“A blind person asked St. Anthony: “Can there be anything worse than losing eyesight?” He replied, “Yes, losing your vision.” I’m going to try to give you the vision the brethren would like you to have regarding family history and the blessings of the Priesthood. Peter was one of the greatest of men. It is…
Tag: Church
On Being In The World
When I think about being in the world, it does not conjure up negative thoughts about how mean, cruel and diverse the world is. I rather feel that the diversity, for the most part, is good; it is how we learn to deal with all aspects of life that are going to confront us sooner…
On Being Anonymous
Years ago we had a woman from Lithuania living with us for approximately six months while she was learning the administrative procedures at an American University. At the time, I was the Dean of Student Administrative Services at a University in Utah. While staying with us, she was also trying to learn as much as…
On The Power of Storytelling
The Church has always emphasized the importance of the family unit. And every member of each and every family has lived a life worth remembering, not just the family patriarch, whose story is often the only one written. Elder Dennis C. Brimhall said, “Every person who has ever lived has a right to be remembered…
On Gleaners and Givers
I remember well, reading about the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament. We recently read the story again as a Sunday School assignment, and later we discussed it in our class. The story was about Ruth and her relationship with her mother-in-law, Naomi, but I am being drawn to think now only of the…
On Divine Leadership
I have sometimes had mixed emotions in respect to how I have felt about certain of the general authorities and other general leaders of the church. I am sure every member has a favorite or favorites that they enjoy listening to or reading their talks more than they do others. I have never felt comfortable…
On The Plan of Salvation
Many religions and philosophies teach the false doc- trine of “Predestination.” To quote from one such teaching, “God misleadeth whom He pleaseth and guideth whom he will aright.” Those who believe that, or in similar doctrine, also believe falsely that man’s life and being are directed by a controlling god. This concept makes it easy…
On Charity
In a civil society there has always been a debate as to whether meeting the needs of the poor among us (welfare) should be a function of the church or the state (government). From a Christian doctrine standpoint, assisting the poor should be a function of the church. However, the church has no way of…
On Simple
Simple is one of the terms used by children to sometimes express their superiority over others. I remember in my own youth being called a simpleton a few times. If simple is supposed to express something uncomplicated, why did it seem to sting so bad? The other use of it, for example, was when I…
On Being An Example
We are all an example, of one kind or another, to someone or another. In filling the various roles that we play in life, we could find ourselves becoming a different type of example to those we associated with in each role. By roles I mean: father, son, mother, daughter, sibling, student, teacher, employer, employee,…