Optimism is in reference to a positive attitude that a person might have toward other people, to life, to their work and so on. The opposite to optimistic is to be pessimistic and I have known many people on both sides of that coin. Why, because good and positive things happen to every person I…
Author: Emil Hanson
On Close Calls
Close calls don’t count, do they? A near miss and life goes on. I’m not aware of anyone who hasn’t had a close call at some time in their life. An amateur baseball catcher may just barely miss getting hit with a bat being swung by an amateur batter. Inexperienced climbers may take a wrong…
On God’s Laborers and Their Wages
God’s pay will not be a gold coin laid in our hand but rather bring about a feeling of satisfaction knowing that we have blessed another in some way or just do a kind deed because we saw an opportunity to do one. Very few things are more satisfying than the feeling we have after…
On Spiritual Obedience
Matthew Cowley, a member of the Twelve Apostles, found a picture of a workhorse while serving a mission in New Zealand in 1918. The picture so impressed him that it hung in his office until a week before he died. Before he died he gave the picture to Elder Glen L Rudd. The following poem,…
On Death, As A Mystery?
There are many stories and jokes about death, some sad, some funny but there are many stories that use death as their central theme. You may say that death is not a joking matter. Why not? Death is universal, it is expected, in some cases it is tragic and in some it is sad, but…
On Record Breakers
The New Orleans Saints Quarterback, Drew Brees, recently eclipsed the all-time passing record and his message for football fans was that everything begins with God. An emotional Brees surpassed hall-of-famer, Peyton Manning, and offered both thanks and advice after the Monday Night Football contest. The league stopped the game after Brees shattered the record while…
On What is Sin and Why Is It A Contrary Thing?
We are heirs to the birthright of Adam’s descendants: mortality, with its immeasurable possibilities and its God-given freedom of action. From father Adam we have also inherited all the ills and successes to which flesh is heir; but such are necessarily incident to a knowledge of good and evil, by proper use of which knowledge,…
On Integrity
When a wise person was asked why Shakespeare used so many court fools in his plays. The answer, he said, is obvious: “When Shakespeare wanted the truth to be heard, he employed a fool, for only a man with nothing to lose will speak the truth in high places.” Shakespeare was wrong! A man of…
On Being Kind To Ourselves
There are many different routes to most every place we want, or need to go in life. There are many different kinds of people that we may be traveling with, as well. There also are many methods of transportation that we could take to reach our destination safely. Regardless of the place, the people, the…
On Tragedy Testifies To The Value of Human Life
Our lives are a fragile gift. The grief that death stirs in us underscores what a beautiful thing we really have. When I was growing up TV had not been invented and radio was still in its youth. The radio gave us as much static as it did audible sound. Either by radio (local news)…