Love...

Photo: Lydia Stewart

“Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.”

-Thomas S. Monson

“They do not love,

that do not show their love.”

-William Shakespeare

It's the little things...

Photo: Lydia Stewart

Trifles make the sum of life.
-Charles Dickens

Be Patient...

Photo By Douglas Stewart  (Huntington Beach, California)

Be patient with yourself.  Perfection comes not in this life, but the next.  Don’t demand things that are unreasonable, but demand of yourself improvement.

-Elder Russell M. Nielsen

You can always turn back…

Photo: Ben Romney, Europe

“If you are headed down the wrong road, no matter how far you’ve gone, you can always turn back.”

Laura Resau, “The Indigo Notebook”

Now and Then…

“Yes, people get around faster than they used to, but I don’t think they’re any happier.”

“You know how it is raising kids. You find out they’re alive, and then you want to kill ‘em.”

Jim May, “The Farm on Nippersink Creek”

Don't Wait to Thank People...

"You shouldn't wait to thank people for the good things they do. Words are messy, but sometimes words are all you've got to show what matters most."

-Anne E. Burg, "All the Broken Pieces"

A Consecrated Life...

A consecrated life is filled with work, sometimes repetitive, sometimes menial, sometimes unappreciated but always work that improves, orders, sustains, lifts, ministers, aspires. Having spoken in praise of labor, I must also add a kind word for leisure. Just as honest toil gives rest its sweetness, wholesome recreation is the friend and steadying companion of work. Music, literature, art, dance, drama, athletics—all can provide entertainment to enrich one’s life and further consecrate it. At the same time, it hardly needs to be said that much of what passes for entertainment today is coarse, degrading, violent, mind-numbing, and time wasting. Ironically, it sometimes takes hard work to find wholesome leisure. When entertainment turns from virtue to vice, it becomes a destroyer of the consecrated life. “Wherefore, take heed … that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God” (Moroni 7:14).

-D. Todd Christofferson

The best thing is to learn...

“The best thing for disturbances of the spirit,” replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love and lose your moneys to a monster, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then – to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the poor mind can never distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the thing for you.”

-T.H. White, "Sword in the Stone"

Don't Procrastinate

Where's the good in putting things off? Strike while the iron is hot.
-Charles Dickens

Dost thou love life?

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.
-Ben Franklin

Planning Ahead...

He who every morning plans the transaction of the day and follows out that plan carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life… But where no plan is laid… chaos will soon reign.
-Victor Hugo

Tomorrow is a new day...

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you will begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fatherhood

"Most men worry about succeeding in their life's work and spend much time and effort at their profession. But I've learned that the way to put one's professional life in order is to put one's personal life in order. How can we be adequate at anything professionally without being adequate as men, husbands, and fathers first?"

James E. Faust, "Brethren, Love Your Wives," Ensign, July 1981, 3

Don't Overschedule

Photo: Ben Romney, Europe

"Don't overschedule yourselves or your children. We live in a world that is filled with options. If we are not careful, we will find every minute jammed with social events, classes, exercise time, book clubs, scrapbooking, Church callings, music, sports, the Internet, and our favorite TV shows. One mother told me of a time that her children had 29 scheduled commitments every week: music lessons, Scouts, dance, Little League, day camps, soccer, art, and so forth. She felt like a taxi driver."

M. Russell Ballard, "Daughters of God, Ensign," May 2008, 109–10

Prioritizing Your Time

Photo: Ben Romney, Europe

"How we use our time and keep our lives in balance is fundamental to how we will perform our family duties and our Church service. Discipline yourself to follow the prophet's counsel on how you prioritize the use of your time."Begin by discussing with your eternal companion how much time you need together to strengthen your marriage, to demonstrate the love you have for each other. That is your first priority."
L. Tom Perry, "A Solemn Responsibility to Love and Care for Each Other," Ensign, June 2006, 89