Sacrament Meeting Talk: "Preparing Ourselves and our Families to go to the Temple"

We had the opportunity to give talks in sacrament meeting today.  

Because we move around so often, we generally get to talk about twice a year.  I love it! (okay not so much the actual delivery, or the staying up until 2:00 the night before because I'm such a procrastinator, but I love the process and the very specific direction it gives my study).

Anyway, for anyone who is interested, this is more or less the talk I gave today. (I write it down for my records, but try not to read it when I actually give it.  How do you do talks?)

 

We forgot our camera --all we had was my husband's phone. I guess we'll just have to go back. :)

 Preparing Ourselves and Our Families to go to the Temple

This past Friday, we had the opportunity as a family to go to the Boise Temple open house.  Although our children are young, I wanted to give them an opportunity to see the inside of the temple, feel the spirit there, and to hopefully gain a desire to go there when they are older and when it is a fully functioning edifice dedicated to the Lord. 

We prepared the children by holding an FHE last Monday about temples, and announcing that we would get to go see the inside of the temple in a few days.  We briefly told them what would happen when we went to visit the temple.  We explained how it wasn’t dedicated yet, and that is why anyone, including little children could go through. We talked about what we would see there, and how things would work as we participated in the tour. Like most of our FHE lessons, it was short and to the point, and we moved on to an activity and treats.  We then went on about our week as usual.

When Friday evening rolled around, we rushed to the open house, striving to leave behind the distractions and frustrations of the morning.  It had been a less than ideal day, but we tried to change that as we recognized the importance of this wonderful opportunity.

 As we walked the halls of the temple, the children were subdued and generally reverent. They were duly impressed by the beautiful architecture and recognized some of the things we had talked about. I admit though that we had to move quickly through each room, and I longed to go slower, to take our time and point out certain things to my children. I wished I had done even more preparation with them, and I’m afraid that the white booties on their feet might have made just as lasting an impression as anything.  It was over all too quickly, so after the tour we wandered around the temple grounds allowing the children to explore the outside of the building and to discuss things a little more. It was a little chilly, but we were blessed with a beautiful sunset and we stopped to enjoy it.  As we paused for a moment, I asked my five-year-old son how he had felt in the temple, and with his limited vocabulary he replied, “I felt like… kindness.” 

I don't know that I could have explained what the influence of the Spirit feels like any better.

As I pondered his response, I felt gratitude for a Loving Heavenly Father who blessed our meager efforts –our pitiful attempts at teaching and providing a spiritual experience for our kids, allowing us to forget the unpleasantness of the morning, and still have a fun and meaningful family outing.

I am often humbled at how our seemingly small acts and righteous desires can be magnified beyond our expectations.  It is as if the floodgates of heaven are ready to burst, just waiting for the go-ahead that begins with our simply asking.

Personally, I believe that Heavenly Father wanted our children to have a spiritual experience just as much as we did, if not more, but He needed us to provide the opportunity. That is part of our job as parents.

At the heart of our efforts though, is the goal of actually going to the temple to participate in sacred ordinances.

Preparation for such cannot be done in one quick FHE lesson.  It is a great responsibility and rests upon our shoulders as we prepare individually, and as we teach our children to prepare themselves, to make and keep sacred covenants in the temple.

So how do we prepare ourselves and our children for the Temple?  I’ve come up with three suggestions that can help us.

I.                    Recognize the sacredness of the Temple and the importance of the ordinances performed there. 

II.                  Live as if you have already made temple covenants.

III.                Plan to continue to acquire gospel knowledge and attend the temple regularly.

First, we need to recognize the sacredness of the Temple and the importance of the covenants made there.  There is hardly anything in the world these days that would cultivate such feelings --it seems nothing is sacred.  However, the world can understand the worth of precious things, and knowing this, Jesus in His sermon on the mount used the analogy of throwing pearls before swine (Matt. 7:6). Things that are precious and highly-prized or rare and costly are treated differently; so should we learn to treat sacred things differently.  In a CES broadcast to the youth of the Church back in 2004, Elder D. Todd Christofferson taught that we should dress and act differently in sacred places including our church meetings and especially in and around the temple. How we dress and act is an outward expression of an inward conviction. Sacredness is accompanied by the presence of the Holy Ghost that testifies of truth and if the Spirit is offended by anything within our dress or conduct we would lose that sense of what is sacred.  Elder Christofferson explained,

“When you develop a deepening reverence for sacred things, the Holy Spirit becomes your frequent and then constant companion. You grow in understanding and truth…”

Elder Christofferson also warned,

“On the other hand, those who do not appreciate holy things will lose them. Absent a feeling of reverence, they will grow increasingly casual in attitude and conduct. They will drift from the moorings that their covenants with God could provide. Their feelings of accountability to God will diminish and then be forgotten. Thereafter, they will care only about their own comfort and satisfying their uncontrolled appetites. Finally, they will come to despise sacred things, even God, and then they will despise themselves.”

The commandments of the Gospel, as well as the covenants we make in the temple, are a protection to us as we go throughout this life.  It is a blessing and a privilege to know these things and live accordingly, and it’s never too early or too late to start.

The second way to prepare ourselves and our families to go to the Temple is to live our lives as if we had already made temple covenants. We must teach our children to live according to Church standards regarding honesty, modesty, chastity, living the word of wisdom, etc.  Those who do this will have the companionship of the Holy Ghost to guide them and broaden their understanding. 

Growing up my sisters and I were taught to dress modestly, meaning that we wouldn’t have to change anything about the way we dressed even after we had gone to the temple.  This not only prepared us to go, but it was the beginning of understanding that immodest dress was disrespectful to ourselves as well as to the Lord.  It is not just an arbitrary rule or mere suggestion, if the Lord requires it of His covenant-making people it is because He expects that they understand the reason behind it. This goes back to my first suggestion of reverencing the sacred, and includes sloppy and casual dress or behavior as well. In that same CES broadcast I referred to before, Elder Christofferson explained,

“Some say dress and hair don’t matter—they say it’s what’s inside that counts. I believe that it is what’s inside a person that truly counts, but that’s what worries me. Casual dress at holy places and events is a message about what is inside a person. It may be pride or rebellion or something else, but at a minimum it says, “I don’t get it. I don’t understand the difference between the sacred and the profane.”

In a 1998 devotional at BYU-Idaho (then Ricks College), Elder David A. Bednar as the President of the institution explained the seemingly strict honor and dress codes to students saying,

“My dear young brothers and sisters, the honor code and dress codes are not obstacles designed by out of touch old people to hassle you during your time on the [BYU-Idaho] campus. Rather, the honor code is a lesser law preparation to enter the house of the Lord and make sacred covenants, and the dress code is a lesser law preparation for how you will dress and should act after you entered in to those covenants.  If you struggle at [BYU-Idaho] to obey the lesser and preparatory guidelines contained in the honor and dress codes, then may I candidly suggest that you will not be prepared to make those covenants in the temple.”

Such preparations and principles must be taught in the home.  In the recent October General Conference, Elder Quentin L. Cook called upon parents to combat the sinking morals of society saying,

“Parents, the days are long past when regular, active participation in Church meetings and programs, though essential, can fulfill your sacred responsibility to teach your children to live moral, righteous lives and walk uprightly before the Lord. With President Monson’s announcement this morning, it is essential that this be faithfully accomplished in homes which are places of refuge where kindness, forgiveness, truth, and righteousness prevail. Parents must have the courage to filter or monitor Internet access, television, movies, and music. Parents must have the courage to say no, defend truth, and bear powerful testimony. Your children need to know that you have faith in the Savior, love your Heavenly Father, and sustain the leaders of the Church. Spiritual maturity must flourish in our homes.”

Elder Perry and Elder Perkins also addressed this topic of teaching our children and strengthening families as did many other general authorities in the recent conference.  I encourage you to go back and study those talks, specifically looking for ways we can prepare for entering the temple. It seemed to me that one of the over-arching themes of this last conference was that we must strive to gain a testimony of the Gospel by study and prayer and then seek true conversion through living the Gospel. This is a life-long process, which brings me to my third and final suggestion.

We must plan to continue to acquire gospel knowledge, and plan to attend the temple regularly throughout our lives.

Finally going to the temple is not the end-all destination for true disciples of Jesus Christ. Going for ourselves is an extremely important step in our eternal progression, but if we are truly converted we will understand, and like the fruit of the tree of life in Lehi’s dream, we would rejoice and desire that all may partake (1 Nephi 8:12). Luckily we are blessed to be able to return to the Temple as often as we like as we serve those who have gone on before us by doing those ordinances for them by proxy which they cannot do for themselves.  This is how I understand the scripture that explains, “they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect.” (D&C 128:15).  I think that in some ways, we would have a harder time becoming perfected if we could not go to the temple over and over again for them, being reminded of our covenants and learning more and more each time we go.

  

In another talk by Elder Bednar, this time from April of 2009, he speaks of conversations he had with emeritus general authorities who later became temple presidents.  He asked them what they had learned as temple presidents that they wished they had better understood as general authorities. The answers that came could be summarized in this way:

“I have come to understand better the protection available through our temple covenants and what it means to make an acceptable offering of temple worship. There is a difference between church-attending, tithe-paying members who occasionally rush into the temple to go through a session and those members who faithfully and consistently worship in the temple.”

How grateful I am that we will soon have the temple in Boise rededicated and functional again.  It is my hope that all of us will try harder to make it to the temple whether for the first time or the 101^st, and that we will make it a regular habit. 

I know that as we do this, and as we diligently strive to teach our families and prepare ourselves, making worthy goals of temple attendance, the Lord will magnify our efforts and bless us.

I leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Sacrament Meeting Talk: "The Principles of Righteousness"

True Doctrine/True Principles

A talk, adapted from Elder Larry Y. Wilson’s conference address: “Only Upon the Principles of Righteousness.”

You might have caught this already, but the theme for this month’s sacrament meetings has been “True Doctrine, True Principles.”  To give direction to my talk, I will be using the April 2012 General Conference address of Elder Larry Y. Wilson, titled; “Only Upon the Principles of Righteousness.”  His talk was mostly directed to parents and leaders as they teach those within their stewardships, but I believe the principles spoken of could be helpful in any situation by anyone wanting to teach and influence others as friends, neighbors, or even as missionaries.

Elder Wilson explained these “Principles of Righteousness” to be those spoken of in D&C 121 when it says that we must act “only, by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness, and meekness and by love unfeigned… by kindness, and pure knowledge… without hypocrisy, without guile… Reproving betimes with ^bsharpness, when ^cmoved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of ^dlove toward him whom thou hast reproved… Let thy ^abowels also be full of charity towards all men… and let ^bvirtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly… The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant ^acompanion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of ^brighteousness and truth…”

Although this section was specifically about the priesthood, Elder Wilson uses it as a pattern for all parents, both mothers and fathers, and leaders in the Church as they help others to build a link with heaven that will provide them the means for personal revelation and to strengthen their faith and testimonies.

As an unfortunate example, I had a non-member friend once tell me that essentially living among members of our Church had turned her off toward ever becoming one of us.  Everyone was always so quick to tell her that she was wrong, and once they saw they couldn’t “dunk” her, they lost interest in her.  Others didn’t even bother talking to her but just sent the missionaries by anonymously.  Still, she was actually interested and had learned enough about our church, and was impressed with those of us that she knew personally, that she told me that she refused to join any other Church because they didn’t accept Mormons.  However, she also refused to join our Church, because she believed that we didn’t accept anyone else.  This isn’t true, but those well meaning neighbors had failed to act upon the principles of righteousness, and exhibit Christ-like love and acceptance of her, whether or not she was ready to hear the Gospel and be baptized.

On the other hand, I recently read an article by another non-member who said this of his Mormon neighbors: “When I first moved to Pocatello, I lived in a cul de sac and seven of my nine neighbors belonged to the LDS Church. Nobody tried to convert me. They invited me to church picnics – no pressure. My next-door neighbor spent nearly two hours one weekday morning (he was late to work) helping me restore my snow blower to life after five years in the humid South. Another helped flush and fix my sprinkler system. A third returned my dogs after they’d escaped. Several just showed up with family members to help me move in. A fourth one tossed me the keys to his Cadillac after the transmission in my Suburban disassembled on my driveway. "Bring it back when you don’t need it anymore," he said.”

Now there’s some kindness, some patience, some love un-feigned.

I admit that even as a missionary these attributes didn’t come naturally to me. I remember when I finally came to the realization that there wasn’t anything I could do or say to make anyone believe that the Gospel was true. I learned the language, I studied the scriptures so I could answer questions and refute erroneous beliefs, and I often reverted to logic to appeal to their intellectual sensibilities, but obviously I wasn’t having much success.  I struggled as I tried to convince my investigators of the truth, and finally it dawned on me. One day as I was reading in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, I came upon these words in vs 4, “And my ^aspeech and my preaching was not with ^benticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the ^cSpirit and of ^dpower:

 5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the ^apower of God.” 

Further along in 1st Cor. in chapter 12 vs. 3 I also read that “no man can ^asay that Jesus is the ^bLord, but by the ^cHoly Ghost.”

As I let that sink in, these words came into my head, and I wrote them down;

“God knows what his children need to hear --each of them.  If I am so ignorant to assume that I know what they need to hear based on the little I know about them, I may be successful 1 in 10 times –but the other 9, I will have failed miserably. I cannot do it on my own.  Not any amount of words, no matter how well put, will ever convince anyone of the truth unless the Spirit of the holy Ghost is present, and when that is the case, it can take as little as two: ‘He lives.’”

As a missionary I had not been employing the principles of righteousness I just mentioned.  I had been impatient, in some ways, arrogant, and ultimately I had failed to allow these investigators to feel the Holy Ghost and to come to know for themselves the truthfulness of the Gospel.  In a way, I had been exercising unrighteous dominion over them. As soon as I stopped trying to prove and started trying to love, the Holy Ghost was there to bear witness of what we were teaching, and we started seeing success.  Not that it was our success, but our investigators were successful in seeking and finding the answers they were looking for, and gained strong testimonies of the truth.

This same principle applies to teaching our children.

Not only do we have to teach them about the world around them, it’s dangers and pitfalls, as well as how to regulate themselves and act appropriately, but we must teach them how to find their own way, relying on the lord, and making their own choices.  We cannot make their choices for them, and we cannot force them to do what’s right.  They need to develop their own testimonies, and forge a link with heaven, so that they will have a source of personal strength and guidance.

Elder Wilson said, “Our children are in our homes for a limited time. If we wait until they walk out the door to turn over to them the reins of their moral agency, we have waited too long. They will not suddenly develop the ability to make wise decisions if they have never been free to make any important decisions while in our homes. Such children often either rebel against this compulsion or are crippled by an inability to make any decisions on their own.”

“…helping children exercise their agency properly requires teaching them how to pray and receive answers to their prayers. There must also be teaching about the value and purpose of obedience as well as about all other essential principles of the gospel.”

As a parent, I am given daily opportunities to teach and guide my children to become more independent, and to develop their faith and trust in the Lord.  Not that I always take those opportunities—I am far from perfect and to tell you the truth, I think this is why I was asked to give this talk, because I need help in this area. 

Luckily the Lord will give us indicators along the way to help us change our course if we stray.  One Sunday, during Sacrament meeting, I noticed my 4 yr old sitting so quietly folding his arms, so I decided to take the opportunity for some positive reinforcement.  I leaned over and told him “You’re being so good and reverent, I’m really proud of you and I love you.”  He turned to me sweetly, giving me a hug, and then whispered in my ear, “And what are you going to give me?”

Like I said, I’m not perfect.

I’m afraid I often catch myself, in answer to their many “why’s,” saying, “Because I told you so!”  or, “I”m not in the mood to explain, just take my word for it.”  This is not very patient or loving, I know.

I also I realize though that as I shelter them protect them from making mistakes, I am not allowing them to make choices and learn for themselves. In a way, my so-called “love” for them takes away opportunities for growth and development. 

Elder Wilson addressed this saying, “Wise parents prepare their children to get along without them. They provide opportunities for growth as children acquire the spiritual maturity to exercise their agency properly. And yes, this means children will sometimes make mistakes and learn from them.”

He went on to tell a story about when his daughter was a teenager and played on a soccer team.  The team went to the championships, and it just so happened that the championship game landed on a Sunday.  She asked her parents what she should do and they read some scriptures with her and counseled with her about what kinds of activities were appropriate for the Sabbath. But in the end they encouraged her to pray about it and ultimately left the decision up to her.

Well, she chose to play the game.  Now what could they do but let her?

As her mother picked her up after the game, their daughter, with a downcast look said, “That felt awful!  I never want to feel that way again.”

I don’t think she could have learned that lesson quite so well if they hadn’t let her make that choice for herself and experience the consequences.  It’s ok to let kids make these small mistakes while they’re young, so that they avoid making bigger mistakes, when the stakes are higher, later on in life.  Of course, all within reason. 

I am not a perfect parent, but I am trying.  I know that as I do, and as I rely on the Lord, applying and internalizing these principles of righteousness, not only can I teach others and help them to make this important link with heaven, but I can also become more Christ-like, and ultimately, come closer to reaching my own divine potential. 

I know that our Father in Heaven has perfected these things, showing us the ultimate example in how He teaches us, His children; and as we develop these principles of righteousness in ourselves, we can become more like Him, and receive all that He has.

Hope

This is the talk I gave in Church today, more or less.

Hope:

As I began thinking about this subject, the first thing to come to mind was Emily Dickenson’s poem that begins, “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.”

It’s a lovely poem, in fact, one of her more positive ones. 

Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune--without the words, And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm That could abash the little bird That kept so many warm. I've heard it in the chillest land, And on the strangest sea; Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me.

It describes hope as a bird, that never stops singing it’s sweet tune, is everywhere from “chillest land” to “strangest sea”, where it warms people, never asking a thing in return, and is not easily “abashed” except for by “the sorest storm.”

As I thought about this metaphor for hope, I found myself thinking that however beautiful it sounded in prose, this wasn’t exactly the same kind of hope taught to us within the context of the Gospel.  There was something lacking.

In everyday speech, the word “hope” gets used a lot: “I hope it’s not going to snow this weekend,” (or that it is if you’re a skier), “I hope I get what I asked Santa for,” or “I hope I don’t make a complete fool of myself while giving my talk today…”  :)

 I’m afraid that in the colloquial sense, “I hope,” becomes “I wish.”

So my purpose in speaking to you today is to help you to understand what hope is in the Gospel sense of the word, how we can acquire it, and how it can help us through the tough times in our lives which will surely come.

Hope, in the Gospel sense.

“Wishing” is not what Ether spoke of when he said, “Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with ^asurety ^bhope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God…” (Ether 12:4).

The key to the kind of hope we’re speaking about is found in that word, “Believeth” and if we keep going it continues, “which ^chope cometh of ^dfaith, maketh an ^eanchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast…”

So Faith is the key to Hope, but not just any faith; to further explain and clarify it, Mormon teaches us what kind of faith we must have in order to have this hope when he says, “Behold I say unto you that ye shall have ^bhope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life ^ceternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.” (Mni 7:41)

Faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ is what gives us hope –a “surety” of hope, or in the words of Nephi, “A perfect brightness of hope.” (2 Ne. 31:20)  that his promises will be fulfilled.

What a wonderful thing!

With the world’s use of the word hope there is a degree of uncertainty, but in the words of the scriptures, given to us from the mouths of the holy prophets, there is nothing more sure.

How to acquire hope.

So how do we acquire this hope?  While we live in such a world full of turmoil and suffering, hope is often hard to come by.  The very signs of the times include the prophecy that “men’s hearts shall fail them” (D&C 45:26).

In Moroni 10:22 we learn that “if ye have no hope ye must needs be in ^adespair; and despair cometh because of iniquity.”

Well of course it does!  Isn’t iniquity the very manifestation of a lack of Faith?

This includes not only sins of commission, but sins of omission. 

I admit that there have been times in my life when I have been very lax in my scripture study and personal prayer.  A few months after my first son was born, as the sleepless nights and constant fatigue of caring for a new baby dragged on, I found it difficult to get a shower, let alone read my scriptures, and although I tried to keep up my prayers, I often drifted off in the middle –if I even finished at all. One night, as I was feeding my little one in the wee hours of the morning, my mind was wandering and I was startled by the realization that if something bad happened to my baby or my husband, I wasn’t sure if I would have the faith needed to endure it.  I couldn’t say that I was confident that it was the Lord’s will, I couldn’t say that I wouldn’t doubt that there even was a God who cared about me, and I couldn’t say that believing in such a God wasn’t a mere fancy of the human race to make themselves feel better about things.  This realization shook me.  After all, I had been faithful all my life, I had gone on a mission, I been married in the temple, I was going to church each Sunday… however, for some time I had been neglecting those small yet important daily reminders and communions with the Spirit that are essential in keeping your faith bright and strong. It was a lesson to me just how easy it is to get casual about the gospel and be “lull[ed] away into carnal security” (2 Ne. 28:21).  When this happens we can lose sight of that hope. I confess I have had to dust off the old testimony more than once since then, but with a little work, it can burn bright again.

Mormon has taught us, “Wherefore, if a man have ^afaith he ^bmust needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.” (Mni 7:42)

In short, we acquire and maintain hope by nurturing our Faith, and we do that by obedience, by repentance, and by learning more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ through scripture study and prayer.

How hope can help us through the tough times in this life.

Once we understand who we are in relation to our Heavenly Father, our purpose here on earth, and what glory awaits those who endure to the end and are entitled to enter into His rest, we can have that hope which is spoken of in the Gospel sense of the word. 

It is the surety of hope that brings us peace and comfort in the face of adversity, it is the perfect brightness of hope that buoys up our spirits, and gives us a love for all mankind. And that brings me to the third part of this natural progression: Charity. 

You can’t speak of Faith and Hope without speaking of Charity.

In the Book of Mormon Reference Companion, under Hope, it reads, “As a person’s faith in Christ begins [to grow], his hope in Christ is awakened and strengthened.  His heart expands with greater love, even ‘perfect love,’ for others.  Thus personal hope springs from faith in Jesus Christ and leads to charity through the power of the comforter.”

I saw this process come to life So many times as people were converted to the gospel on my mission.

One young man in particular, stands out in my memory. Although I don’t recall his name --I only met him briefly, I won’t forget his story.   I met him when I traveled to a city in the west of Poland for a zone conference. My companion and I arrived at the meetinghouse late the night before, and since the Elders couldn’t be out past curfew, they asked this young man to escort us to where the other sisters lived. He had been helping them teach another one of their investigators, and according to the Elders, he was “on fire” when it came to sharing the gospel. He was very courteous and respectful as he helped us get our bags onto and off of the bus, and I felt quite safe with him as we walked the few blocks to the sisters’ apartment building through the darkened streets and alleyways. 

It wasn’t until the next day that I learned from the elders that the young man wasn’t a member.  I was surprised; I had assumed he was a member since he was constantly going with them to help on discussions.  I had an even bigger shock when I found out that although baptism was what he desired most, he was waiting patiently for permission from the First Presidency because years previously he had been a member of the mafia while he lived in Canada, and as such had done stuff… I won’t say what, we’ll just say …things that were contrary to the law, not to mention the Commandments (namely the 6^th).

I’m afraid I don’t know the rest of the story, I’d like to think that he is baptized now, forgiven of his sins, and is a strength to the Church in that area, but I just don’t know.  Still, what I gained from his example is a greater appreciation for the power of faith --which to a young man who had been through so much, gave such hope that he couldn’t help but share it with others.  It was like witnessing a real-life Alma the Younger –whose story of conversion is one of the most inspiring stories of hope and redemption that the Book of Mormon has to offer, and just like Alma the younger, his love of the Gospel and of all mankind was helping him, in a way, undo some of what he had done in years past as he taught others and awakened this hope in many.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I’d like to return to the Emily Dickenson poem that I began with. I hate to be contrary, but I have to say that hope is not merely a thing with feathers; that is too fragile a picture.  For when the “sorest storm” arises, the kind of Hope that is centered, in faith, on the atonement of Jesus Christ, strengthened by our daily strivings, will stand firm like the house that was built upon the Rock. 

This is the Hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is the hope of eternal life given so freely through the merits of the Savior and the infinite mercy of a Loving Father in Heaven.  It is the assurance that whatever hardships we experience in this life, it is for “but a small moment” (D&C 121:7), and it is “for [our] good” (D&C 122:7), and that if we hold out faithful, enduring to the end, we will be “heirs… and joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17) of all that the Father has in store for us.

This is my prayer, that we may share this message of hope with the world, that all may partake of His Glory, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.