I know this is a little strange, but many people asked about my talk today, so I thought I'd post my general notes. I used my own stories or personal experiences along with the notes written here, but it would be way too much to type them all in. I hope you'll enjoy the quotes from the prophets and understand my few notes I have included. They are in italics. Enjoy!
Pathway to Perfection: President Thomas S. Monson
“Happiness,” the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote, “is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God.”
I have a testimony of the prophets and apostles and know that the words they speak are true. Whether it is Joseph Smith or President Monson, I know their words apply to us today.
President George Albert Smith, eighth President of the Church, urged: “Let us plant our feet upon the highway that leads to happiness and the celestial kingdom, not just occasionally, but every day, and every hour, because if we will stay on the Lord’s side of the line, if we will remain under the influence of our Heavenly Father, the adversary cannot even tempt us. But if we go into the devil’s territory … we will be unhappy and that unhappiness will increase as the years go by, unless we repent of our sins and turn to the Lord.”
Pres Monson said: I urge that you exemplify in your lives four tested, specific virtues. They are:
1. An attitude of gratitude,
2. A longing for learning,
3. A devotion to discipline, and
4. A willingness to work.
First, an attitude of gratitude. In the book of Luke, chapter 17, we read the account of the 10 lepers. The Savior, in traveling toward Jerusalem, passed through Galilee and Samaria and entered a certain village where He was met on the outskirts by 10 lepers who were forced, because of their condition, to live apart from others. They stood “afar off” and cried, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
The Savior, full of sympathy and love for them, said, “Go shew yourselves unto the priests,” and as they went they discovered that they were healed. The scriptures tell us, “One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at [the Master’s] feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.”
The Savior responded, “Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.”
Through divine intervention, those who were lepers were spared from a cruel, lingering death and given a new lease on life. The gratitude expressed by one merited the Master’s blessing, the ingratitude by the nine His disappointment.
How often do we dissapoint the Savior or HF by our ingratitude?
I’ve talked to People who are worried to bring children into this terrible world. TO THIS PRES. HINCKLEY DECLARED:
“We live in a world of so much filth. It is everywhere. It is on the streets. It is on television. It is in books and magazines. … It is like a great flood, ugly and dirty and mean, engulfing the world. We have got to stand above it. … The world is slipping in its moral standards. That can only bring misery. The way to happiness lies in a return to strong family life and the observance of moral standards, the value of which has been proven through centuries of time.”
By following President Hinckley’s counsel, we can make this a wonderful time to be living here on earth. Our opportunities are limitless. There are so many things right—such as teachers who teach, friends who help, marriages that make it, and parents who sacrifice. Even material blessings, cars that work, phones to communicate, jobs…
There is so much to be grateful for!!!
Second, a longing for learning.
I love the scripture in D&C 88:118 “Seek ye out the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.” SEEK!
Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke about priorities saying, “For good or for evil, devices like the Internet have put at our fingertips an incredible inventory of information, insights, and images. Along with fast food, we have fast communications and fast facts. The effect of these resources on some of us seems to fulfill the prophet Daniel’s prophecy that in the last days “knowledge shall be increased” and “many shall run to and fro” (Dan. 12:4).
Elder Oaks tells this story: Two men formed a partnership. They built a small shed beside a busy road. They obtained a truck and drove it to a farmer’s field, where they purchased a truckload of melons for a dollar a melon. They drove the loaded truck to their shed by the road, where they sold their melons for a dollar a melon. They drove back to the farmer’s field and bought another truckload of melons for a dollar a melon. Transporting them to the roadside, they again sold them for a dollar a melon. As they drove back toward the farmer’s field to get another load, one partner said to the other, “We’re not making much money on this business, are we?” “No, we’re not,” his partner replied. “Do you think we need a bigger truck?”
We don’t need a bigger truckload of information, either. Like the two partners in my story, our biggest need is a clearer focus on how we should value and use what we already have.
Elder Oaks continues:
Because of modern technology, the contents of huge libraries and other data resources are at the fingertips of many of us. Some choose to spend countless hours in unfocused surfing the Internet, watching trivial television, or scanning other avalanches of information. But to what purpose? Those who engage in such activities are like the two partners in my story, hurrying to and fro, hauling more and more but failing to grasp the essential truth that we cannot make a profit from our efforts until we understand the true value of what is already within our grasp.
Faced with an excess of information in the marvelous resources we have been given, we must begin with focus or we are likely to become like those in the well-known prophecy about people in the last days—“ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7). Elder Oaks also said, “We also need quiet time and prayerful pondering as we seek to develop information into knowledge and mature knowledge into wisdom. “(I love this!)
Nephi taught, “Feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do” (2 Ne. 32:3). That is focus. Nephi also said that as he taught from the scriptures, “I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning” (1 Ne. 19:23). That is personal application.
Third, may we discuss a devotion to discipline.
Our Heavenly Father has given to each of us the power to think and reason and decide. With such power, self-discipline becomes a necessity.
Pres Monson continues: “Each of us has the responsibility to choose. You may ask, “Are decisions really that important?” I say to you, decisions determine destiny. You can’t make eternal decisions without eternal consequences.
May I provide a simple formula by which you can measure the choices which confront you. It’s easy to remember: “You can’t be right by doing wrong; you can’t be wrong by doing right.” Your personal conscience always warns you as a friend before it punishes you as a judge.
Courage is required to think right, choose right, and do right, for such a course will rarely, if ever, be the easiest to follow.”
I believe a true disciple of Christ is one who had learned to discipline, or BRIDLE, his own thoughts and passions. It’s not easy, but we have the power with in us. We have to ability to turn to HF and ask for his help. That is the best part…
“Eternal life in the kingdom of our Father is your goal, and self-discipline will surely be required if you are to achieve it.”
Fourth: cultivate a willingness to work
President J. Reuben Clark, many years ago a counselor in the First Presidency, said: “I believe that we are here to work, and I believe there is no escape from it. I think that we cannot get that thought into our souls and into our beings too soon. Work we must, if we shall succeed or if we shall advance. There is no other way.” 13
“Put your shoulder to the wheel, push along” 14 is more than a line from a favorite hymn; it is a summons to work.
“Procrastination is truly a thief of time—especially when it comes to downright hard work.”
I know this applies to physical and spiritual work. Sometimes it is “work” to read our scriptures and kneel down to pray every day. It’s hard with young children in our little family to get them to sit still during scripture study and family prayer, but it is my job to teach them. It can be work to be still, ponder and hear the guiding still small voice, and it takes work to live as the Savior did. It’s not easy, but we can follow Pres. Monson’s formula:
An attitude of gratitude,
A longing for learning,
A devotion to discipline, and
A willingness to work.
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