Public Thought Log

I just lost two hours of work due to my daughter messing with the computer… (Windows Live Writer should backup like MS Word does!). I am trying to be patient, it is hard… anyway, this reminds me of a story my dad told me when I was a kid. A man had been writing a book in the day when you did that with an ink pen. The man had a dog. When he finished writing the book, the man was really excited and told the dog. The dog got really excited and jumped on the table where the ink bottle was, the ink fell on top of the freshly written manuscript. The man looked at the table, cleaned it, threw the ruined pages away, got a set of new blank pages, and started writing again. The bishop asked us to instruct our quorums on testimony. This lesson is based on a few talks. Pure Testimony (M. Russell Ballard) Testimony (Gordon B. Hinckley) The Power of a Strong Testimony (Richard G. Scott) What is testimony? Bruce R. McConkie says that “A testimony of the gospel is the sure knowledge received by...

We had the missionaries for dinner, and I was thinking about what to teach on tomorrow. After listening to them talk, I felt inspired to teach on the blessings and advantages of living a simple life. Our high priest group is a great group of men, ranging from young parents like me, all the way to grandfathers, and great-grandfathers. I think most of us try to do our best to lead our lives in a way where we can do our best. That said, our lives are full of obligations and roles. We take care of our children and teach the young and old. When one of them is not following the right path, we suffer their encounter with the consequences of their action. We are husbands who want to provide our wives a good friend, time and a the means to support our homes. We are employees, and want to provide our employers fair labor in exchange for our salary. Those are just some of the ways we spend our time, then there are hundreds of other items in our TO DO lists, including callings and responsibilitie...

  James E. Faust relates: “A year or so ago I sat in an elders quorum meeting. The members of the presidency were fine, capable young men; but when they got around to sharing the quorum responsibilities and getting the work done, they limited it to those who were present and who would volunteer. Not one assignment was given. One of the first principles we must keep in mind is that the work of the Lord goes forward through assignments. Leaders receive and give assignments. This is an important part of the necessary principle of delegating. No one appreciates a willing volunteer more than I, but the total work cannot be done as the Lord wants it done merely by those doing the work who may be present at meetings. I have often wondered what the earth would look like if the Lord in the Creation had left the work to be done only by volunteers. If we look upon fulfilling of assignments as building the kingdom of God and as being an opportunity as well as a privilege and an honor, then ...