A Thought For Today -- Packet 5:
1. A man filled with the love of God is not content with blessing his family
alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole
human race." --Joseph Smith2. A newspaper subscriber commented:
"Since reading that report, I've made a conscious effort to recall my
blessings nearly every hour. Instead of dreading the drudgery of cleaning
house, I express gratitude for my home. I've found so many things to be
grateful for, little things like running water and electricity.
A few weeks ago, I complained because my knees ached; now I say
how grateful I am that I can walk. I think it's important to express our
gratitude out loud.
The positive focus on gratitude has pushed out of my mind the negative
thoughts that were dragging me down."
3. "A rose to the living is more sumptuous than a wreath to the dead."
4. "...all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for
your good." -- D&C 98:3
5. "America is great because she is good and if America ever ceases to be
good, she will cease to be great."
--Alexis De Tocqueville, 1835--6. "And blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the
children of God." --3 Nephi 12:9--
7. "And now let the Saints remember that which we have ever taught them,
both by precept and example, viz: to beware of an aspiring spirit, which
would lift you up one above another."
8. "...ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."
--D&C 4:7--9. "Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest
ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift
you as wheat."
--3 Nephi 18:18--10. "Blessed is the home where all have learned to face their daily problems
in a Christian spirit and to disagree without being disagreeable."
--Theodore F. Adams--11. "But there is danger...if we become lifted up in the pride of our hearts
and think, because we have gathered an abundance of the wealth of this
world, that we are a little better than our poor brother who labors eight or
ten hours day at the hardest kind of labor. Any person having the name
of Latter-day Saint who feels that he is better than, and distinguishes
himself from, the poor and supposes that he belongs to a little higher
class than they, is in danger." --Orson Pratt--12. "Character is the aim of true education." --David O. McKay--
13. Challenge for Today: Think about the people in your ward or
neighborhood. Think about the problems and trials some of them are
facing. Choose 3 people and pray for them, by name. Be specific in
your prayers. Then DO something, if you can.14. "Each of us has the same general calling. The Lord will not hold us
blameless if we allow organizational responsibility- ---or lack of it---to
interfere with the duty to care for those around us."
--S. Dilworth Young--15. "God does notice us and he watches over us. But it is usually through
another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve
each other in the kingdom..."
--Spencer W. Kimball, Ensign, Dec. 1974--
16. "God hath entrusted me with myself." -Epictetus--
17. "I believe without any doubt that you are the finest generation this
Church has ever had."
--Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley, Reg. Conf. March 2, 1997--18. "I care not if God is on my side; my constant hope and prayer is that I
may be found upon God's side." --Abraham Lincoln--19. "I come to see that the things which men give in the way of honor and
respect and office and position are really of little worth. They are not
worth what sometimes we feel we have to give in order to obtain them.
I come to know that worldly goods are of no consequence whatever,
save I have enough to eat, and to drink, and reasonably to wear."--J. Reuben Clark--
20. "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in
truth." --3 John 1:4--
21. "I pray every day to overcome worldly temptations and my insecure
feelings." --Sister Bok Ja Moon Kim--22. "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I
say, ye have no promise." --D&C 82:10--23. "If you are going to kill time, Try working it to death."
24. "If we truly desire to please God and serve him, continual
self-examination of our reasons for actions cannot fail to expose our
selfish and sordid motives and challenge us to reform them. We can
work to reform our motives if we are continually asking ourselves
"Why am I taking this action?"
--Dallin H. Oaks--25. "If we are willing to put our trust in the Lord and keep his
commandments, we have been promised that we will be blessed.
The blessing might not come in the form of straight A's, having a date
every Friday night, or inheriting a lot of money. But we will grow in
capacity, experiencing joy along the way as we keep more and more of
the commandments and eventually become prepared for a celestial
existence."
--Janet Lee, BYU Speeches 1992-3, p. 12--26. "If you can control your thoughts, you can overcome habits--even
degrading, personal habits. If you can learn to master them, you will
have a happy life." --Boyd K. Packer--27. "It is better to PREPARE and PREVENT than to REPAIR and
REPENT!"28. "It's true that you can't take it with you, but folks ought to remember
that how you got it may determine where you go." --Author Unknown--29. "Julia Ward Howe was talking to a distinguished senator. She asked
him to interest himself in the case of a person who needed help. The
senator answered, 'Julia, I have become so busy, I can no longer
concern myself with individuals.' She replied, 'That's remarkable.
Even God hasn't reached that stage yet.'" --Ralph W. Sockman--30. Just How Much Impact Does Music Have? In 1703 Andrew Fletcher,
a great Scottish patriot, made this observation (and I paraphrase him):
"You write the laws, let me write the music, and I will rule your
country."
--Zig Ziglar-- Book: Raising Positive Kids in a Negative World31. "KNOW THYSELF" --Socrates--
32. "Life is a competition, not with others, but with ourselves. We should
seek each day to live stronger, better, truer lives; each day to master
some weakness of yesterday; each day to repair a mistake; each day to
surpass ourselves."
--David B. Haight--33. "Life is not a goblet to be drained; it is a measure to be filled."
--Author Unknown--34. Men become "puffed up in the pride of their hearts" from wisdom and
learning as well as from riches. --2 Nephi 28:15--35. "No other success can compensate for failure in the home."
--David O. McKay--36. "One of the important things the Lord has told us to do is to be liberal in
our payment of fast offerings. I would like you to know that there are
great rewards for so doing-- both spiritual and temporal
rewards." --Marion G. Romney--37. "One seldom-mentioned reason for keeping the commandments is
that we then become genuinely happier with ourselves; otherwise, when
we are unhappy with ourselves, as we all know, the grim tendency is to
pass our misery along."
--Neal Maxwell--38. "Our attitudes determine how we evaluate our life's experiences. They
determine how we evaluate ourselves. They also govern how we look
at other people. Are we inclined to judge an eternal soul by the
appearance of an earthly body? Do we see the beautiful soul of a
brother or sister, or do we only see that person's earthly tabernacle?
Bodies can be distorted by handicap, twisted by injury, or worn by age.
But if we can learn to see the inner man and woman, we will be seeing
as God sees, and loving as He loves." --Dallin H. Oaks--39. "Please, dear God, make my words today sweet and tender, for
tomorrow I may have to eat them." --Author Unknown--40. Pres. Spencer W. Kimball has said: "I find that when I get casual in
my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is
listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I
immerse myself in the scriptures, the distance narrows and the
spirituality returns."41. "So often, our acts of service consist of simple encouragement or
of giving mundane help with mundane tasks, but what glorious
consequences can flow from mundane acts and from small but
deliberate deeds!"--Spencer W. Kimball, Ensign, Dec. 1974--
42. "Speech is a mirror of the soul: As a man speaks, so he is."
--Publilius Syrus--43. "The most valuable gift you can give another is a GOOD EXAMPLE."
44. "The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without
his teacher."
--Elbert Hubbard--45. "The real measure of our wealth is how much we would be worth if we
lost all our money."46. "There is no traffic jam on the second mile."