Conference tecrus::mormonism

    I'll go first. One of my favorite scriptures: 
    
         For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
         Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
         but have everlasting life.
         
         John 3:16
         
    Isn't that what it's all about?
    
    Witnessing of Christ,
    Rich

         And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only
         true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
         
         John 17:3
         
         May we all come to know God the Father, and His Son, Jesus
         Christ!
         
         Witnessing of Christ,
         Rich 

                 Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ,
              doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in
              the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise
              is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.
   
                                             Mormon 9:21
    
    When we are in need of something, dedication and spirituality are not
    sufficient in order for the Lord to bless us. We have to *ask* for
    specific blessings. This theme is repeated more than a hundred times in
    Scripture. "*Ask*, and it shall be given you..." (Isaiah 58:9, Matthew
    7:7, Mosiah 4:21, D&C 4:7, D&C 11:5, D&C 14:5, etc., etc.) 
    
    Why is it necessary to *ask*? If we realized blessings as a direct
    result of dedication, we would lose sight of the hand of the Lord
    in the blessings we received. We would begin to think that *we*
    were bringing forth blessings because of what *we* do, when in fact
    all good things are sent by the Lord.
    
    The Lord wants to bless us and the Spirit wants to help us more - much
    more - than perhaps we are ready to accept. That we may all find
    the willingness and humility to go to Him and *ask* for all needful
    things is my prayer in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 
                                  
    /kevin

Sunday, the closing song for Fast and Testimony meeting was I Know That
My Redeemer Lives.  I was very impressed with that song.  After hearing
people witness of Christ and the Church, and express appreciation for the
effect of the Gospel in their lives, it was beautiful to hear the
congregation testify of Christ through song.

Allen

    And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given
    nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the
    children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord
    Omnipotent. 
    
    Book of Mormon
    Mosiah 3:17
    
    Witnessing of Christ,
    Rich

To some it may seem strange to see ships of many nations loading and
unloading cargo along the docks of Portland, Ore.  That city is 100
miles from the ocean.  Getting there involves a difficult, often
turbulent passage over the bar guarding the Columbia river and a long
trip up the Columbia and Willamette rivers.

But ship captains like to tie up at Portland.  They know that as their
ships travel the seas, a curious saltwater shellfish called a barnacle
fastens itself to the hull and stays there for the rest of its life,
surrounding itself with a rocklike shell.  As more and more barnacles
attach themselves, they increase the ship's drag, slow its progress,
decrease its efficiency.

Periodically, the ship must go into dry dock, where with great effort
the barnacles are chiseled or scraped off.  It's a difficult, expensive
process that ties up the ship for days.

But not if the captain can get his ship to Portland.  Barnacles can't
live in fresh water.  There, in the sweet, fresh waters of the Willamette
or Columbia, the barnacles loosen and fall away, and the ship returns to
its task lightened and renewed.

Sins are like those barnacles.  Hardly anyone goes through life without
picking up some.  They increase the drag, slow our progress, decrease our
efficiency.  Unrepented, building up one on another, they can eventually
sink us.

In His infinite love and mercy, our Lord has provided a harbor where, through
repentance, our barnacles fall away and are forgotten.  With our souls
lightened and renewed, we can go efficiently about our work and His.  Through
His atonement comes an endless, abundant flood of grace.  Sin can't live in
that sweet water.  But we have to make the effort, through repentance, to get
there, and the trip can be difficult and turbulent.

-- Church News, January 30, 1988, p. 16

    In my Sunday School lesson today, the title of the lesson was SALVATION
    THROUGH CHRIST. This scripture from the lesson impressed me:
    
    Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto
    the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no
    flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through
    the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth
    down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the
    power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection
    of the dead, being the first that should rise.
    
    Wherefore, he is the firstfruits unto God, inasmuch as he shall
    make intercession for all the children of men; and they that believe
    in him shall be saved.
    
    2 Nephi 2:8-9

    Witnessing of Christ,
    Rich
    

    On wisdom:
    
         If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to
         all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given
         him. 
         
         But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that
         wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and
         tossed. 
         
         For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of
         the Lord. 
         
         James 1:5-7

Participating in the Family-to-Family Book of Mormon program, LaVar
and Zola Turpin of Blackfoot, Idaho, received a response from a Brother
Sharma who lives in the Fiji Islands.  He said the book that the Turpins
had sent had been instrumental in the conversion of his wife.

Several months later the Turpins answered a mission call to serve in the
Fiji Islands and were introduced to the Sharmas by Pres. George S. Goble
of the Fiji Suva Mission.

The Turpins had not realized that someday their lives would cross with the
people they had helped to convert in Fiji.

Church News, January 16, 1988, p. 2

    A story that appears in Paul H. Dunn's book entitled "Success Is"
    (a Church publication) has always impressed me, and I would like 
    to share it here:
    
    "I was told of a penetrating and memorable dream that a woman had.
    The dream started with her death and she saw her own spirit dressed
    in a simple white frock, standing in a stark, bare white room. 
    She had no friends around her, no possessions, no facades or
    impressions to hide behind.  She had no titles, no diplomas, no
    credentials.  She was just herself.  She had only what was within
    herself.  She was only who she was.
    
    And she was about to meet God."
    
    
    Stories like this remind me that Heavenly Father is not really
    interested in what school I went to, what cars I have owned, where
    I've worked, the job titles I've had, the callings I've served in,
    or even how popular I was with my *fellowmen.*
    
    I have to ask myself, "If I were to strip away all these *worldly*
    things from my being, what would be left?"  What is *left* is what my 
    Heavenly Father is interested in.  Am I prepared to meet my God
    yet?  Are you?
    
    Tamara
    

Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
(Gal. 6:2)

    It is possible to tell when it is the Spirit of the Lord working in us
    and in others, for the Spirit bears a certain kind of fruit: 
    
         But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
         longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
         temperance...  Gal 5:22-23
         
    When these things are evident within us and within others, we see the
    fruits of the Spirit. But when we see anger, strife, contention and
    hardness, it is not the Spirit of the Lord that bears this fruit. 

    Last night our stake had a "Know Your Religion" night that focused on
    the Old Testament. One of the sessions dealt with the Old Testament
    prophecies of Jesus Christ. There really are a lot of them, but perhaps
    my favorite is found in Isaiah:
    
        He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and
        acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from
        him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
        
        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.
        
        All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one
        to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of
        us all.
        
        He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his
        mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
        before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
        
        He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare
        his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living:
        for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
        
        And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in
        his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any
        deceit in his mouth.
        
        Isaiah 53:3-9
        
    In His Name,
    Rich

    May we be one with Christ!
    
         Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which
         shall believe on me through their word;
         
         That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me,
         and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the
         world may believe that thou hast sent me.
         
         And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them;
         that they may be one, even as we are one:
         
         John 17:20-22

    In Christ's Love,
    Rich

    The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in
    green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my
    soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
    Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
    fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort
    me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
    thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness
    and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in
    the house of the Lord for ever. 
    
    Psalm 23

We should seek spiritual gifts.  They can lead us to God.  They can
shield us from the power of the adversary.  They can compensate for
our inadequacies and repair our imperfections.

  -- Elder Dallin H. Oaks

Each of us should read and reread the parable of the lost sheep from the
fifteenth chapter of Luke, then find ways that we can "leave the ninety and
nine" to seek out those Church members who are lost in the wilderness.

  -- President Howard W. Hunter, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve

Family home evenings should be scheduled once a week as a time for discussion,
gospel learning, recreation, work projects, skits, songs around the piano,
games, special refreshments, and family prayers.  Like iron links in a chain,
this practice will bind a family together in love, pride, tradition, strength,
and loyalty.

  -- President Ezra Taft Benson

    "Every man is a diary in which he writes one story while intending
    to write another. His humblest moment is when he compares the two."
    
                               --- Hugh B. Brown
    
    I find the above to be just as true when my intended 'diary' is less
    exalted than the truth as when it is more exalted. 

    
    /kevin

The Lesson of Lazarus

by Denise Tucker (Ensign, September 1986, p. 21)

I have a brother
spiritually dead,
wrapped tight
in graveclothes of sin,
enclosed in
the terrible tomb 
of Babylon.

But there is One,
Even now,
who can call forth
a life from that grave--

A message in the miracle--
There is no one
He cannot save.

Make us thy true undershepherds,
Give us a love that is deep.
Send us out into the desert,
Seeking thy wandering sheep.

-- Hymns, 1985, no. 221

    Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I
    the Lord, remember them no more. 
    
    By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins - behold, he will
    confess them and forsake them. 
    
    Doctrine and Covenants 58:42-43

As we have held Sunday devotional services during national board meetings,
a beautiful spirit has been there.  At the meetings, we have Catholics,
Methodists, Presbyterians, Mormons, and other religions represented, all
worshipping together.

Somehow, imaginary barriers between different faiths disappeared and we
have felt a oneness, brought together by the common bond of motherhood and
worshiping God....

I have had non-members pray with me and for me, and I have felt the dramatic
answers to their prayers.

-- Ellen Ralph, National President of American Mothers, Inc., member of
   Columbus (Ohio) 2nd Ward   (Church News, March 19, 1988, p. 5)

    Nephi taught that we must pray always:
         
         ...if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man
         to pray ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit
         teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not
         pray. 
         
         But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not
         faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save
         in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name
         of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee,
         that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul. 
         
         2 Nephi 32:8-9

    In Christ's Love,
    Rich

    King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon gave a powerful sermon at the
    end of his reign. Here is one of the gems from this sermon:
    
         And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn
         wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service
         of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your
         God.
         
         Mosiah 2:17
         
    May we all serve our fellow beings, and thus serve our God!
    

In a society that emphasizes self satisfaction, many are deserting
their families in pursuit of an elusive self-fulfillment, either in
their careers or through new and "more meaningful" relationships.
But, too often, selfishness dominates and one leaves behind the
richest opportunity for growth and eternal self-fulfillment--marriage
and family.  Only through love and understanding can ultimate self-
fulfillment be achieved.

-- Ensign, August 1987, back cover

Why deck the halls with your follies?

    Keeping the commandments sometimes requires faith:
    
         And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I
         will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for
         I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children
         of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may
         accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. 
    
         1 Nephi 3:7 

    Regards,
    Rich

    To please God, we must have faith:
        
         But without faith it is impossible to please him: for
         he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that
         he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
    
         Hebrews 11:6
         
    May we diligently seek him and receive his rewards!
    
    Rich
    

    
    
    
    "When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper
    place or drop out of our lives.  Our love of the Lord will govern
    the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests
    we pursue and the order of our priorities. "

        				President Ezra Taft Benson
	
    
    
    
    	I believe this to be true and have felt the effects of this
    wonderful illuminating principle in my life.  It seems we end up
    where our head is, in other words what we think about.  
    	I was raised on a farm and we had one particular cow that always
    seemed to end up in some neighbors pasture.  It while grazing it would
    start leaning through and against the fence to reach a particular 
    clump of grass a little farther out, then another a little farther 
    out and then another still a little farther out.  Without any 
    predetermined intention to escape it would suddenly find itself in the 
    next field.  My father would say that "that darn cow will end up where 
    ever it can just get its head to go".  
       I think I am like that (please, no cheap ones) cow in that I seem 
    to end up where ever my head goes.  I realized one day that there was 
    no way that I was ever going to "end up" some place that I spent zero 
    time thinking about.  Personal Scripture study on a daily basis has 
    helped me to at least see the pasture that my master wants me to be
    in.  Maybe if I reach just a little farther...
    
    
    -gary    

  -- Isabelle J. Hanson (Ensign, March 1981, p. 57)

It was a hot summer night in August, and my husband, Lynn, and our six children
were asleep in the car.  I had taken over driving just out of Rock Springs,
Wyoming, so that my husband might rest.  We could be at his parents' home by
midnight, he said, so it was best we go on.  We were en route to Idaho from
St. Louis, Missouri, where Lynn studied dentistry.

Soon after turning off Highway 30 and taking 30N toward Bear Lake, I came
to a detour sign that sent me to the right on a dirt road.  I drove for quite
some time, thinking I would soon see a sign to put me back on the main road.
But the road got rougher and rougher.  Suddenly out of the stillness came a
very clear voice: "Stop!"

I stepped on the brakes, and since I had been driving very slowly was able to
stop almost instantly.  Seven sleepy heads popped up to inquire: "Where are we?
What's the matter? Why did we stop here?"

All I could say was, "A voice told me to stop.  Something must be wrong."  My
husband took the flashlight and got out of the car--and found the front wheels
on the edge of a canal.

By this time I was shaking, so Lynn took the wheel and our older son guided him
back.  As we retraced our path, we noticed a very small sign that pointed the
way back to the main highway--so small I had missed it in the darkness.  Eight
heads bowed in grateful thanks.

Fast offerings: a place for the second mile...

My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of
his correction; For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth.

-- Proverbs 3:11-12

Look for the good things, not the faults.  It takes a good deal bigger-sized
brain to find out what is not wrong with people and things, than to find
out what is wrong.  The little man often actually rates his capacity by
the number of things he can find the matter.  The valuable fellow is the
one who finds what isn't the matter and gives it a pat on the back.

 -- Golden Nuggets of Thought, p. 17

A speck of dust may clog the works of a watch; mere stones derail the fastest
express; miserable little ship-worms sink the proudest schooner; Marine vermin
contrive to destroy the mightiest dikes.

But you would not dare to deduce therefrom that dust and boulders and crawfish
are superior to clock-makers, mechanics, shipwrights and engineers.

-- Golden Nuggets of Thought, p. 17

An inventor may file away for decades at a revolutionary device, but the same
rasp, in the grasp of a fool, can mangle his model in a dozen strokes.

-- Golden Nuggets of Thought, p. 17

I watched them tearing a building down,
A gang of men in a busy town,
With a ho-heave-ho and a lusty yell,
They swung a beam and a side wall fell.

I asked the foreman, "Are these men skilled?
And the men you'd hire if you had to build?"
He gave a laugh and said, "No indeed!
Just common labor is all I need."

"I can easily wreck in a day or two
What builders have taken a year to do."
And I thought to myself as I went my way,
Which of these roles have I tried to play?

Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by the rule and square?
Am I shaping my deeds to a well-made plan,
Patiently doing the best I can?
Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,
Content with the labor of tearing down?

-- Anonymous (Golden Nuggets of Thought, p. 20)

We should be lenient in our judgment, because often the mistakes of others
would have been ours had we had the opportunity to make them.

  -- Dr. Alsaker (Golden Nuggets of Thought, p. 25)

Life is a journey, not a camp.

-- Wilford A. Cardon (BYU School of Management, "Exchange", Spring 1988, p. 21)

                Somewhere there's a cure for every ill;
                Seek and you can find it if you will!
    
                Somewhere there's an answer to the prayer;
                That flashes from the darkness of despair!
    
                Somewhere there's a meaning to it all;
                So never doubt or let your spirits fall!
    
                Somewhere there is someone holding you;
                TRUST, and unseen hands will bring you through!
    
    
                May the Lord bless you...
                   David

I would rather be right than be president.

 -- Henry Clay

Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a
perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.  Wherefore, if
ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the
end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.

  -- 2 Nephi 31:20

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired
to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
         
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and
when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

  -- Luke 22:31-32

In all the rich legacy of gospel scholarship and teaching left by President
Marion G. Romney in his lifetime of service, a statement he made in general
conference 15 years ago rings with special meaning and authority today:

"The truth I desire to emphasize today is that mortals are in very deed the
literal offspring of God.  If men understood, believed, and accepted this
truth, our sick and dying society would be reformed and redeemed.

"Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints accept this
concept as a basic doctrine of their theology.  The lives of those who have
given it thought enough to realize its implications are controlled by it;
it gives meaning and direction to all their thoughts and deeds.

"The aspirations, desires, and motivations of one who accepts, believes, and
by the power of the Holy Spirit obtains a witness to the truth that he is a
begotten son or daughter unto God differs from the aspirations of him who
believes otherwise, as the growing vine differs from the severed branch."
(Conference Report, April 1973.)

That conviction has been the source of much of the progress of mankind.  From
it stems the belief that man is perfectible, that he is capable of governing
himself, that, indeed, he was endowed by his Creator with certain inalienable
rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That is the underlying belief that led such men as Thomas Jefferson and James
Madison to build a solid foundation for America's inspired system of
self-government, drawing on the work of men like John Locke and Thomas Hobbes
and on a gradually developing political philosophy reaching clear back to the
Magna Carta.  (Church News editorial, June 4, 1988)

Fast Offerings

A place for the Second Mile

By Larry E. Morris, Ensign, February, 1979

As a deacon in Salt Lake City pioneer days, Willard R. Smith was assigned
to gather the "fast" on his block.  His supervisor, Brother Peter Reid, had
the responsibility of seeing that the fast offerings were gathered and
offerings "in kind" were distributed to the needy.  He would call at Willard's
home every Friday night and tell Willard that the little express wagon
was dusted, oiled, and ready for the job.

Willard would visit every home on the block, members and nonmembers alike,
and offer them the opportunity to give something for the poor.

One particular Saturday Willard's football team had scheduled a game; and
he was eager to play.  He knew he was supposed to gather the fast, but, as
he later recalled, "I wanted more than anything else to play that game.  I
chose pleasure over duty and played football."

"Early the next morning Brother Reid knocked on our back door and asked
for me.  I was conscience stricken--I wanted to run and hide--but I faced
him, head down.  All he said was, 'Willard, do you have time to take a
little walk with me?'

"I went with him, first to a little frame house near the corner.  He gently
rapped on the door; a poor, little, thin lady answered it.
"'Brother Reid,' she said, 'we didn't get our food yesterday and we haven't
a thing in the house to eat.'

"'I'm sorry,' Brother Reid said, "but I'm sure we'll have something for you
before the close of the day.'

"We went to another door.  In response to our knock a voice called for us
to come in.

"We entered to find an aged man and his wife in bed.  'Brother Reid,' he
said, 'We are without coal, and we have to stay in bed to keep warm.'

"In another house we were greeted by a mother with her small children
huddled together.  The baby was crying and the other children had
tear-stained faces.

"That was enough!  As we parted Brother Reid said gently, 'Willard, whenever
anybody fails to do his duty, someone suffers.'

"I was about to cry--overwhelmed by my neglect of duty.  He laid his hand
on my shoulder and left.  Those people had their food and coal early that
afternoon--and I learned a most valuable lesson."

One Shovelful of Coal

By Marjorie A. McCormick

Ensign, October 1979, p. 49

World War II had been over for almost two years, but we were still on rations.

It was February 1947, one of the hardest winters anyone could remember.  Our
home town of Bradford, Yorkshire, England, was the coldest spot in the
nation, and it had snowed off and on for six weeks.

By now the drifted snow was higher than our heads--that meant no cart could
reach us to deliver our ration of coal.  And we were running low.

There were six of us living together that winter--my husband and I, our two
children, a young man who had been turned out of his own home when he joined
the Church, and a woman whose daughter was serving a mission.  We did our best
to keep warm, but we were almost out of fuel and we only had electricity at
certain hours during the day.  (Most of our power stations had been badly
bombed during the war.)

It was Saturday when my husband went down to the cellar and carefully sifted
the coal from the dust.  All that remained was one shovelful of coal and a few
cans of coal dust.

At church the next day, we received a shopping bag full of wood.  The elders
had sawed the wood from old railroad ties and stored it in the basement of
the church.  With this wood and our little pile of coal, we had fuel enough
for one more day.

That evening we knelt in prayer and asked the Lord to help us.  As we prayed
our helpleness gave way to a sense of peace.  When we went to bed, we felt
content to leave the situation in the Lord's hands.

On Monday morning I put some wood, a can of dust, and the remaining coal into
the fireplace.  Then I waited until afternoon to start the fire--I wanted the
house to be as warm as possible when the children got home from school.

The fire lasted until nine or ten that night.  We were amazed to discover that
all six of us kept warm and comfortable from the one little fire through the
entire evening.  My husband added a can of dust and one log, but that was all.

The next morning I cleaned out the fireplace and began to lay paper and wood
as I had the day before.  Then I plucked up my courage and faith and went
down to the cellar.  Not knowing quite what to expect, I opened the door.
There in the same corner where it had been yesterday, was a stack of coal
that looked just like the coal we had burned the night before.  I had the
strangest feeling--had an angel brought it?  I had no answer for my question,
but I reverently scooped up the coal and took it upstairs.

How grateful we were that night for our miraculous fire.  Our prayers were
prayers of appreciation and praise.

The next morning when I went down to the cellar I found another stack of coal
in the same corner.  It was just enough.  This miracle occurred every day
that week until Saturday.  By that time my husband felt that the snow had
melted enough so that he would finally be able to get us some coal.

He took the children's sled, and as soon as he left I went down to the cellar.
As soon as I saw the corner I knew that he would bring back some coal; there
was no coal in the cellar.

Later that day my husband brought back two lovely hundredweight sacks of
coal.

I still have no explanation for this incident.  All I know is that it did
happen and six of us witnessed it.  And we know that God lives and answers
prayers.

Patience is a necessary ingredient of genius.

 -- Benj. Disraeli

Kind words can never die.

  -- Emily Christensen (Christensen family singers, about 1850)

"All the water in the seven seas cannot sink a ship if none gets inside."

"Before the word is spoken you must govern it.  After it is spoken it will
govern you."

Suppose a neighbor has gone wrong?
     Think before you speak!
Each life must have some saddened song,
     Think before you speak!
You may have a grief some day
That will lead your feet astray;
Then you'll bless the tongues that say
     "Think before you speak!"

A neighbor's boy has "got in bad"--
     Think before you speak!
Recall his loved ones, shamed and sad,
     Think before you speak!
Some day your own son may fall;
     Think before you speak!
Scorn may push him to the wall;
Then your heart will fill with gall--
     Think before you speak!


If some poor girl has slipped in woe,
     Think before you speak!
Say no harsh word to weight the blow.
     Think before you speak!
Scarlet letters yet may be
Hung upon your family tree;
Let us all have charity--
     Think before you speak!

  -- David V. Bush

This was given to me by a man named David Morrell at the MTC in
Provo, March 1979.  I don't know who the author was--it may actually
have been bro. Morrell.  I have long since lost the only copy of it
that I had, so some of the words below may not be those in the original.
This poem has often boosted my spirits.  I hope you enjoy it.



	Camp three thirty-two, the Captain came through;
		he was wearing insignia bright.
	"Men," he declared, "we must be prepared
		to conquer the enemy's fight!"

	With a towering glare and a heart without care
		he said, "Men, I would like you to hear."
	"Soldier," he said, "get this into your head:
		get rid of your cowardly fear."

	So night after night they prepared for the fight
		at the feet of the militant man,
	Till the soldiers were ready, their spirits were steady
		and every man's thought was "I CAN!"

	Well, the time finally came and name after name
		was read for the march of the day.
	It was then that was heard the cowardly word:
		"The captain is going to stay."

	Well they left for their trek and were dressed to the neck
		in attire designed for a fight.
	But the hearts of the legion who marched through the region
		were back in the camp in the night.

	You see, as they went, they thought of the tent
		of the cowardly captain who stayed;
	Who wouldn't go through what he told them to do
		because he was really afraid.

	He easily told the men to be bold,
		to have courage for strength in a fight.
	But he was the man, when the battle began,
		who hid in the dark of the night.


	Then there was one who walked in the sun
		of the Galilee country of old.
	A teacher was he as he walked by the sea,
		for his words, with his actions, were bold.

	"Men," he declared, "we must be prepared
		to conquer the enemy's fight."
	Then he went in the power of prayer to the hills,
		and he prayed for the rest of the night.

	The words that he taught with wisdom were fraught:
		"'Tis far more blessed to give!"
	Then by his example, his teaching was ample
		to show men how better to live.

	"Come, follow me," was his conquering plea.
		"We must not give up the fight!"
	"Thy will, O Father, not mine, be done."
		And they follow in spirit and might!

	The Master Teacher wasn't a preacher
		who hid in a camp in a tent.
	He was the one who showed how it was done;
		He said, "Come, follow me," and he went.

"Hell is the knowledge of opportunity lost --
the place where the man I am comes face to face with the man I might
have been."

Heaven is not gained at a single bound;
But we must build the ladder by which we rise 
From lowly earth to vaulted skies,
And we mount to its summit, round by round.

 -- J. G. Holland

Heaven's gates are not so highly arched as princes' palaces; they that enter
there must go upon their knees.

 -- Daniel Webster

My word shall always be as good as my bond.

 -- Dr. Karl G. Maeser

He that cheats another is a knave; but he that cheats himself is a fool.

 -- Dr. Maeser

For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that
is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant;
wherefore he receiveth no reward.

Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many
things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;

For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves.  And
inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.
(D & C 58:26-28)

Dost thou love life: Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life
is made of.

 -- Benjamin Franklin

"When you stop rowing, you start downstream."

"Improve time, and time will improve you"

Sloth makes all things difficult; but Industry, all easy; and he that
rises late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business
at night; while Laziness travels so slowly that Poverty soon overtakes
him.

 -- Franklin

It is better to err on the side of initiative than inactivity.

 -- B. C. Forbes

Some folks are like row-boats, for they have to be pulled wherever they go.
Others are like sail-boats.  If the wind blows east, that's their direction.
Still others are like power-boats who drive against the wind or tide and, in
the face of great difficulties, keep their even course.

Which will you try to be like?

 -- Saturday Morning Review

We should be lenient in our judgment because often the mistakes of others
would have been ours had we had the opportunity to make them.

 -- Dr. Alsaker

Don't expect to enjoy the cream of life if you keep your milk of human
kindness all bottled up.

 -- Golden Nuggets of Thought

Thanks for the smile you gave me today.
You'll never know how it paved my way with joy.
How it made everything right.
Thanks.  Now, I'm not afraid of the night.

Thanks for the kind word.
I didn't tell you,
But I held it close the long day through.
Your kind words made me brave in a trial.
Thanks for your kindness.
Thanks for your smile.

 -- Fraces Angermayer

Just a little act of kindness,
Just a little word of cheer,
Help to make our living pleasant,
Minimize both doubt and fear.

Jesus said "Be meek and lowly,"
And He governs men with love,
Just as God, our Heavenly Father,
Governs in that Court above.

Jesus never hurt the feelings
Of a person, great or small;
Always He was kind and friendly--
We're assured He loves us all.

All the world is now in turmoil
Caused by gross unfriendliness.
Peace will follow Christian living--
Be the watchword Kindliness.

 -- Lizzie O. Borgeson White

"If wisdom's way you wisely seek
Five things observe with care--
Of whom you speak, to whom you speak,
And how and when and where!"

"The desire for knowledge, like the thirst for riches, increases with the
acquisition of it."

"Better to weep with the wise than laugh with the foolish"

"Life is a measure to be filled--not a cup to be drained."

"Keep the body you live in clean and pure from every stain."

 -- The Human Culture Digest

"Let each day be one of doing.  Idle moments are seeds of death."

 -- The Human Culture Digest

"Strong minds and strong bodies require work as well as rest"

 -- The Human Culture Digest

"Let your mind be chaste and pure.  An evil mind makes vice and crime"

 -- The Human Culture Digest

"Honest thinking and noble deeds build a character grand, sublime"

 -- The Human Culture Digest

"Let each hour be full of sunshine.  Pleasure comes from doing good."

 -- The Human Culture Digest

"Life is full of happy moments when life's aim is understood"

 -- The Human Culture Digest

"Life is not complex if you walk straight"

"What the future has in store for you depends in large measure on what you
place in store for the future"

"If the end of life is to enjoy life, then we should so live that enjoyment
will be possible to the end"

                       What is Life to you?

                  To the soldier life's a battle
                    To the teacher life's a school.
                  Life's a "good thing" for the grafter;
                    It's a failure to the fool.
                  To the man upon the engine
                    Life's a long and heavy grade;
                  It's a gamble to the gambler;
                    To the merchant it's a trade.
                  Life's a picture to the artist;
                    To the rascal life's a fraud;
                  Life perhaps, is but a burden
                    To the man beneath the hod.
                  Life is lovely to the lover;
                    To the player life's a play;
                  Life may be a load of trouble
                    To the man upon the dray.
                  Life is but a long vacation
                    to the man who loves his work.
                  Life's an everlasting effort
                    To the ones who like to shirk.
                  To the ernest Christian worker
                    Life's a story ever new.
                  Life is what we try to make it,
                    Brother, What is Life to You?

                                      -- Anonymous

I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say,
ye have no promise.

 -- D&C 82:10

Our patriarchal blessings are paragraphs from the book of our possibilities.

 -- Dr. Maeser

Children respond to positive reinforcement and are apt to learn good
behavior when they feel loved and needed.

 -- Tina Nokes, 'Ensign', June 1988, p. 13

"Life is what you make of it"

I should never have made my success in life if I had not bestowed upon the
least thing I have ever undertaken, the same attention and care that I have
bestowed upon the greatest.

 -- Dickens

Great occasions do not make heros or cowards; they only unveil them to the
eyes of men.  Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow
strong or weak; and at last some crisis shows us what we have become.

 -- Cannon Westcot

The best man is he who most tries to perfect himself, and the happiest man
is he who most feels that he is perfecting himself.

 -- Socrates

The wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.

 -- Bacon

Patience is a necessary ingredient of genius.

 -- Benj. Disraeli

A man without patience is a lamp without oil.

 -- de Musset

"Patience is waiting.  Not passively waiting.  That is laziness.  But to
keep going when the going is hard and slow--that is patience."

When hands join hands around the world,
    To form the friendship chain of peace,
The flag of love will be unfurled
    And aching hearts will find release.

 -- Remelda Nielsen Gibson

"Prayer is the passport to spiritual power"

So weak is man--so ignorant and blind, that did not God sometimes withold
in mercy what we ask, we should be ruined at our own request.

 -- Hannah More

All our prayers are addressed in the handwriting of the heart, readable to
God and ourselves only.

 -- Dr. Maeser

Speak to Him, thou, for He hears
  And spirit with spirit may meet.
Closer is He than breathing
  And nearer than hands and feet.

 -- Tennyson

He prayeth best, who loveth best
  All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
  He made and loveth all.

 -- Coleridge

Father let my voice be heard,
Not in anger rashly stirred.
Bless thy children whom I meet.
Let thy Gospel keep them sweet,
As I travel forth each day,
Be thou with me all the way.
Good to others let me do;
Virtue, peace, and joy pursue.

 -- T. R. Bray

Lord, keep my heart from breaking,
  Though life robs me of my all;
Let me know that Thou are waiting,
  Ever near me when I call.

Lord, let not my heart grow bitter,
  Though in sorrow I must walk;
Let me look beyond the shadows,
  Make me deaf when others mock.

 -- Arila B. Wilson

We ask for strength and God gives us
  difficulties which make us strong.
We pray for wisdom and God sends us problems,
  the solution of which develops wisdom.
We plead for prosperity and God gives
  us brain and brawn to work.
We plead for courage and God gives
  us dangers to overcome.
we ask for favors--God gives us 
  Opportunities.

This is the answer.

 -- Anonymous

Prayer is a force as real as terrestrial gravity.  As a physician I have seen
men, after all other therapy had failed, lifted out of disease and melancholy
by the serene effort of prayer.  It is the only power in the world that seems
to overcome the so-called "laws of nature."  The occasions on which prayer
has dramatically done this have been termed "miracles."  But a constant
quieter miracle takes place hourly in the hearts of men and women who have
discovered that prayer supplies them with a steady flow of sustaining power
in their daily lives.

 -- Alexis Carrel, M.D.

"'Coincidences' are God's way of doing miracles for which He wishes to
remain anonymous." 

                                 -originator unknown

My words fly up; my thoughts remain below.
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.

 -- Shakespeare

When a person tells an unclean story he imbeds impurity deeper in his own
mind; he breaks down his own resistance to evil; he talks himself into the
idea that the smutty thing he talks about isn't so bad after all, and he
narrows the breach between the unclean thought and the unclean deed.  He sets
up an acceptance in his own mind of the type of filth he discusses and lays
a foundation for sinful acts.  He builds a barrier against his own reception
of the Spirit of God and its guidance.

 -- Church News, editorial

Purity in person and in morals is true godliness.

 -- Hosea Ballou

    	"If you think you are beaten, you are,
    		If you think you dare not, you don't.
    	If you like to win, but you think you can't,
    		It is almost certain you won't.
    
    	"If you think you'll lose, you're lost,
    		For out in the world we find,
    	Success begins with a fellow's will-
    		It's all in the state of mind.
    
    	"If you think you are outclassed, you are,
    		You've got to think high to rise,
    	You've got to be sure of yourself before
    		You can ever win a prize.
                                        
    	"Life's battles don't always go
    		to the stronger or faster man,
    	But soon or late the man who wins
    		Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN !"
    

           -- from 'Think and Grow Rich', by Napoleon Hill.

I pray Thee, O God, that I may be beautiful within.

 -- Socrates

When someone blushes with embarrassment.
When some heart carries away an ache.
When something sacred is made to appear common.
When a person's weakness provides the cause for laughter.
When profanity is required to make it funny.
When a little child is brought to tears.
When everyone can't join in the laughter.

 -- Exchange

God leaves that to you, you're the writer,
  And never one word shall grow dim;
Till some day you write the word "finis,"
  And give back your life book to Him:

 -- Adrian Klinger

Every thought, every word, every deed makes its record on the tablets of the
soul.  That record is an undeniable picture of what we are.

  -- E. L. M.

Men must be governed by God, or they will be ruled by tyrants.

 -- William Penn

"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.  This expresses my idea
 of democracy.  Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is
 no democracy." 
                                   ---Abraham Lincoln

"There is no pleasure in life equal to that of the conquest of a vicious habit"

You don't have to tell how you live each day;
You don't have to say if you work or you play;
A tried, true barometer serves in the place,
However you live, it will show in your face.

The false, the deceit that you bear in your heart
Will not stay inside where it first got a start;
For sinew and blood are a thin veil of lace--
What you wear in your heart, you wear in your face.

If your life is unselfish, if for others you live.
For not what you get, but how much you can give;
If you live close to God in His infinite grace--
You don't have to tell it, it shows in your face.

 -- Anonymous

Of all acts is not repentance most divine?
The greatest of faults is to be conscious of none.

 -- Carlyle

"Suppose," said I, "You chanced to see
A small boy tumble from a tree,
How would you tell that tale to me?"

"Why, dad," said he, "I'd simply say
I saw a boy get hurt today
And two men carried him away."

"How many injured would there be?"
I asked.  "Just one, of course," said he
"The boy who tumbled from the tree."

"No, no," I answered him, "That fall 
Which hurt the lad, brought pain to all
Who knew and loved that youngster small.

"His mother wept, his father sighed,
His brothers and his sisters cried,
And all his friends were hurt inside.

"Remember this your whole life through--
Whatever hurts may come to you
Must hurt all who love you, too.

"You cannot live your life alone,
We suffer with your slightest groan,
And make your pain or grief our own.

"If you should do one shameful thing,
You could not bear alone the sting,
We'd spend our years in suffering.

"How many hurt, we cannot state,
There never falls a blow of fate,
But countless people feel its weight."

 -- From "The Foreman"

"Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how
 to be, I learned in kindergarten.  Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate
 school mountain, but there in the sandbox.  These are the things I learned:
 Share everything.  Play fair.  Don't hit people.  Put things back where you
 found them.  Clean up your own mess.  Don't take things that aren't yours.  
 Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.  Wash your hands before you eat." 

 -- Robert Fulghum

Not Alone    
    
In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have
    overcome the world.
    
    from John 16:33
    
        
    

    If thou be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and
    the sentence of death passed upon thee,
    If thou be cast into the deep
    If the billowing surge conspire against thee
    If fierce winds become thine enemy
    If the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to
    hedge up the way
    And above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth
    wide after thee
    Know thou my son that all these things shall be for thy good and
    shall give thee experience.
    
    D&C 122:?

It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good,
too, to check up once in a while and make sure you haven't lost the things
that money can't buy.

 -- George Horace Latimer

Seek not for riches but for wisdom; and, behold, the mysteries of God shall
be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich.  Behold, he that
hath eternal life is rich.

 -- D & C 11:7

A sabbath well spent
Brings a week of content
   And health for the joys of tomorrow.
But a Sabbath profaned
Whatever be gained
   Is a sure forerunner of sorrow.

 -- Matthew Hale

And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou
shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy
day; For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors,
and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High.

 -- D & C 59:9-10

There is a destiny that makes us brothers;
  None goes his way alone;
All that we send into the lives of others
  Comes back into our own.

 -- Edwin Markham

What do we live for if not to make life less difficult for others?

 -- George Eliot

The Lord one day had a job for me,
  But I had so much to do;
So I said, "Please Lord, get somebody else,
  Or, wait till I get through."

I don't know how the Lord came out,
  But He seemed to get along;
But I felt a kind of sneaking like,
  And knowed I'd done Him wrong.

One day I needed the Lord myself,
  Needed Him right away;
But He never answered me at all--
  But yet I could hear Him say,

Away down in my accusing heart,
  "I've got so much to do--
You get somebody else this time,
  Or wait till I get through."

Now when the Lord has a job for me,
  I never try to shirk;
I drop whatever I have on hand,
  And do the good Lord's work.

And my affairs can run along,
  Or wait till I get through;
For nobody else can do the job
  That the Lord has marked out for you.

 -- Paul L. Dunbar

If we can render charity and peace,
To those who suffer mind or body pain,
And comfort those whose mourning does not cease,
Our efforts here shall not have been in vain.

 -- Virginia Christopherson

He doeth well who doeth good
To those of his own brotherhood;
He doeth better who doth bless
The stranger in his wretchedness;
Yet best, oh! best of all doth he
Who helps a fallen enemy.

 -- Unknown

The first and best victory is to conquer self; to be conquered by self is
of all things most shameful and vile.

 -- Plato

The lives of people who have been always growing are strewed along their whole
course with the things they have learned to do without.

 -- Phillips Brooks

Self-control is the only sure evidence of personal courage; it is the only
means through which personal powers of endurance and thought may be centered
upon any object; it is the only possible way to maintain confidence and
secure the confidence of one's group.

 -- C. M. C.

Let your needs rule you--pamper them and you will see them multiply like
insects in the sun.  The more you give them the more they demand.

 -- Wagner

    			<The Monument> 
    
    				
                        God,
    			Before He sent His children to earth
    			Gave each of them 
    			A very carefully selected package
    			Of problems.
    
    			These,
    			He promised, smiling,
    			Are yours alone. No one
    			Else may have the blessings
                        These problems will bring you.
    
    			And only you
    			Have the special talents and abilities
    			That will be needed
                        To make these problems
    			Your servants.
    
    			Now go down to your birth
                        And to your forgetfulness. Know that
    			I love you beyond measure.
    			These problems that I give you
    			Are a symbol of that love.
    
    			The monument you make of your life
    			With the help of your problems
    			Will be a symbol of your
    			Love for me,
    			Your Father.
    
    
    			- Blaine M. Yorgason 

It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.

 -- Ben Franklin

He who finds pleasure in vice and pain in virtue, is still a novice in both.

 -- Chinese Proverb

Vice is a monster of so frightful mien
As to be hated, needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

 -- Pope

Sin first is pleasing, then it grows easy, then delightful, then frequent,
then habitual, then confirmed; then the person is impenitent, then he or she
is obstinate, then he or she is resolved never to repent, then he or she is
runined.

 -- Leighton

Thou must be true to thyself if thou the
  truth would teach
Thy soul must overflow, if thou another's 
  soul would reach.
It needs the overflow of heart to give the
  lips full speech.

 -- Boner

Sincerity is religion personified.

 -- Chapin

The only conclusive evidence of a person's sincerity is that he or she gives
himself for a principle.  Words, money, all things else, are comparatively
easy to give away; but when a person makes a gift of his or her daily life and
practice, it is plain that the truth, whatever it may be, has taken possession
of that person.

 -- Lowell

Sincerity is to speak as we think, to do as we pretend and profess, to
perform and make good what we promise, and really to be what we would seem
and appear to be.

 -- Tillotson

    		"Friendship is the inexpressible comfort
    		 of feeling safe with a person;
    		 Having neither to weigh thoughts nor
    		 measure words!
    
    
    				- author unknown - 

The wild oats we sow sprout early and grow fast and soon send their roots
into the spinal column, until by and by we find ourselves grown through
and through.

 -- Anon.

    Ask not what your country can do for you.  Rather, ask what you
    can do for your country.
    
    					- John F. Kennedy
    
    Well, I hope I quoted it right, anyway.  These words have been ringing
    in my ears of late.  It contrasts with a prevailing attitude reflected
    by such as the attention being given to the Pennsylvania lottery of
    late and to state lotteries in general.  His words smack of inpiration
    applicable today as well as a quarter of a century ago.  
    
    Steve

I cannot see the far off starlit scene
  That the outside curtins of space confine,
But when my spirit is fine and serene
  I can see the infinite smile benign.

I do not know how suns were wrought from dust
  By the cosmic power's eternal swirl,
But when I look up and sincerely trust,
  My soul finds rest in life's maddening whirl.

I cannot measure time's unending way
  Or guage its dizzy sweep o'er star and sod,
But when Christ's spirit in my heart holds sway
  I feel the ever beating heart of God.

 -- Nephi Jensen

"If you will pull up a doubt you will generally find a sin at the root of it."

 -- Anon.

If wrinkles must be written upon the brow, let them not be written upon the
heart.  The spirit should never grow old.

 -- James A. Garfield

However things may seem, no evil thing is success and no good thing is failure.

 -- Longfellow

"The person who can laugh with life has developed deep roots with confidence
 and faith--faith in oneself, in people and in the world, as contrasted to 
 negative ideas with distrust and discouragement."
                                                    ---Democritus

Success is never found on top of the hill if the duties at the foot are
neglected.

 -- Eva Arrington

You will find the key to success under the alarm clock.

 -- Franklin

"Honesty is the cornerstone of character.  The honest man or woman seeks not
 merely to avoid criminal or illegal acts, but to be scrupulously fair, upright,
 fearless in both action and expression.  Honesty pays dividends both in dollars
 and in peace of mind."
                            ---B.C. Forbes

Heard in a Nashua NH Stake priesthood meeting recently:

"If you want to help somebody, don't just be a stretcher-bearer at the 
bottom of the cliff. Build better guard-rails!"

-Bishop Zolio 

"Some folks fall into fortune; but nobody ever yet fell into success."

 -- Anon.

"Nothing can stop persons with the right mental attitude from achieving their
 goal; nothing on earth can help the person with the wrong mental attitude."

                                               ---W. W. Ziege

"It is impossible to live without brains, either one's own or borrowed."

                                              ---Baltasar Gracian


   (i.e. read the scriptures & other good books)

                        Finishers wanted: are you one?

                           (Pres. Monson, 'Ensign)

    My favorite quote from that article is:
    
    	"Vision without effort is daydreaming; effort without vision
         is drudgery; but vision, coupled with effort, will obtain the
         prize."                           
                                  --Thomas S. Monson
    
    Dave

To succeed you must love your work and those you work with.

 -- John P. Lillywhite

    			What is courage?
    			Courage is not just
    			To bare one's bosom to the sabre-thrust
    			Alone, in the daring.
    
    			Courage is to grieve,
    			To have the hurt and make 
    			The world believe
    			You are not caring.
    
    			Courage does not lie
    			Alone in dying for a cause.
    			To die
    			Is only giving.
    
    			Courage is to feel
    			The daily daggers 
                        Of relentless steel
                        And keep on living.
    
    					- Anonymous -

And, though men will argue against your doctrine and creed and your church,
all men will stand at attention and pay homage when they see the Christ-spirit
manifest in you.

 -- John P. Lillywhite

Hope makes one a true optimist.  Hope, as an anchor of the soul, keeps it
steadfast amid all the storms and temptations of life.

 -- John P. Lillywhite

To be in the service of the Master is to be, not in the easiest, but in the
noblest work in all the world.

 -- John P. Lillywhite

    It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and
    goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person
    you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now,
    you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a
    corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.
    All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or
    other of these destinations.
    
    C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

"Prayer is the Golden Key that unlocks the door to heaven and admits one
to the throne of Grace."

 -- John P. Lillywhite

    
 Scott -
    
     Here ya go. I had posted this to ASKENET earlier. 
     I just read your note today, sorry.
    
     I thought this Conference was moving to GALOIS. What's the deal?
    
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Note 465.5                      Looking for Poem                          5 of 6
ATLAST::DROWN                                        45 lines  20-APR-1988 08:09
                      -< THE TOUCH OF THE MASTER'S HAND >-
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                        THE TOUCH OF THE MASTER'S HAND

                               - Myra B. Welch

Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer,
Thought it scarcely worth his while to waste more time
With the old violin. But he held it up with a smile.
'What am I bid, good folks', he cried,
'Who'll start the bidding for me?
A dollar, a dollar', then 'Two!' 'Only two?
Two dollars and who'll make it three?
Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three'
But no.
From the room far back, a gray-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow.
Then wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loose strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet
As sweet as a caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer
In a voice that was quiet and low,
Said 'What am I bid for the old violin?'
And he held it up with the bow.
'A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?'
'Two thousand!' 'And who'll make it three?'
'Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
And going and gone!' said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
'We do not quite understand.
What changed its worth?' Swift came the reply,
'The touch of the master's hand.'

And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.
A mess of pottage, a glass of wine
A game - and he travels on.
He's 'going once' and 'going twice'
He's going and almost gone.
But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd,
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul, and the change that is wrought
By the touch of the Master's hand.

"The darkest hour in any man's life is when he sits down to plan how to
 get money without earning it."

  --Horace Greeley

    re:170
    
    Hmmm. It would appear then, that alot of us at DEC are in deep
    trouble. :)
    
    Charlie

After a journey of more than 4 billion miles and 12 years Voyager 2 was
within 20 miles of its ideal path past the planet Neptune..."a little better
than hitting a golf ball in Boston and having it roll straight into the cup
in Los Angeles."  
                                               ---Boston Globe, 8/23/89

Oh, that we could do as well in our search for Eternal Life!

    Sin has many different tools, a lie is the handle that fits them
    all.

    The person who does not read is no better off than the person who
    cannot read.

"Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers."
                                       ---As read off the wall of the
					  Library of Congress...

"A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit."
                                                             ---Milton

"Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort."

                                                            ---John Ruskin

    This quote comes from a song called "Living Dangerously in the Hands
    of God" by Steve Camp:
    
    	There's safety in complacency, but God is calling us out of
    	our comfort zones into a life of complete surrender to the cross.
    	To live dangerously is not to live recklessly, but righteously,
    	and it is because of God's radical grace for us that we can
    	risk living a life of radical obedience for Him.

		He drew a circle that shut me out--
		Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
		But Love and I had the wit to win:
		We drew a circle that took him in.

                    -- Church News

   "Success is simple.  Do what's right, the right way, at the right time."

                                                              ---Arnold Glasow

                         That is, do it the Lord's way!

"Heads are wisest when they are cool, and hearts are strongest when they
 beat in response to noble ideals."
                                           ---Ralph Bunche

		   DIFFERENT  DRUMS  AND  DIFFERENT  DRUMMERS



	    If I do not want what you want, please try not to tell me

	that my want is wrong.


	    Or if I believe other than you, at least pause before you

	correct my view.


	    Or if my emotion is less than yours, or more, given the same

	circumstances, try not to ask me to feel more strongly or weakly.


	    Or yet if I act, or fail to act, in the manner of your design

	for action, let me be.


	   I do not, for the moment at least, ask you to understand me.

	That will come only when you are willing to give up changing me

	into a copy of you.


	    I may be your spouse, your parent, your offspring, your friend,

	or your colleague.   If you will allow me any of my own wants, or

	emotions, or beliefs, or actions, then you open yourself so that

	some day these ways of mine might not seem so wrong, and might

	finally appear to you as right - for me.  To put up with me is the

	first step to understanding me.  Not that you embrace my ways as

	right for you, but that you are no longer irritated or disappointed

	with me for my seeming waywardness.  And in understanding me you

	might come to prize my differences from you, and, far from seeking

	to change me, preserve and even nurture those differences.

"Thanks to the interstate highway system, it is now possible to travel
 across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything."

                                                    ---Charles Kuralt

Let's hope our reading of the scriptures isn't line an interstate
highway!

"An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while the pessimist 
 sees only the red stoplight...The truly wise person is colorblind."

                                                       ---Albert Schweitzer

"Announced by all the trumpets of the sky.  Arrives the snow."
 
                                                       ---Ralph Waldo Emerson

Someday the trumpets of the sky will announce the arrival of our Lord.

During this Christmas season, may we focus on people not on objects.

(New Era magazine, December 1989)

    May we focus on people all year long,and,especially our children.
    
    Peace
    Michael
    

"It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in
 the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it."

                                                           ---John Steinbeck

	"The stuff out of which offense is made is all around us,
	 if we wish to seize upon it." (120)

				Neal A. Maxwell
				"All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience"

"Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects."
                                                     ---Arnold Glasow

    He who laughs, lasts.

    President Spencer W. Kimball taught that the most important word
    in the dictionary could be "remember".
    
    He said, "I suppose there would never be an apostate, there would 
    never be a crime, if people remembered, really remembered, the 
    things they had covenanted at the water's edge or at the 
    sacrament table and in the temple.  I suppose that is the reason
    the Lord asked Adam to offer sacrifices, for no other reason than
    that he and his posterity would remember - remember the basic things
    that they had been taught.  I guess we as humans are prone to forget.
    It is easy to forget.  Our sorrows, our joys, our concerns, our
    great problems seem to wane to some extent as time goes on, and
    there are many lessons that we learn which have a tendency to slip
    from us."
    
    Charles Dickens, in *The Haunted Man*, had a character remark that
    she had always thought there would be a good and blessed reason
    to remember a wrong done to us by a brother or sister, and that
    reason would be that we might forgive.

    It is no easy thing for a principle to become a man's own unless
    each day he maintain it and work it out in his life.
    
    Epictetus

    The giver is only a channel for the gifts he has received from God.
    He cannot hoard or withhold them without blocking the channel.
    
    - Unknown

    It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.
    
    Psalms 18:32

    	The following is reprinted without permission from "Dear Abby" in 
    	the Arizona Republic 1/22/90.
    
    	DEAR ABBY: Thank you for your answer to ASHAMED - the hot-tempered
    	mother of five who lost her temper and then regretted it.
    
    	You said: "There is not a mother alive who has not done or said
    	something in anger; words can cut as sharply as a knife.
    
    	I am a Pediatrician, and also a mother of three children. I 
    	appreciate your pointing out the universality of anger, and 
    	especially stating that words can hurt as much as physical 
    	abuse.
    	
    	Whenever I hear a mother say to her child, "You are bad!" no
    	matter how busy I am, I always take time to explain, "Your
    	child trusts you and believes you - so never tell him that he
    	is bad, or clumsy, or anything that will make him feel 
    	inferior. Tell him that he is good, but he sometimes may do
    	something bad."
    
    	May I add a suggestion to your list of things a parent may
    	do as an alternative to hitting a child? SAY A LITTLE PRAYER.
    	(emphasis mine - dp) If you believe as I do that every child
    	is a child of God, you will know that God cares about you and
    	will help you parent your child. He knows your stresses and
    	can help you handle your feelings of anger so that they do
    	not erupt into violent words or acts.
    
    					Kathryn H. Lewis, M.D.
    
    	DEAR DR. LEWIS: Thank you for a valuable addition. Now, why 
    	in heavens name didn't I think of that?

      "What lies behind us or what lies ahead of us means very little
       compared to what lies within us."
   
						Olvier Windall Holmes 

    "All things work out for the best  -  whether we want them to or not"
    
    
    						Frank Willoughby

"Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, 
 sympathetic with the striving & tolerant of the weak & the wrong.
 Sometime in life you will have been all of these."
                                                        ---Lloyd Shearer 

    
    A bit unusual, but here goes.
    
    "You can't judge God by the people who claim to hang aroun Him."
    
    Heard on a talk show on WSB radio in Atlanta.
    

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not
 sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."

                                                       ---Anne Bradstreet

                               Keep trying!

                               Hang in there!

                               God loves you!

                               You are important!

    
    			H A P P Y   E A S T E R   T O   A L L !
     
    
    I would like to wish all of you a Happy Easter.  
    
    May we all use this special time to reflect on the true meaning of
    the Atonement and what it means to us in our lives.
    
    
    God bless you all,
    
    Frank
    

    I can't attribute this properly or vouch for the wording as exact,
    but about a year ago, in _Reader's Digest_ (perhaps in "Points to
    Ponder") I read of an elderly woman who was very poor, and whose life
    was not easy, but who remained optimistic.  When asked why, she
    said,  "Yes, I have troubles.  But a long time ago there was the
    worst day in the world - the day Jesus died.  Then three days later
    there came the best day in the world - when he rose from the dead!
    So when I have a trouble, I tell myself that I can wait three days,
    and, you know, things always get better."
                  
    

                               Yep, its true!

                                 God lives!

    We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.
    
    Max De Pree, _Leadership Is an Art_ (Doubleday)

    When you reread a classic you do not see more in the book than you
    did before; you see more in *you* than was there before.
    
    Clifton Fadiman
    
    Scriptures, too!
    
    aq
     

    Farther than arrows, higher than wings fly poet's song and prophet's
    words.
    
    Inscription on the Brooklyn Public Library
    
    
    A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to
    say.
    
    Clifton Fadiman
    
    
    A book in the hand is worth two on the shelf.
    
    Henry T. Coutts
    
    
    It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read,
    we can live as many more lives and kinds of lives as we wish.
    
    S. I. Hayakawa
    
    
    A book, tight shut, is but a block of paper.
    
    Chinese Proverb
    
    
    No one ever really paid the price of a book - only the price of
    printing it.
    
    Louis I. Kahn
    
    
    Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them
    at all.                          
    
    Henry David Thoreau
    
    
    All right, brethren (if any have bothered to read this far), I admit
    it - I can't remember the scripture that tells us to teach one another
    out of the best books...
    
    aq
    

    re: -.1 D&C 88:118, 90:15.
    
    Steve

    I finally stirred my teen-ager (and until today I had thought that 
    she would be first up if Gabriel would use the sound of the phone instead
    of the last trump!) and she looked up 'book' in the Topical Guide and 
    read the following reference to me:                                    
    
    Doctrine and Covenants 88:118
    
    And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another
    words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom;
    seek learning, even by study and also by faith.
           
    Credit to Steve (and my teen-ager again) for the following reference: 
    
    Doctrine and Covenants 90:15
    
    And set in order the churches, and study and learn, and become
    acquainted with all good books, and with languages, tongues, and
    people.
                                             
    
    aq
    

    Awwww ... maybe next time!  ;)
    
    Steve

"Many of us spend half our time wishing for things we could have if we
 didn't spend half our time wishing."
                                         ---Alexander Woollcott

                 If your ship doesn't come, swim out to it!

                     -- Readers Digest (forgotten the author of it)

	How to make a Happy Home - taken from D & C 88:119,123-125


Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even
a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, 
a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;

See that ye love one another; cease to be covetous; learn to impart one to 
another as the gospel requires.

Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; 
cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may 
not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.

And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a 
mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace.

"Nothing is lost by courtesy.  It is the cheapest of the pleasure; costs
 nothing, and conveys much.  It pleases him who gives and him who receives,
 and thus, like mercy, is twice blessed."
                                                 ---Erastus Wiman

    
		One day for the Church,
		Six days for fun;
		Odds on going to heaven -
		Six to one.

		---Paul H. Dunn


May we all think about the Lord & what He means to us, and try to follow
the example of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, _every_ day - not just Sunday.

Frank

	Whenever I pass our little ward, I'd linger for a visit;
	so that when I am carried in, the Lord won't say "Who is it?"

	---- Paul H. Dunn (quoting his father)

"We are, in truth, more than half what we are by imitation.  The great point
 is, to choose good models and to study them with care."

                                                         ---Lord Chesterfield
Jesus Christ is THE model!

    Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their
    reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform.
    
    Susan B. Anthony        

       "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."
                                                      ---Isaac Asimov

       The same can be said for heated arguments.

    Allen,
    
    I'm not sure I follow what you mean by your comment on heated
    arguments. Could you please elaborate?
    
    Thanks,
    
    Ed
    

    
    Nothing intoxicates some people like a sip of authority.
    
    Authority is like a bank account. The more you draw on it, the less you
    have.
    
    Some men who speak with authority as work know enough to bow to a
    higher authority at home.
    
    There is just as much authority in the family today as there ever was
    - only now the children exercise it.
    
    Give authority to some people and they grow; give it to others and they
    swell.
    
    
                                    RM

Hi Ed,

A heated argument is one in which high emotional feelings are developed,
shouting (either literally or figuratively), cutting remarks, temper
tantrums, etc.

Asimov said (in my words) that people who can't handle a situation resort
to violence.  This is seen in parents who abuse their children, for
example.  They can't handle the problems they encounter with their kids,
and they resort to force and violence to get the kids to "shape up".

Likewise, people who can't handle objective discussions resort to heated
arguments.  The arguments become the goal of the encounters.

Allen

                It is possible to make home a bit of heaven.

                        -- President David O. McKay

          Ere you left your room this morning, did you think to pray?
 
            -- Hymm book

    
    I'm Special.

    No-one looks like me, thinks acts or does anything like me.  I am
    unique.  No one has the talents I have, no-one feels like I do or reacts
    like I do.  I'm special.

    Since this is so, and I'm special, then there must be a purpose for me,
    something in this life that I can do that no one else can.  I have a
    place, a special calling - because I'm special.  I need to think about
    what it might be.
    
      -- Unknown

A man is but what he knoweth.

 -- Francis Bacon

           Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.

                              -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

    I heard this statement on TV last night during an interview with a man
    who investigates ghost sightings.
    
    "We are not human beings, having spiritual experiences, but spiritual
    beings having human experiences."
    

                      A man is but what he knoweth.
 
                           -- Francis Bacon

   If a man empties his purse into his head no one can take it away from him.
   An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest."

                             ---Benjamin Franklin

"More and more Americans feel threatened by runaway technology, by large-
 scale organization, by overcrowding.  More and more Americans are appalled 
 by the ravages of industrial progress, by the defacement of nature, by man-
 made ugliness.  If our society continues at its present rate to become less
 livable as it becomes more affluent, we promise all to end up in 
 sumptuous misery."  ---John W. Gardner (1968)




                      The solution? Turn to Christ!

"To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves...nothing
 is often a good thing to say, and always a clever thing to say."

    ---Will Durant

                Beware of what you want for you will get it.
 
                         -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

              Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear
                          and the blind can read.

                              -- Mark Twain

         Some people are buried at eighty-five who were dead at forty.

                              -- Author Unknown

"Thanksgiving comes to us out of the prehistoric dimness, universal to all
 ages and all faiths.  At whatever straws we must grasp, there is always a 
 time for gratitude and new beginnings."

                         ---J. Robert Moskin

      This above all to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as
        the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.

                              -- Shakespeare
  

                   What wealth is it to have such friends
               that we can not think of them without elevation.

                         -- Henry David Thoreau

                Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.

                              -- Will Rogers

        Not to be occupied, and not to exist, amount to the same thing.

                                -- Voltaire

You're not judged by the number of times you fail, but by the number of times
you succeed.  And, the number of times you succeed is in direct proportion to
the number of times you fail but keep on trying.

                           -- Dan Litchford

              I always like to hear someone talk about themselves
                      because you never hear anything bad.

                                -- Will Rogers

   Every morning I take out my bankbook, stare at it, shudder---and turn
                          quickly to my typewriter.

                             ---Sydney J. Harris
                         On incentive as a journalist
                             (and being a DECie)

    From the recent Christmas Broadcast from Salt Lake in which President
    Monson, speaking of the gift giving (rather than getting) done at
    Christmas, said:
    
    "You make a living from what you get, but you make a life from what you
    give."
    
    

           The only thing more costly than education is ignorance.

                            -- Author unknown

    RElative to .249 Daily Thought. I heard Derek Bok, president of
    Harvard, was the author, only he said it this way.
    
    If you think education is expensive, try ignorgance.

        Some never learn anything because they know everything too soon.

                             -- Author Unknown

 Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that
         seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day.

                             ---Benjamin Franklin

    
    ***   LETS REMEMBER TO PUT CHRIST BACK INTO CHRISTMAS   ***
    
    The yuletide season is upon us and most of us are heading for the
    hills to spend some time celebrating this truly wonderful event with
    our families.  Let's take time from the hectic & stress of Christmas
    to reflect upon the true meaning of Christmas - the birth of our
    Saviour, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.  It will make the season more
    enjoyable and it will put things in their true (eternal) perspective.
    
    
    Merry Christmas to all.  I hope and pray that this Christmas will be
    a joyful one.  
    
    Take care, and I'll be noting to you next year.
    
    Frank

    I saw this thought in a window.
    
    Christmas has become overlaid with sentimental varnish and commercial
    dust.

                    The man who does not read good books
                              has no advantage
                      over the man who can't read them.

                                -- Mark Twain

   If I really wanted to, I could _________________________________________

            To see what is right and not do it, is want of courage.

                               -- Confucius

You're not judged by the number of times you fail, but by the number of times
you succeed.  And, the number of times you succeed is in direct proportion to
the number of times you fail but keep on trying.

                           -- Dan Litchford

              Prior proper planning prevents poor performance.

                         -- Greg K. Williams

            Whoso neglects learning in his youth loses the past,
                      and is dead for the future.

                            -- Euripides

          To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage.

                               -- Confucius

                  The safest way to double your money is to
                 fold it over once and put it in your pocket.

                            -- author unknown

        To youth I have but three words of counsel: Work, Work, Work.

                               -- Bismarck

               The best tranquilizer is a clear conscience.

                           -- Author Unknown

    Freedom is not a gift given, but a choice made.
    
    Ursula K. Leguin
    

    ...in time, nothing can be without becoming...
    
    Ursula K. Leguin (or is it LeGuin?)
    

                  It is difficult to make a man miserable
                               while he feels
                          he is worthy of himself
              and claims kindred to the great God who made him.

                              -- Abraham Lincoln

    
    
    
    			The Common Problem
    
    
    		The common problem - your, mine, everyone's -
    		Is not to fancy what were fair in life
    		Provided it could be; but, finding first
    		What may be, then find how to make it fair
    		Up to our means - a very different thing!
    		My business is not to remake myself
    		But make the absolute best of what God made.
    
    					- Robert Browning
    

                 He who learns but does not think is lost.  
             He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.

                              -- Confucius

                   It matters not if you try and fail
                        and try and fail again.

                     It matters if you try and fail
                         and fail to try again.

                            -- Author unknown

             Whatever there is of greatness in the United States,
                      or indeed, in any other country,
                              is due to labor.

                            -- Ulysses S. Grant

                     Age is the top of a mountain high;
                          Rarer the air, and blue.
                             A long hard climb,
                              A bit of fatigue;
                                   But oh!
                            What a wonderful view.
   
                              -- Author Unknown

      What greater ornament to a father than a son's honorable conduct?

                              -- Sophocles

          Take a child by the hand and you take a parent by the heart

                             -- Author Unknown

   If anything pained my heart, it was to see young men and women terminate
   their education too soon because they lacked the vision to see what was
   ahead in the immediate future.

                            -- Elder Paul H.  Dunn

You've probably heard the statement that life isn't a sprint; its a marathon.
It's true!  Athletes who run marathons know that more than any other single
thing, a major difference between winning and losing is the ability to hang
on when everything seems to fall apart.

The story of Mel Fisher is inspiring.  He was a treasure hunter who believed
the Atocha, a Spanish vessel, had sunk near the Florida Coast.  He searched
the sea for 16 years at an average cost of about a million dollars per year.
He found only a few artifacts.  His investors pressured him to give up, but
Mel refused to stop searching.  His crew was inspired by his persistence and
went months without a paycheck.

Everyday Mel woke up and said "Today is the Day".  Day after day he failed
to bring in the treasure and day after day he refused to give up.  One day
his son, daughter-in-law, and another diver drowned, but still he continued.

Ten years to the day following the drowning of his son, Mel Fisher found
the sunken vessel. It has been one of the single most significant treasure
finds in history.  Mel was instantly famous and wealthy.  Observers commented
"Mel sure was lucky".  But Mel Fisher paid the price, he hung on, he
started each day with "Today is the day" mentally.

Today is the day.  Life is a wonderful process, complete with mile after
mile, experience after experience.  Hang on, have a purpose, and enjoy the
process...that is the price!

-- the Facilitator

The mind is its own place, and in it self can make a Heav'n of Hell,
a Hell of Heav'n.

                          -- John Molton

The great end of life is not knowledge but action [or service in the context
of the Gospel].

  -- Thomas Henry Huxley

One can stand still in a flowing stream, but not in the world of men [and women]

  -- Japanese Proverb

	It is much easier to be critical than to be correct.

						Benjamin Disraeli

Lets pretend we walking along a beach.  Its a beautiful day with a cool breeze
blowing in from the sea.  As we look across the wide expanse of blue water,
we see two objects--a power boat and a raft.  With full power of its engine,
the power boat is going straight ahead towards its goal.  The raft is bobbing
with the waves and is being tossed to and fro by the wind.

Are you a power boat or a raft?  Are you moving towards your goals with the
full power of your youth, or are you being tossed to and fro by indecision
and lack of commitment?  Its up to you!

There is no point at which having arrived we can remain.

 -- Author unknown

Endeavor to so live that when you die even the undertaker will be sorry.

  -- Mark twain

    Seen in a recent issue of the New Era.
    
    Faith without works doesn't work.

    "You have to be consistent, fair and encouraging with your people.
   They need a 'thank you' now and then."

                                            Lonear Heard
                                            President
                                            J.T. Heard Management Corp.
                                    

Parents spend an average of 17 hours/week with their children compared to
30 hours/week in the '60s.

How are you doing?

We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in
doing good to all men;

 -- Joseph Smith, 13th Article of Faith

If you want your children to keep their feet on the ground, put some
responsibility on their shoulders.

 -- Abigail Van Buren

Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself.
It's what you do for others.

 -- Danny Thomas

"I share the gospel everywhere I go.  This includes the playing field--and
even with linemen on the opposite team."

"One time a big lineman had me down and asked close to my face, 'Are you a
Mormon?'  The next time he had me down, he asked, 'Are Mormons Christians?'
And the next time, 'Is the Book of Mormon scripture?'  I said "yes" to all
three questions.  I don't know yet if this fellow joined or not but I did my
little part."

 -- Steve Young, San Francisco 49ers quarterback

You don't stop laughing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop
laughing.

 -- Michael Pritchard

    Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value.
    
    -- Albert Einstein

                           LESSONS FROM GEESE

                            by Milton Olson

   1.    As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an "uplift" for the 
         bird following.  By flying in a "V" formation, the  whole flock 
         adds 71% greater flying range than if the bird flew alone.

         LESSON:   People who share a common direction and sense of
                 community can get where they are going quicker and easier 
                 because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.

    2.    Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the 
          drag and resistance of trying to fly alone, and quickly gets back 
          into formation to take advantage of the "lifting power" of the 
          bird immediately in front.

          LESSON:   If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in 
                  formation with those who are headed where we want to go 
                  (and be willing to accept their help as well as give ours 
                  to the others).

    3.    When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the 
          formation and another goose flies at the point position. 

          LESSON:   It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and share 
                  leadership -- with people, as with geese, we are 
                  interdependent on each other.

    4.    The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up 
          front to keep up their speed.

          LESSON:   We need to make sure our honking from behind is 
                  encouraging -- and not something else.

    5.    When a goose gets sick or wounded or shot down, two geese drop 
          out of formation and follow it to down to help and protect it.  
          They stay with it until it is able to fly again or dies.  Then 
          they launch out on their own, with another formation, or catch 
          up with the flock.

          LESSON:   If we have as much sense as geese, we too will stand 
                  by each other in difficult times as well as when we are 
                  strong.

				God

		God is like Coke,
		  He's the real thing.

		God is like Bayer aspirin,
		  He works wonders.

		God is like Hallmark cards,
		  He cares enough to send the very best.

		God is like V05 hairspray,
		  He works through all kinds of weather.

		God is like Dial soap,
		  Aren't you glad you know Him?
		  Don't you wish everyone did?

		God is like Scotch tape,
		  You can't see Him but you know He's there.

		God is like American Express,
		  Don't leave home without Him.

							... Julie Moore

              Take your work seriously but yourself lightly.

                           -- C. W. Metcalf

A week before the Battle of Bull Run, Sullivan Ballew, a major in the
2nd Rhode Island Veterans, wrote home to his wife in Smithfield:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

July the 14th, 1861, Washington, D.C.

Dear Sarah,

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days, perhaps
tomorrow, and lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled
to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I am no more.

I have no misgivings about or lack of confidence in the cause in which I
am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter.  I know how American
civilization now leans upon the triumph of the government, and how great a
debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of
the Revolution, and I am willing, perfectly willing, to lay down all my joys
in this life to help maintain this government and to pay that debt.

Sarah, my love for you is deathless.  It seems to hold me with mighty cables
that nothing but Omnipotence can break.  And yet my love of country comes over
me like a strong wind, and bears me irresistably with all those chains to the
battlefield.  The memory of all the blissful moments I have enjoyed with you
come crowding over me, and I feel most deeply grateful to God, and you, that
I have enjoyed them for so long.  And how hard it is for me to give them up,
and burn to ashes the hopes of future years when, God willing, we might still
have lived and loved together, and see our boys grown up to homorable manhood
around us.

If I do not return, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I loved you, nor that
when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name.
Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have caused you.  How thoughtless,
how foolish I have sometimes been.  But, oh Sarah, if the dead can come back
to this earth and flit unseen around those they love, I shall always be with
you in the brightest day and the darkest night, always, always.  And when the
soft breeze fans your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air at your
throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.

Sarah, do not mourn me dead.  Think I am gone, and wait for me, for we shall
meet again.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sullivan Ballew was killed a week later at the First Battle of Bull Run.
[Source:  The Civil War, a PBS documentary film by Ken Burns]

You can't escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.

 --Abraham Lincoln

Learning isn't a means to an end; it is an end in itself.

 -- Robert A. Heinlein

Take your work seriously but yourself lightly.

 -- C. W. Metcalf

    This too shall pass.

Nothing happens unless first a dream.

 -- Carl Sandburg

		One of the brightest gems in the New England
		weather is the dazzling uncertainty of it.

						Mark Twain, 1876

    You can't really be strong until you see the funny side to things.
    
     -- Ken Kesey

    It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and
    how few by deceit.
    
     -- Noel Coward

    Ere you left your room this morning....

                              PRACTICE
                          RANDOM KINDNESS
                                AND
                     SENSELESS ACTS OF BEAUTY

It's a crisp winter day in San Francisco. A woman in a red Honda, Christ-
mas presents piled in the back, drives up to the Bay Bridge tollbooth.
"I'm paying for myself, and for the six cars behind me," she says with a
smile, handing over seven commuter tickets.

One after another, the next six drivers arrive at the tollbooth, dollars
in hand, only to be told, "Some lady up ahead already paid your fare.
Have a nice day."

The woman in the Honda, it turned out, had read something on an index
card taped to a friend's refrigerator: "Practice random kindness and
senseless acts of beauty." The phrase seemed to leap out at her, and she
copied it down.

Judy Foreman spotted the same phrase spray-painted on a warehouse wall a
hundred miles from her home. When it stayed on her mind for days, she
gave up and drove all the way back to copy it down. "I thought it was
incredibly beautiful," she said explaining why she's taken to writing it
at the bottom of all her letters, "like a message from above."

Her husband, Frank, liked the phrase so much that he put it up on the
wall for his seventh graders, one of whom was the daughter of a local
columnist. The columnist put it in the paper, admitting that though she
liked it, she didn't know where it came from [sic] or what it really
meant.

Two days later, she heard from Anne Herbert. Tall, blonde, and forty,
Herbert lives in Marin, one of the country's ten richest counties, where
she house-sits, takes odd-jobs, and gets by. It was in a Sausalito
restaurant that Herbert jotted the phrase down on a paper place mat,
after turning it around in her mind for days.

"That's wonderful!" a man sitting nearby said, and copied it down
carefully on his own placemat.

"Here's the idea," Herbert says. "anything you think there should be
more of, do it randomly."

Her own fantasies include: (1) breaking into depressing-looking schools
to paint the classrooms, (2) leaving hot meals on kitchen tables in the
poor parts of town, (3) slipping money into a proud old woman's purse.
Says Herbert, "kindness can build on itself as much as violence can."
Now the phrase is spreading, on bumper stickers, on walls, at the bottom
of letters and business cards. And as it spreads, so does a vision of
guerrilla goodness.

In Portland, Oregon, a man might plunk a coin into a stranger's meter
just in time. In Patterson, New Jersey, a dozen people with pails and
mops and tulip bulbs might descend on a run-down house and clean it from
top to bottom while the frail elderly owners look on, dazed and smiling.
In Chicago, a teenage boy may be shoveling off the driveway when the
impulse strikes. What the hell, nobody's looking, he thinks, and shovels
the neighbor's driveway, too.

It's positive anarchy, disorder, a sweet disturbance. A woman in Boston
writes "Merry Christmas!" to the tellers on the back of her checks. A
man in St. Louis, whose car has just been rear-ended by a young woman,
waves her away, saying, "It's just a scratch. Don't Worry."

Senseless acts of beauty spread: A man plants daffodils along the
roadway, his shirt billowing in the breeze from passing cars. In
Seattle, a man appoints himself a one man vigilante sanitation service
and roams the concrete hills collecting litter in a supermarket cart. In
Atlanta, a man scrubs graffiti from a green park bench.

They say you can't smile without cheering yourself up a little --
likewise, you can't commit a random act of kindeness without feeling as
if your own troubles have been lightened if only because the world has
become a slightly better place.

And you can't be a recipient without feeling a shock, a pleasant jolt.
If you were one of those rush-hour drivers who found your bridge fare
paid, who knows what you might have been inspired to do for someone else
later? Wave someone on in the intersection? Smile at a tired clerk? Or
something larger, greater? Like all revolutions, guerrilla goodness
begins slowly, with a single act. Let it be yours.

Storms make trees take deeper roots.

 -- Claude McDonald

Wheat for man; corn for the ox; oats for the horse, and rye for the fowl of
the air.  What do you eat for breakfast?  :-)

Bad news goes about in clogs, good news in stockinged feet.

 -- Welsh Proverb

	I just thought this was an excellent statement:

		"Wife is my status, not my job description."

			- Karen Clift

		Enjoy every minute you Live
		Life is too short

Live totally, and live intensely, so that each moment becomes golden
and your whole life becomes a series of golden moments.

Such a person never dies because he/she has the Midas touch : Whatever
he/she touches becomes golden.

 -- from India

		Life's Lessons

After a while you learn the difference between holding a hand and chaining
a soul.  

You learn that love is not leaning but lending support.

You begin to accept your defeats with the grace of an adult, not the grief
of a child.

You decide to build your roads on today, for tomorrow's ground is too
uncertain.

You help someone plant a garden instead of waiting for someone to bring you
flowers.

You learn that God has given you the strength to endure and that you really
do have WORTH.

 -- girish

Sometimes to do nothing is wise.
But you can't make a career of doing nothing.

Freddie Fulcrum weighed everything too carefully.
He would say " On the one hand....  but then, on the other," and his
arguments weighed out so evenly he never did anything.
When Freddie died they carved a big zero on his tombstone.

If you decide to fish - fine.
Or, if you decide to cut bait -  fine.

But if you decide to do nothing, 

	you are not going to have fish for dinner.

 -- from India

Where we live is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.

 -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

[Taken without permission from INC, Magazine.]

Inc's founder, Bernie Goldhirsh, recently attended a conference at which
he heard General H. Norman Schwarzkopf discuss the principles that guided him
to victory in the Persian Gulf.  They may seen like truisms, but we'd all
be better off if more companies followed them.

- YOU MUST HAVE CLEAR GOALS.  And you must be able to articulate them
	clearly.  One of the advantages we had in Kuwait, said the general,
	was the clarity of the mission:  "Kick Saddam Hussein's butt out
	of Kuwait.  The goal was clear and simple, and something that
	every one of our troops understood."

- GIVE YOURSELF A CLEAR AGENDA.  Every morning write down the five most
	important things for you to accomplish that day.  Whatever else you
	do, get those five things done.  Insist that the people who report 
	to you operate the same way.

- LET PEOPLE KNOW WHERE THEY STAND.   Everyone knows you do a disservice to
	a B student when you give him/her an A+.  That applies not just to 
	schools.  The grades you give the people who report to you must 
	reflect reality.

- WHAT'S BROKEN, FIX NOW.  Don't put it off.  Problems that aren't dealt
	with lead to other problems.  Besides, something else will break
	and need fixing tomorrow.

- NO REPAINTING THE FLAGPOLE.  Make sure all the work your people are doing 
	is essential to the organization.

- SET HIGH STANDARDS.  Too often we don't ask enough from people.  At one 
	point in Schwarzkopf's career, he was placed in charge of 
	helicopter maintenance.  He asked how much of the fleet was able 	
	to fly on any given day.  The answer was 75%.  "People didn't come
	in at 74 or 76, but always at 75, because that was the standard
	that had been set for them.  I said, "I don't know anything about
	helicopter maintenance, but I'm establishing a new standard: 85%."
	Sure enough, within a short time 85% of the fleet was available
	on any given day.  The moral:  people generally won't perform
	above your expectations, so it's important to expect a lot.

- LAY THE CONCEPT OUT, BUT LET YOUR PEOPLE EXECUTE IT.  Yes, you must 
	have the right people in place.  But then step back - Allow them
	to own their work.

- PEOPLE COME TO WORK TO SUCCEED.  Nobody comes to work to fail.  It
	seems obvious.  So why do so many organizations operate on the
	principle that if people aren't watched and supervised, they'll
	bungle to job?

- NEVER LIE, EVER.  Schwarzkopf said there had been a big debate about
	whether to use disinformation to mislead the Iraqis during the
	Gulf War.  "We knew they were watching CNN.  Some people argued
	that we could save American lives by feeding incorrect information
	to our own media."  Schwarzkopf vetoed the idea because he felt
	it would undermine the military leadership's credibility with the	
	American people.

- WHEN IN CHARGE, TAKE COMMAND.  Leaders are often called on to make 
	decisions without adequate information.  As a result, they may put 
	off deciding to do anything at all.  That's a big mistake, said
	Schwarzkopf. Decisions themselves elicit new information.  The
	best policy is to decide, monitor the results, and change course
	if necessary.

- DO WHAT'S RIGHT.  "The truth of the matter," said Schwarzkopf, "is that
	you ALWAYS know the right thing to do.  The hard part is doing it."

Do you have one?

    Thoughts are like birds.  You may not be able to keep one from landing
    on your head, but you can certainly keep it from building a nest there.
    
    Read D&C 20:22 to get a greater understanding of the significance of
    this thought.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause
and reflect.

 -- Mark Twain

    Nothing can withstand the power of the human will if it is willing to
    stakes its very existence to the extent of its purpose.
    
    					__Benjamin Disraeli
    

Where we live is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.

 -- Oliver W. Holmes, Sr.

Most of us ask for advice when we know the answer but want a different one.

 -- Ivern Ball

    A day is never over, if it made a memory.
    
    - Anonymous (that is to say, I don't know who said it)

One disadvantage of having nothing to do is you can't stop and rest.

 -- Franklin P. Jones

Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.

 -- Danny Kaye

I am standing upon the seashore.  A ship at my side spreads her white sails
to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.  She is an object of beauty
and strength and I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says: "There! She's gone!"

Gone where?  Gone from my sight, that is all.  She is just as large in mast
and hull and spar as she was when she left my side, and just as able to bear
her load of living weight to the place of destination.  Her diminished size
is in me, not in her; and just at the moment when someone at my side says:
"There! She's gone!" there are other eyes watching her coming and other
voices ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"--and such is dying.

-- author unknown (Golden Nuggets of Thought, p. 39)

In making a living today, many no longer leave room for life.

 -- Joseph R. Sizoo

Trials and tribulations are necessary and required, but misery and depression 
are optional.

 -- Merrill Bailey

Three eternal principles to success.

 o "Look What I've created."  (I'm responsible for my life & can't blame others)

 o Live without judgment.

 o Live in Joy (i.e. letting the Atonement become the foundation of our life)

 - Merrill Bailey

If we lose affection and kindliness from our life, we lose all that gives it charm.

 -- Cicero

Trials and tribulations are necessary and required, but hostility is optional.

 -- Merrill Bailey

There are two freedoms--the false, where a man is free to do what he likes;
the true where he is free to do what he ought.

 -- Charles Kingsley

The enthusiastic, to those who are not, are always something of a trial.

 -- Alban Goodier

A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses.

 -- Unknown     

To be a champ, you have to believe in yourself when
nobody else will.

 -- Sugar Ray Robinson

The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.

 -- Richard Bach

    We give our lives to that which we give our time.
    
    - Elder William R. Bradford

We must teach our children to dream with their eyes open.

 -- Harry Edwards

Happiness in life comes not from what life gives to you but what you
give to it.

 -- Anne of Green Gables

                            O the people
                            who have chosen to know
                            only other people
                            who are like themselves.
                            
                            O what they are missing 
                            O missing without
                            even knowing what it is
                                that is being missed.
                            
                            What lies in themselves
                            Waiting to be disclosed,
                                this they are missing--
                                  the people who choose
                            to know only other people
                            who are like themselves.
                            
                             -- Doris Peel

Character may be manifested in the great moments, but is made in the small
ones.

 -- Phillips Brooks

    I read this recently, but don't remember who/where:
    
    	Don't start procrastinating - it's a lifetime job.  
    
    ...which prompted the following thought:
    
    	How long do I want to carry the burden of things which need to be
    	done?  Wouldn't I really rather *do* them and enjoy life?

               Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune;
                        but great minds rise above it.

                             -- Washington Irving

            A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.

                          -- William Arthur Ward

                Bread cast upon the waters will surely return.
 
                              -- Chinese proverb

               What a big gap there is between advice and help.

                             -- Author unknown

 Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy man has no time to form.

                              -- Andre Maurois

      The door to the room of success swings on the hinges of opposition.     

                               -- Author unknown

"Build a house of happiness"

Build a house of happiness, it surprisingly easy to do,
You roof it with smiles instead of tiles
and the windows are dreams come true.
Use love for your deep foundations and for bricks use thoughts sincere,
and then you cement with sweet content 
as you place them tier on tier.

Build a house of happiness and place it to face God's sun,
Design it to weather life's storms, then plaster well with fun.
Give it a rough coat of patience, let its timbers be mellowed with hope
and finish its roof so that unkind things can run gently down the slope

Build a house of happiness with the simple things at your hand
and I'll guarantee that no architect, such a splendid house could have planned.
Take faith for your elevation and sympathy for your site
and prayers for your scaffold and tackle
then your happy house will be just right

Marjorie D. Haydock 1941.

      Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.

                              -- Author unknown

Trust in Satan and be double-crossed.
Trust in yourself and fall short.
Trust in the Lord and succeed.