Our Treasures

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We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.
-Thorton Wilder

Faith

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In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't.
-Blaise Pascal

A Good Marriage

There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.
-Martin Luther

Don't Overschedule

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"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

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"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

Strong and Immovable

Photo: Ben Romney, Europe "Stonehenge"

"Latter-day Saint women must be strong and immovable in their faith. They can and should excel in living and sharing their testimonies of the Lord Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. We do this as we:
1. Make and keep covenants with Him.
2. Are worthy and worship in His temples.
3. Study His doctrine in the scriptures and the words of prophets.
4. Qualify for, recognize, and follow the Holy Ghost.
5. Share and defend His gospel.
6. Participate in sincere personal and family prayer.
7. Have family home evening.
8. Live principles of self-reliance and provident living.
"These are essential things which must be done before nonessential things. These are simple, indispensable practices that almost seem mundane. . . . No one can do these things for us—these are personal practices and habits that set us apart as strong and immovable for that which is correct"

-Julie B. Beck, Relief Society general president

Temple Marriage Covenants

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"Temple marriage covenants do not magically bring equality to a partnership. Those covenants commit us to a developmental process of learning and growing together—by practice. ". . . Equal partnerships are not made in heaven—they are made on earth, one choice at a time, one conversation at a time, one threshold crossing at a time. And getting there is hard work."

Bruce C. Hafen, "Crossing Thresholds and Becoming Equal Partners," Ensign, Aug. 2007, 28

Not Alone...

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“We read to know we are not alone.”
-C.S. Lewis

Good Books

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"Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly."
-Cornelia Funke, Inkheart

Books...

"Books have to be heavy because the whole world's inside them."

-Cornelia Funke, Inkheart

Problems...

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"You can't talk yourself out of problems you behave yourself into."
-- Stephen Covey

Progress...

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Progress means not just changing, but changing for the better. If no set of moral ideas were truer or better than any other, there would be no sense in preferring civilized morality to savage morality, or Christian morality to Nazi morality.

"We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man. "
— C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)

Truly Know

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What do you despise? By this you are truly known.

-Frank Herbert, Dune

A Leader...

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"A leader is one of the things that distinguishes a mob from a people. He maintains the level of individuals. Too few individuals and a people reverts to a mob."

-Frank Herbert, Dune

Our Dead...

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The meeting between ignorance and knowledge, between brutality and culture - it begins in the dignity with which we treat our dead.
-Frank Herbert, Dune

A Generous Thought...

"Never suppress a generous thought."
-Camilla Kimball

Long-Term Planning

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Short-term planning is important, but I do not believe in planning less than one week. I think people that are into "day-to-day" planning are just prioritizing crises and they'll find themselves buried in the thick of thin things and managing their lives by crises. The shortest unit of planning should be a week, but that doesn't mean we can't adapt or be flexible.

-Steven Covey, Lving the 7 Habits

The child that tests you most...

The key to a successful family is how you treat the child who tests you the most. Be grateful for that one child because it gives an example to the rest that shows you are a principle centered parent.

-Steven Covey, Living the Seven Habits

Virture

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Highlights from: "Let Virtue Garnish Your Thoughts," By Bishop H. David Burton

Virtuous traits form the foundation of a Christian life and are the outward manifestation of the inner man.

Teaching virtuous traits begins in the home with parents who care and set the example.

By remaining steadfast, parents so very often suffer and agonize more than the children they endeavor to teach.

It is difficult for a person to display virtuous traits if he or she lacks integrity. Without integrity, honesty is often forgotten. If integrity is absent, civility is impaired. If integrity is not important, spirituality is difficult to maintain.

Traits of virtue broadly practiced can loosen Satan’s firm grip on society and derail his insidious plan to capture the hearts, minds, and spirits of mortal men.

Pray for the Love...

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I give counsel to husbands and wives. Pray for the love which allows you to see the good in your companion. Pray for the love that makes weaknesses and mistakes seem small. Pray for the love to make your companion’s joy your own. Pray for the love to want to lessen the load and soften the sorrows of your companion.

-Henry B. Eyring

Family

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The greatest joys and the greatest sorrows we experience are in family relationships. The joys come from putting the welfare of others above our own. That is what love is. And the sorrow comes primarily from selfishness, which is the absence of love. The ideal God holds for us is to form families in the way most likely to lead to happiness and away from sorrow. A man and a woman are to make sacred covenants that they will put the welfare and happiness of the other at the center of their lives. Children are to be born into a family where the parents hold the needs of children equal to their own in importance. And children are to love parents and each other.

-Henry B. Eyring

Eternal Truths

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Embedded in the gospel of Jesus Christ there are eternal principles and truths that will last far longer than the principles of building ships and roofs. You and I, as members of the Lord’s true Church, have special access and insight into these eternal principles and truths, especially when we listen to the Spirit for individual guidance and hear the prophet’s voice as he declares the will of God to the members of the Church. You and I both know how important these eternal principles and truths are in our lives. I’m not sure those early pioneers could have faced the perils and uncertainties of the future without them, and neither can we. They are the only true and eternal way to face the future, especially in these increasingly perilous and uncertain times in which we now live.

-Elder L. Tom Perry

Facing the Future

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“I do not want to go back to the past; I want to go back to the past way of facing the future.”
-Ronald Reagan

Be Ready

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Hightlights from: "Be Ready" President Henry B. Eyring

What you will need in the dramatic moment will be built in the steady performance of obedient service. I will tell you two of the things you will need and the preparation it takes to be ready.

The first is to have faith. The priesthood is the authority to act in the name of God. It is the right to call down the powers of heaven. So you must have faith that God lives and that you have won His confidence to allow you to use His power for His purposes.

Now, the second thing they will need is confidence that they can live up to the blessings and the trust which God has offered them. Most of the influences around them drag them down to doubt the existence of God, of His love for them, and of the reality of the sometimes quiet messages they receive through the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of Christ. Their peers may urge them to choose sin. If young men choose sin, those messages from God will become more faint.

We can help them choose to prepare by loving them, warning them, and by showing confidence in them. But we can help them even more by our example of a faithful and inspired servant. In our families, in quorums, in classes, and as we associate with them in any setting, we can act as true priesthood holders who use its power as God has taught us.

Quiet Ways...

"Let us lower our voices in our homes. Let love abound and find expression in our actions. May we walk the quiet ways of the Lord, and may prosperity crown our labors."

Gordon B. Hinckley