Blame

Great quote!

"All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you."

Wayne Dyer

Our Deepest Fear

Here is the full quote from yesterdays post:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Nelson Mandela

Who Are You Not To Be?

"We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be, You are a child of God, you playing small does not serve the world." 

Nelson Mandela

"Dad...why are we here?"

This made me giggle:

"At a recent Stake Conference of the Chula Vista, California Stake, President Paul B. Duncan related the following story.

President Duncan explained how Saturday was a day to get things done around their house because of work, family and church responsibilities. Just a few weeks ago he and his youngest son Jeff who is six years old had just finished mowing the lawn and were putting things away. President Duncan thought this would be a terrific opportunity to rest and spend a few minutes with Jeff. The two of them crawled up on the family's trampoline and gazed up into the blue sky. With a puzzled look Jeff turned and asked "Dad,...Why are we here?" President Duncan thought this would be great teaching opportunity so he explained how we are children of our Father in Heaven, How he has sent us here because he loves us and wants us to experience the things he has created for us, How he wants us to serve one another, to learn, to grow and to develop those qualties that will allow us to return to live with Him some day. President Duncan paused and asked if that had answered his question. Jeff responded, "Not really". President Duncan then began to think how else he might be able to answer the question when Jeff again asked, "Dad,...Why are we here?...weren't we supposed to pick Mom up an hour ago?"

(Re-posted from here)

Every Woman's Heart

"There is in every woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity."

{ washington irving }

re-posted from here

A Wagon Without Springs

‎"A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs; jolted by every pebble in the road." 

Henry Ward Beecher, 1813-1887, Preacher and Abolitionist

Million Dollar Answer

"Too many members of the church expect a million dollar answer to a ten cent prayer!" 

Spencer W. Kimball

Knowing She Has Wings

Victor Hugo:

"Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings." 
Isaiah 40:31:
"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles;..."

Working in the Service of Self-Image

President Kimball has given this thought-provoking counsel:


“The Lord has blessed us as a people with a prosperity unequaled in times past. The resources that have been placed in our power are good, and necessary to our work here on the earth. But I am afraid that many of us have been surfeited with flocks and herds and acres and barns and wealth and have begun to worship them as false gods, and they have power over us. Do we have more of these good things than our faith can stand? Many people spend most of their time working in the service of a self-image that includes sufficient money, stocks, bonds, investment portfolios, property, credit cards, furnishings, automobiles, and the like to guarantee carnal security throughout, it is hoped, a long and happy life. Forgotten is the fact that our assignment is to use these many resources in our families and quorums to build up the kingdom of God” (Ensign, June 1976, p. 4).

The Faith My Mother Taught Me

Material blessings are a part of the gospel if they are achieved in the proper way and for the right purpose. I am reminded of an experience of President Hugh B. Brown. As a young soldier in World War I, he was visiting an elderly friend in the hospital. This friend was a millionaire several times over who, at the age of eighty, was lying at death’s door. Neither his divorced wife nor any of his five children cared enough to come to the hospital to see him. As President Brown thought of the things his friend “had lost which money could not buy and noted his tragic situation and the depth of his misery,” he asked his friend how he would change the course of his life if he had it to live over again.

The old gentleman, who died a few days later, said: “ ‘As I think back over life the most important and valuable asset which I might have had but which I lost in the process of accumulating my millions, was the simple faith my mother had in God and in the immortality of the soul.

“ ‘… You asked me what is the most valuable thing in life. I cannot answer you in better words than those used by the poet.’ ” He asked President Brown to get a little book out of his briefcase from which he read a poem entitled “I’m an Alien.”

I’m an alien, to the faith my mother taught me.

I’m a stranger to the God that heard my mother when she cried.

I’m an alien to the comfort that, “Now I lay me,” brought me.

To the everlasting arms that held my father when he died.

When the great world came and called me, I deserted all to follow.

Never noting in my blindness I had slipped my hand from His.

Never dreaming in my dazedness that the bubble fame is hollow.

That the wealth of gold is tinsel, as I since have learned it is.

I have spent a lifetime seeking things I spurned when I found them,

I have fought and been rewarded in many a winning cause,

But I’d give it all, fame and fortune and the pleasures that surround them,

If I only had the faith that made my mother what she was.

“That was the dying testimony of a man who was born in the Church but had drifted far from it. That was the brokenhearted cry of a lonely man who could have anything money could buy, but who had lost the most important things of life in order to accumulate this world’s goods” (Continuing the Quest, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1961, pp. 32–35; italics added).

N. Eldon Tanner, “Constancy Amid Change,” Ensign, Nov 1979, 80

The Husk, But Not the Kernel

Wise words from N. Eldon Tanner in 1979:

"What I would like to share with you today are my observations about the constant and fundamental principles which, if followed, will bring financial security and peace of mind under any economic circumstances.

First, I would like to build a foundation and establish a perspective within which these economic principles must be applied.

One day a grandson of mine said to me: “I have observed you and other successful men, and I have made up my mind that I want to be a success in my life. I want to interview as many successful people as I can to determine what made them successful. So looking back over your experience, grandpa, what do you believe is the most important element of success?”

I told him that the Lord gave the greatest success formula that I know of: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33).

Some argue that some men prosper financially who do not seek the kingdom first. This is true. But the Lord is not promising us just material wealth if we seek first the kingdom. From my own experience I know this is not the case. In the words of Henrik Ibsen: “Money may be the husk of many things, but not the kernel. It brings you food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; acquaintances, but not friends; servants, but not faithfulness; days of joy, but not peace or happiness” (In The Forbes Scrapbook of Thoughts on the Business of Life, New York: Forbes, Inc., 1968, p. 88).
(N. Eldon Tanner, “Constancy Amid Change,” Ensign, Nov 1979, 80)

Liberty and the Spirit

In 1 Nephi 13, Nephi sees the discovery and colonisation of America, and tells us of a remarkable, divine involvement in this process. The following are descriptions of the Lord’s part in the establishment of America:

A. (13:11,14) He disperses the Lamanites
B. (13:12) He inspires Columbus
C. (13:13) He inspires other Gentiles
D. (13:13) His Spirit helps the Gentiles prosper
E. (13:16-19) God helps them win the Revolutionary War
F. (13:30) They are lifted by the power of God above all other nations.

Orson Pratt spoke of an even more dramatic divine involvement in the journeys of Columbus:

In those early and perilous times, our men were few, and our resources limited. Poverty was among the most potent enemies we had to encounter; yet our arms were successful; and it may not be amiss to ask here, by whose power victory so often perched on our banner? It was by the agency of that same angel of God that appeared unto Joseph Smith, and revealed to him the history of the early inhabitants of this country, whose mounds, bones and remains of towns, cities and fortifications speak from the dust in the ears of the living with the voice of undeniable truth. This same angel presides over the destinies of America, and feels a lively interest in all our doings. He was in the camp of Washington; and, by an invisible hand, led on our fathers to conquest and victory; and all this to open and prepare the way for the Church and kingdom of God to be established on the western hemisphere, for the redemption of Israel and the salvation of the world.

This same angel was with Columbus, and gave him deep impressions, by dreams and by visions, respecting this New World. Trammelled by poverty and by an unpopular cause, yet his persevering and unyielding heart would not allow an obstacle in his way too great for him to overcome; and the angel of God helped him was with him on the stormy deep, calmed and troubled elements, and guided his frail vessel to the desired haven. Under the guardianship of this same angel, or Prince of America, have the United States grown, increased, and flourished, like the sturdy oak by the rivers of water.
(Journal of Discourses, Vol.6, p.368, Orson Hyde, July 4, 1854).

Just as the Lord guided Columbus to discover a land where the Gospel could grow, so will the Spirit guide us as we seek to cultivate environments that bring about change, and foster love, “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”
(2 Corinthians 3:17).

I hope you have a wonderful day.

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

I saw this yesterday, and needed it. I hope it uplifts you too!

Food for Thought

"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." 

-John Wooden