a time when you figured out how to solve an important problem or challenge you faced. It probably felt like a light went on in your mind and in your heart. The scriptures use words such as enlarge, enlighten, delicious, quicken, and joyous to describe what happens when we learn deeply.¹⁴

Deep learning applies to all truth, in any field of knowledge. However, the most important knowledge we need to acquire is a knowledge of the things of God. Spiritual knowledge, therefore, must have the first place in our hearts and in our priorities.¹⁵

Making spiritual knowledge a priority means making time every day for personal prayer and study of the Book of Mormon and other scriptures. It means taking religion classes. It means treasuring up what we learn by writing it down. And it means worshipping in the temple often. Putting spiritual knowledge first ensures that we will rely on the Lord and the Holy Spirit in all our learning. We will see everything we study in the light of the Father’s plan.

I have spent my life trying to deepen my learning and trying to help others learn deeply too. That lifetime of experience has taught me that deep learning must be done in the Lord’s way—by systematic study and by teaching one another, attended by the grace of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Ghost, who reveals truth, sanctifies us, and changes our very natures.¹⁶

Embracing the plan and seizing the opportunities for deep learning means working diligently with faith in Jesus Christ. It means humbling ourselves before the Lord and seeking the companionship of the Holy Ghost.

Arrayed against those wonderful attributes of diligence, humility, and righteousness stands the opposition: laziness, pride, sin, and the distractions of the world.

Of these, I believe the most dangerous is pride.¹⁷ In fact, deep learning creates the potential for pride to work its way into your heart. Deep learning will increase your value in the world. Recognition, rewards, good jobs, and admission to graduate schools may come your way. Along with all of this good will come the temptations of pride.

I want to share with you an experience from my first semester in graduate school. I took a class from a very prominent professor. I worked hard in that class all semester, prepared for the final exam, and prayed to Heavenly Father for His help. The exam assignment was really simple but also really hard: we had to read and critique two very complex research papers.

As I read the first paper, something wonderful happened. In the analysis I did and in the writing of my critique, I was blessed with insights and help beyond my own. When I finished, I picked up the second paper and had exactly the same experience. I have never forgotten that day.

When good things come, it is easy to get prideful. In fact, if we do not resist diligently with faith in the Savior’s power to change our hearts, it is easy to get puffed up with pride. If we do, we stop learning deeply. I know that is true.

The way to overcome pride—and every other form of opposition—and to make righteous choices about deep learning is to humbly embrace the Father’s great plan of redemption. Remember with gratitude who you really are, where you came from, and what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for you. Always, always give the glory to the Lord for all good things that happen in your life.¹⁸ He will help you keep pride out of your heart and help keep your learning deep.

Crucible 2: Serving the Lord

The crucible of service to the Lord contains great opportunities and blessings. There are many ways to serve, but serving with the Lord Jesus Christ in His Church is very special. Just think how amazing it is to do His work, in His name, with His power and authority, in His true and living Church.

If we choose to be yoked together with the Lord, He will work through us to bless others.¹⁹ We act with faith in Jesus Christ in many callings and assignments to help our brothers and sisters feel the love of the Lord and change their lives through His redeeming power.

These experiences also change us. We see our brothers and sisters as the Lord sees them, and He helps us love them as He does.²⁰ He increases our capacity to love, to receive revelation, and to minister with His power in His way. We draw closer to Him through our service, and He helps us become more like Him.²¹

I want to focus on one kind of service that is especially important for you in this time of your lives and powerful in building the kingdom of God. The service I have in mind is sharing the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with your peers—with people ages eighteen to thirty—who are not yet members of the Church. When people in this age group are converted unto the Lord and unite with His Church,²² they are very likely to become lifelong, faithful Latter-day Saints.

The experience of a few young adults illustrates this principle. One individual, whose name was Christa Cascarelli, was not a member of the Church when she met David Tesky, a Latter-day Saint soldier serving in Germany. David introduced Christa to the Church. She saw the Light of Christ in David, and she felt pure happiness when he spoke of the things he believed. However, she was not ready to meet with the missionaries.

Not long after Christa met David, she moved to a new city. She missed the light and the happiness she had felt, and she started looking for the Church. One day Christa learned of a new coworker, Karen Lee, who sounded like she was a Latter-day Saint, which she was. Christa sought out Karen and found her reading the Book of Mormon at lunch. Christa saw the same light in Karen that she had seen in David. Karen invited Christa to meet with the missionaries.

My companion and I taught Christa. It was an amazing experience. Christa’s interactions with David and Karen had opened her heart to the Holy Ghost. She was not only prepared but excited to hear the glorious good news of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Christa was baptized in May 1970 and later met and fell in love with a member of the branch named Gary Harrell. They were married in the Oakland Temple in 1971. This all got started because David and Karen lived and loved the gospel and shared what they loved with Christa.

Sharing the gospel and helping people to be baptized into the Lord’s Church is a wonderful opportunity, but it comes with opposition, especially in the society in which we live. The enemy of our souls is doing everything he can to keep us from sharing the gospel. He tempts people to believe that they can be more spiritual, even closer to the Lord, without the Church; he tempts them to believe that they don’t need it. And he tempts us with fear of offending others with our invitations, with fear of ridicule, and with fear of persecution because of our beliefs.

Serving the Lord in His Church, especially sharing His gospel, is a crucible of choice and a test of faith in Jesus Christ. President Russell M. Nelson has posed this question for you and for me: “To which cause [will you] commit [your] effort and [your] good name?”²³ Will it be the cause of Christ? Will you always accept and magnify callings and assignments in the Lord’s Church? Will you share His gospel with people you meet? Or will fear silence your voice?

Brothers and sisters, the answer to fear is to embrace the plan! Live and love the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Church so that His light will be in your eyes and in your life.²⁴ You can learn to share and extend invitations in a natural way, with love and kindness.²⁵ You can make a covenant with the Lord that you will speak for Him if He puts people in your path. I promise you that the Lord will guide you to people He has prepared. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love for Him will banish fear from your heart, and you will be an instrument in His hands to bring people to Him and His true and living Church.

Crucible 3: Creating an Eternal Family

In Heavenly Father’s glorious plan of happiness, it is our divine destiny—indeed, our eternal identity and purpose—to have an eternal family, with a celestial marriage to a beloved companion and children sealed to us forever.²⁶ These are the tremendous opportunities that fill the crucible of choice about the eternal family.

That is why it is so important for every one of us, no matter what our situation, to do everything we can to encourage and promote celestial marriage and eternal families—our own and ­others’—on both sides of the veil. President Henry B. Eyring taught:

Everything we do should have celestial marriage as its focus and purpose. That means we must strive to be sealed to an eternal companion in the temple of God. We must also encourage others to make and keep the covenants that bind a husband and wife together, with their family, in this life and in the world to come.²⁷

Given the marvelous blessings of an eternal family, it is not surprising that the crucible of choice about the eternal family is filled with much opposition and many temptations. Perhaps the most powerful forces opposing the creation of an eternal family are fear and selfishness.

In a society in which we see around us divorce, dysfunctional families, and much heartache in marriages, it is understandable that some might look at the prospect of building a strong marriage and an eternal family with some fear and worry.²⁸ However, there is also a new kind of fear we find among us today: “the fear of missing out.”²⁹

The fear of missing out—or FOMO—explains why so many young people spend so much time on social media. Based on survey data of young adults, it also seems to be affecting decisions about marriage. The classic FOMO line associated with marriage is “What if I find someone better?”

These fears—whether fear of failure or fear of missing out—reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of eternal marriage. We do not “find” the perfect partner for an eternal marriage, nor are we on our own or trapped by the past mistakes of others. The partnership of an eternal marriage is something we build together with the Lord.³⁰ It is faith in Jesus Christ that will allow you to overcome these fears.

When two faithful, committed Latter-day Saints love each other and marry in the temple of the Lord, they make a covenant with each other and with Him.³¹ If they keep that covenant, repent, love, and serve each other, the Lord Jesus Christ will sanctify their hearts; He will knit their hearts and souls together and bind them to Him.³² Over time they will become one in Christ, equally yoked and beautifully matched, with divine love and joy in their marriage and their family.³³ That is the plan, and it works. I am a witness that it works.

Which brings me to selfishness. In order for the supernal blessings of an eternal family to be yours, you must conquer selfishness.

Brothers and sisters, selfishness is not good. If you act selfishly, you are at grave risk of making critical choices—such as whom to marry, when to marry, how many children to have, how to lead your family, and how to treat your spouse—without the guidance of your Heavenly Father.

Before you marry, selfishness can get in the way of you ever connecting with someone to marry. It will make you unattractive, and it will interact with your fears to cause you to avoid commitments.

After you marry, selfishness will make you either unaware of your spouse’s needs or unmotivated to try to meet them. It will lead to unhappiness and discouragement in your spouse and in your children.

It is easy to be selfish.³⁴ Let me share with you a story from my marriage. Since Sister Clark does not have a selfish bone in her body, this is another story about me.

Sue and I met here on this campus. I am so grateful to Heavenly Father that He helped us find each other. We were married in June 1971.

Fast-forward a few months. One day I came home from school and turned on our tiny black-and-white TV to catch the Red Sox game. I sat down and opened up a book I needed to read. Soon Sue came home from work. We said hi to each other, and then she went into the kitchen. Then I heard cupboard doors being slammed with great force.

I walked into the kitchen and asked her what was wrong.

She looked at me and said, “Nothing.”

I persisted, and then she taught me the lesson of a lifetime. I had acted selfishly, and I did not even see it. I had been raised in a home where I had always been given a list of chores to do. I had been taught how to iron, cook, sweep, do dishes, and clean, but I thought Sue would just tell me what to do. She helped me understand that she wanted our marriage to be a full partnership, and she wanted me to step up and take some responsibility for our home. I realized that sitting around watching the Red Sox in the afternoon must have seemed pretty selfish to her. That was literally a life-changing moment.

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to read you a poem that I wrote for Sue. I have repented; in fact, I have been repenting for forty-seven years. When I first met Sue, to give you some background, she was dressed in red. I apologize to all the poets.

The Woman in Red
A poem for Sue at Christmas, 2017

She stood before me dressed in red
And bid me come to dinner
Intrigued and drawn her way
I followed the woman in red

Who is the woman in red?
I wondered all that day
Dinner, dishes, music,
And a moonlit walk

Who is the woman in red?
Walking by her side I felt
An answer from heaven
This is her; she is the one

Who is the woman in red?
She is a woman of courage
Setting all doubts and fear aside
She said yes, and so did I in God’s holy house

Who is the woman in red?
She is deep, with depths of love, compassion,
Humility, joy, diligence, insight,
And spiritual power

Who is the woman in red?
She is a mother who has travailed
In the shadow of the valley of death
To bring seven children into the world

Who is the woman in red?
She is a mother whose example of dedication,
Consecration, and pure love
Is in those children to their very core

Who is the woman in red?
She is the angel of mercy
Bringing light, love, strength,
And hope to those in need

Who is the woman in red?
She is my best friend
Who loves, corrects, lifts,
Inspires, and strengthens me

And so, at this Christmastime
When we celebrate God’s gift
Of His Only Begotten Son
Our Savior and Redeemer

I honor and remember God’s gift to me
Love of my life, joy of my soul
My Sue, forever
The woman in red

You can tell I know from my own experience that the way to overcome fear and selfishness and the way to the joy of an eternal marriage and family is to embrace the plan. Embrace the great plan of happiness fully and completely and seek to do the will of the Lord. Your path to an eternal family may be distinctive in its experiences and in its timing.³⁵ But no matter what your circumstances are, your divine destiny is to be a wife or a husband, a father or a mother, in an eternal family, sealed forever and exalted in glory in the kingdom of God.³⁶ I know that is true.

Testimony

My dear brothers and sisters, my invitation to embrace Heavenly Father’s plan is an invitation to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ with faith in Him. I bear witness that God our Father lives. Jesus is the Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. He lives! The crucibles of choice about learning, service, and an eternal family are real, but the Father’s plan is perfect and the Savior’s power is complete. If you embrace the plan, the Lord will open the way before you. His redeeming power will flow into your life, and He will wrap you in the arms of His love, now and forever. You will learn deeply, you will serve faithfully, and you will have an eternal family. I so testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Kim B. Clark, commissioner of education and a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, delivered this devotional address on March 20, 2018.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_B._Clark

NOTES:

1. Embrace means “to clasp in the arms”; “cherish, love”; “to take up especially readily or gladly”; “to take in or include as a part . . . of a more inclusive whole” (Merriam-Webster.com, s.v. “embrace”).

2. “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1995).

3. Alma 7:12–13.

4. See D&C 59:23; see also 2 Nephi 2:26; 9:18; Alma 24:14; 42:14–15; Helaman 14:12–17; Moroni 7:24.

5. “The Family: A Proclamation.”

6. See Abraham 2:9–10; see also D&C 84:32–38; 132:30–32.

7. President Gordon B. Hinckley taught, “Believe in yourself. Believe in your capacity to do great . . . things. . . . You are a child of God, of infinite capacity” (“Be Not Afraid, Only Believe,” BYU–Hawaii commencement address, 11 December 2004). See D&C 11:8; 18:10; 46:11; 76:24.

8. See D&C 11:8; 46:10–11. Elder Richard G. Scott said, “God has a specific plan for your life. He will reveal parts of that plan to you as you look for it with faith and consistent obedience” (“How to Live Well Amid Increasing Evil,” Ensign, May 2004).

Elder Ronald A. Rasband said: When we are righteous, willing, and able, when we are striving to be worthy and qualified, we progress to places we never imagined and become part of Heavenly Father’s “divine design.” Each of us has divinity within us. . . . When our Father in Heaven said, “This is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” [Moses 1:39], He was talking about all of His children—you in particular. [“By Divine Design,” Ensign, November 2017]

Note that our personal plans are embedded in the Father’s great plan of salvation. We cannot follow one unless we follow the other.

9. The Prophet Joseph Smith said, “I am a lover of the cause of Christ” (“Letter from Joseph Smith to William W. Phelps, 31 July 1832,” Hiram, Ohio, 3, josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-to-william-w-phelps-31-july-1832/3; see also Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2007], 352).

10. In our own way, we are like Esther—a daughter of the exiled Jews—who became the queen of Persia by the hand of the Lord. At a critical moment for her people, when they were about to be destroyed, Esther’s cousin Mordecai reminded her that she was the Lord’s plan to save His people. He said, “Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14). At the risk of her life, Esther approached the king and saved her people. Esther embraced the Lord’s plan for her (see Esther 2–7).

11. David A. Bednar, Increase in Learning: Spiritual Patterns for Obtaining Your Own Answers (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011), 1–2.

12. Kim B. Clark, “Learning for the Whole Soul,” Ensign, August 2017; emphasis in original.

13. The pattern of know, do, and become has been used widely as a framework for leadership development and in discussions of the Lord’s plan for the spiritual development of His ­children (see Thomas S. Monson, “To Learn, to Do, to Be,” Ensign, November 2008; and Dallin H. Oaks, “The Challenge to Become,” Ensign, November 2000). For an in-depth treatment of each of the elements of this pattern, see the three-volume series by David A. Bednar: Increase in Learning; Act in Doctrine: Spiritual Patterns for Turning from Self to Savior (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2012); and Power to Become: Spiritual Patterns for Pressing Forward with a Steadfastness in Christ (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2014).

14. See Alma 32:28; D&C 88:11; 1 Nephi 11:23.

15. The Prophet Joseph Smith emphasized the primacy of spiritual knowledge in these words: A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth. Hence it needs revelation to assist us, and give us knowledge of the things of God. [HC 4:588; see also Teachings of Presidents: Joseph Smith, 266]

16. The Lord’s way to learn is described in D&C 88. See verses 63, 66, 78, 84, 116, 118.

17. President Ezra Taft Benson taught: The proud depend upon the world to tell them whether they have value or not. Their self-esteem is determined by where they are judged to be on the ladders of worldly success. They feel worthwhile as individuals if the numbers beneath them in achievement, talent, beauty, or intellect are large enough. [“Beware of Pride,” Ensign, May 1989]

18. See D&C 88:67–88; Moses 1:10; John 7:18; see also Marlin K. Jensen, “An Eye Single to the Glory of God,” Ensign, November 1989.

19. See Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “You Are My Hands,” Ensign, May 2010.

20. See Henry B. Eyring, “Walk with Me,” Ensign, May 2017.

21. President Henry B. Eyring taught: Eternal life is that kind of life which God our Eternal Father lives. God has said that His purpose is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). . . .

Every priesthood effort . . . is intended to help Heavenly Father’s children be changed through the Atonement of Jesus Christ to become members of perfected family units. [“Eternal Families,” Ensign, May 2016]

22. Elder D. Todd Christofferson makes this point: “The Book of Mormon expresses it best when it says that the people ‘were converted unto the Lord, and were united unto the church of Christ’ [3 Nephi 28:23; emphasis added]” (“Why the Church,” Ensign, November 2015).

23. Russell M. Nelson, “Choices,” Ensign, November 1990.

24. President James E. Faust said, “A sacred light comes to our eyes and countenances when we have a personal bond with our loving Heavenly Father and His Son, our Savior and Redeemer. With this bond our faces will mirror that ‘sublime assurance’ that He lives” (“The Light in Their Eyes,” Ensign, November 2005; quoting Paul Harvey, news broadcast, 8 December 1967). See also Alma 5:14–15; 3 Nephi 18:24.

25. President M. Russell Ballard taught: Fear will be replaced with faith and confidence when members and the full-time missionaries kneel in prayer and ask the Lord to bless them with missionary opportunities. Then, we must demonstrate our faith and watch for opportunities to introduce the gospel of Jesus Christ to our Heavenly Father’s children. . . . These opportunities will never require a forced or a contrived response. They will flow as a natural result of our love for our brothers and sisters. [“Put Your Trust in the Lord,” Ensign, November 2013]

26. “The Family: A Proclamation” states: The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.

27. Eyring, “Eternal Families.”

28. For a discussion of these fears and how to overcome them, see Melissa Howell, “Confidence to Marry,” Ensign, February 2006.

29. For a discussion of the fear of missing out, see Eric Barker, “FOMO: This Is the Best Way to Overcome Fear of Missing Out,” Barking Up the Wrong Tree (blog), 5 June 2016, bakadesuyo.com/2016/06/fomo.

30. President Russell M. Nelson taught: “To qualify for eternal life, we must make an eternal and everlasting covenant with our Heavenly Father. This means that a temple marriage is not only between husband and wife; it embraces a partnership with God” (“Celestial Marriage,” Ensign, November 2008).

31. See Malachi 4:5–6; D&C 110:14–15.

32. See Mosiah 5:15; 18:21, 29; 1 Corinthians 11:11.

33. Elder David A. Bednar taught: By divine design, men and women are intended to progress together toward perfection and a fulness of glory. . . . The man and the woman contribute differently but equally to a oneness and a unity that can be achieved in no other way. [“Marriage Is Essential to His Eternal Plan,” Ensign, June 2006]

34. The world encourages selfishness. It tells us to make personal fulfillment our top priority and to postpone marriage and children or to not marry at all. Consider the following modern-day advice about marriage and its approval of selfishness:

You have problems with compromise. While it sounds negative, there’s nothing wrong with it. But if you’re used to doing things your way, and the thought of someone loading a dishwasher incorrectly sends legitimate shivers down your spine, you probably realize that being part of a married couple might just make you miserable. You have a set way of doing things, and you’re more than thankful for a partner who understands—but if they try to interrupt your schedule or tell you how “their way” is far superior, you’ll end up being pretty resentful. [Karen Belz, “Eight Signs You Aren’t Meant to Get Married, and Why That’s Completely Okay,” Bustle, 16 February 2016, bustle.com/articles/140397-8-signs-you-arent-meant-to-get-married-and-why-thats-completely-ok]

35. See D&C 84:38. President Russell M. Nelson taught:

But what of the many mature members of the Church who are not married? Through no failing of their own, they deal with the trials of life alone. Be we all reminded that, in the Lord’s own way and time, no blessings will be withheld from His faithful Saints. The Lord will judge and reward each individual according to heartfelt desire as well as deed. [“Celestial Marriage”]

36. President Henry B. Eyring taught: Eternal life means to become like the Father and to live in families in happiness and joy forever. . . .

The family unit is fundamental not only to society and to the Church but also to our hope for eternal life. We begin to practice in the family, the smaller unit, what will spread to the Church and to the society in which we live in this world, which will then be what we practice in families bound together forever by covenants and by faithfulness. [“The Family,” Ensign, February 1998]