Scattered Sunshine

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iWriteStuff
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Scattered Sunshine

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Your problem and mine is not to get God to speak to us; few of us have reached the point where he has been compelled to turn away from us. Our problem is to hear.

Henry B. Eyring, To Draw Closer to God
Feel free to share anything that strikes you as uplifting or spiritually edifying. Doesn't have to be on any specific topic, and doesn't need a long accompanying answer - just whatever strikes your fancy as worthwhile.

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"When pain is to be born, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all."

- C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"One of the remarkable characteristics of young wild sunflowers, in addition to growing in soil that is not hospitable, is how the young flower bud follows the sun across the sky. In doing so, it receives life-sustaining energy before bursting forth in its glorious yellow color. Like the young sunflower, when we follow the Savior of the world, the Son of God, we flourish and become glorious despite the many terrible circumstances that surround us. He truly is our light and life."

- Quentin L. Cook, The Lord is My Light
Happy Conference Morning!

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"A person is poor when he is friendless, but even poorer when he ceases being a friend. No matter what the conduct or negligence of others may be, we cannot afford to yield in our sincere pursuit to be a friend. When a person allows himself to feel he has no friends, he is poor; but he is doubly poor if he has to admit he is a friend to no one. Very often our family members and friends need our friendship most when they least deserve it."

- Marvin J. Ashton

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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"If thoughts make us what we are, and we are to be like Christ, then we must think Christlike thoughts. Let me repeat that: If thoughts make us what we are, and we are to be like Christ, we must think Christlike thoughts.

"Paul, en route to Damascus to persecute the Saints, saw a light from heaven and heard the voice of the Lord. Then Paul asked a simple eight-word question—and the persistent asking of the same question changed his life. “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6). The persistent asking of that same question can also change your life. There is no greater question that you can ask in this world. “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” I challenge you to make that the uppermost question in your life."

- Ezra Taft Benson, Think On Christ

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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I believe in myself. I do not mean to say this with egotism or arrogance. But I believe in my capacity and in your capacity to do good, to make some contribution to the society of which we are a part, to grow and develop, and to do things that we may now think are impossible.

I believe that I am a child of God, endowed with a divine birthright. I believe that there is something of divinity within me and within each of you. I believe that we have a godly inheritance and that it is our responsibility, our obligation, and our opportunity to cultivate and nurture the very best of these qualities within us.

I do not have to be a scrub. Though my work may be menial, though my contribution may be small, I can perform it with dignity and offer it with unselfishness. My talents may not be great, but I can use them to bless the lives of others. I can be one who does his work with pride in that which comes from hand and mind. I can be one who works with respect for associates, for their opinions, for their beliefs, with appreciation for their problems and with a desire to help them should they stumble. I believe in the principle that I can make a difference in this world. It may be ever so small, but it will count for the greater good. The goodness of the world in which we live is the accumulated goodness of many small and seemingly inconsequential acts.

- Gordon B. Hinckley, This I Believe

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"Cease to contend one with another; cease to speak evil one of another."

D&C 136:23

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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"You don’t have to continue to carry the burden of sorrow caused by sin—alone. You don’t have to carry the pain caused by the unrighteous actions of others—alone. You don’t have to experience the painful realities of mortality—alone. The Savior pleads: “Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you? “… If ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come … will I receive.” “[He] would do anything to take this from you.” In fact, He already has.”

- Carole M. Stephens, The Master Healer

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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"All will be made right. All will be well. We can be certain that answers will come, and we may be confident that we will not only be content with the answers but we will also be overwhelmed by the grace, mercy, generosity, and love of our Heavenly Father for us, His children. Just Keep Knocking Until then, we walk by whatever faith we have, seeking always to increase our faith. Sometimes this is not an easy quest. Those who are impatient, uncommitted, or careless may find faith to be elusive. Those who are easily discouraged or distracted may hardly experience it. Faith comes to the humble, the diligent, the enduring. It comes to those who pay the price of faithfulness."

- Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Fourth Floor, Last Door

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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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How Am I Like Amulek?

While some of us should be looking for an Amulek, for others the question might be “How am I like Amulek?”

Perhaps you have, over the years, become less committed in your discipleship. Perhaps the fire of your testimony has dimmed. Perhaps you have distanced yourself from the body of Christ. Perhaps you have become disillusioned or even angry. Like some of the ancient Church of Ephesus, you may have left your “first love”12—the sublime, eternal truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps, like Amulek, you know in your heart that the Lord has “called [you] many times,” but you “would not hear.”

Nevertheless, the Lord sees in you what He saw in Amulek—the potential of a valiant servant with an important work to do and with a testimony to share. There is service that no one else can give in quite the same way. The Lord has trusted you with His holy priesthood, which holds the divine potential to bless and lift others. Listen with your heart and follow the promptings of the Spirit.

- Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Learn from Alma and Amulek

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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That Day of Judgment will be a day of mercy and love—a day when broken hearts are healed, when tears of grief are replaced with tears of gratitude, when all will be made right. Yes, there will be deep sorrow because of sin. Yes, there will be regrets and even anguish because of our mistakes, our foolishness, and our stubbornness that caused us to miss opportunities for a much greater future.

But I have confidence that we will not only be satisfied with the judgment of God; we will also be astonished and overwhelmed by His infinite grace, mercy, generosity, and love for us, His children. If our desires and works are good, if we have faith in a living God, then we can look forward to what Moroni called “the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge.”

- Dieter F. Uchtdorf, O How Great the Plan of Our God!
This stuck out to me in the Saturday Morning Session.... not that I'm on a Dieter diet, he just happened to be the guy who said it!

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"The higher our position is, the more meekly we should carry ourselves."

- Cicero, On Moral Duties

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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"We come to know the Lord as we not only believe in Him but also believe Him and His assurances.

"We often testify of what we know to be true, but perhaps the more relevant question for each of us is whether we believe what we know.

"Believing Him is trusting that His bounteous blessings are available and applicable in our individual lives and families. Believing Him with our whole soul comes as we press forward along the covenant pathway, surrender our will to His, and submit to His priorities and timing for us. Believing Him—accepting as true His power and promises—invites perspective, peace, and joy into our lives."

- David A. Bednar, "If Ye Had Known Me"

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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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Everyone ought to hold fast, not his faults, but his peculiarities. We ought, indeed, to act in such a way as shall be in no respect repugnant to our common human nature; yet, holding this sacred, let us follow our individual nature, so that, if there are other pursuits in themselves more important and excellent, we yet may measure our own pursuits by the standard of our own nature… It will be each man’s duty to weigh well what are his own peculiar traits of character, and to keep them in serviceable condition, and not to desire to try how far another man’s peculiarities may be becoming to him; for that is most becoming to each man which is most peculiarly his own.”

– Cicero, On Moral Duties

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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"I testify to you that our promised blessings are beyond measure. Though the storm clouds may gather, though the rains may pour down upon us, our knowledge of the gospel and our love of our Heavenly Father and of our Savior will comfort and sustain us and bring joy to our hearts as we walk uprightly and keep the commandments. There will be nothing in this world that can defeat us."

—Thomas S. Monson, "Be of Good Cheer"

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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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My dear young friends, never lose faith in yourselves or in your capacity to do worthwhile things. And call upon the Lord for help that your minds may be enlightened and your understanding quickened. Then go to work with that assurance inside of you that somehow you can do it.

- Gordon B. Hinckley, God Shall Give unto You Knowledge by His Holy Spirit

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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"We are obliged to have devils in our community. We couldn't build up the kingdom without them. We must have those among us who will steal our fencepoles, who will go and steal hay from the neighbor's haystack. It is essentially necessary to have such characters here. There are as bad men and women within the pales of this Church as there are upon the earth, and the gospel is being preached to them to prepare them to become devils. If they want to be, that's right, they are. This is the only place where you can really prepare to become a devil."

- Brigham Young, as quoted in Brigham Young as a Theologian, Nibley, 1967

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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"Well, beauty and excellence. And every son and daughter have got to go through the ordeal that you and I have passed through. They must be tried, tempted, and buffeted, in order to act upon their agency before God and prove themselves worthy of exaltation. You have to have these sufferings, but don't go looking for them. I intend to know the whole of it, both good and bad."

- Brigham Young, Brigham Young as a Theologian

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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"Man is a spiritual being, a soul, and at some period of his life everyone is possessed with an irresistible desire to know his relationship to the Infinite. . . . There is something within him which urges him to rise above himself, to control his environment, to master the body and all things physical and live in a higher and more beautiful world."

- David O. McKay, True to the Faith

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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"Know this, O reader! that you are divine. You are not cut off from the Divine except in your own unbelief. Rise up, O Son of God! and shake off the nightmare of sin which binds you; accept your heritage—the Kingdom of Heaven! Drug your soul no longer with the poisons of false beliefs. You are not "a worm of the dust" unless you choose to make yourself one. You are a divine, immortal, God-born being, and this you may know if you will to seek and find. Cling no longer to your impure and groveling thoughts, and you shall know that you are a radiant and celestial spirit, filled with all pure and lovable thoughts. Wretchedness and sin and sorrow are not your portion here unless you accept them as such; and if you do this, they will be your portion hereafter, for these things are not apart from your soul-condition: they will go wherever you go; they are only within you.

"Heaven, not hell, is your portion here and always. It only requires you to take that which belongs to you. "

- James Allen, The Heavenly Life

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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"I, indeed, prefer the man who lacks money to the money that lacks a man."

- Themistocles, when asked whether he would rather marry his daughter to a good poor man, or to a rich man of lower character

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passionflower
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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"How does one get humble? To me, one must constantly be reminded of his dependence. On whom is he dependent? On the Lord. How can he remind himself? by real, constant, worshipful, grateful prayer.

Humility is teachableness- an ability to realize that all virtues adn abilities are not concentrated on ones' self.....

Humility is gracious, quiet, serene, not pompous, spectacular or histrionic. It is subdued, kindly and understanding, not crude, blatant, loud or ugly. Humility is not just a man or woman but a perfet gentleman and gentlelady. It never struts or swaggers. Its' faithful, quiet works will be the badge of its own accomplishment"

Spencer W. Kimball
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passionflower
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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"There is one responsibility which no man can evade, that responsibility is his personal influence. Mans' unconscious influence is the silent subtle radiation of personality-the effect of his words and actions on others. This radiation to which I refer comes from what a person really is, not from what he pretends to be. Every man by his mere living is radiating either sympathy, sorrow, morbidness, cynicism or happiness and hope, or a hundred other qualities".

David O McKay
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passionflower
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Re: Scattered Sunshine

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"We are governed by law, because we love one another and are actuated by long suffering and charity, and good will, and our whole organization is based upon the idea of self control, the principle of give and take, of rather being willing to suffer wrong than to do wrong. Our message is peace on earth and good will towards men, love charity and forgiveness which should actuate all associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."

Gordon B. Hinckley ( I think )

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