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So It Is That Real, Personal Sacrifice Never Was Placing An Animal On The Altar. Instead, It Is A Willingness To Put The Animal In Us Upon The Altar And Letting It Be Consumed! Such Is The 'sacrifice Unto The Lord... Of A Broken Heart And A Contrite Spirit,' (d&c 59:8), A Prerequisite To Taking Up The Cross, While Giving 'away All [our] Sins' In Order To 'know God' (alma 22:18) For The Denial Of Self Precedes The Full Acceptance Of Him.
-Neal A. Maxwell
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So It Is That

Neal A. Maxwell
So It Is That Real, Personal Sacrifice Never Was Placing An Animal On The Altar. Instead, It Is A Willingness To Put The Animal In Us Upon The Altar And Letting It Be Consumed! Such Is The 'sacrifice Unto The Lord... Of A Broken Heart And A Contrite Spirit,' (d&c 59:8), A Prerequisite To Taking Up The Cross, While Giving 'away All [our] Sins' In Order To 'know God' (alma 22:18) For The Denial Of Self Precedes The Full Acceptance Of Him.
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Real
Heart
Acceptance
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Our Journey Is Demanding Enough That The Need For Reassurance As Well As Reminders Is Constant.
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If Another Person Only Had In His Storehouse Of Deserved Self-esteem What You Had Put There, What Would He Have To Draw Upon And To Sustain Him?
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Beware Not To Get Caught Up In The Thick Of Thin Things.
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Selfishness
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Use
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Voice
Heaven
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Stress
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Those Few Members Who Desert The Cause Are Abandoning An Oasis To Search For Water In The Desert.
Oasis
Water
Desert
Discouragement Is Not The Absence Of Adequacy But The Absence Of Courage.
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Adequacy
Absence
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Good Friend
Crucifixion Of Christ
Don't Fear, Just Live Right.
Inspirational
Fear
Justice
We Can Hold To The Iron Rod Even If Others Slip Away And A Few End Up Mocking Us From "the Great And Spacious Building."
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Building
Ends
Ultimate Hope Constitutes The Anchor Of The Soul.
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Soul
Ultimate
If We Entertain Temptations, Soon They Begin Entertaining Us!
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Ifs
The Acceptance Of The Reality That We Are In The Lord's Loving Hands Is Only A Recognition That We Have Never Really Been Anywhere Else.
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Reality
Hands
We Can Be Of So Much Service To Others In Many Thou-shalt Ways. Of Course, The Problem Is That Rendering Such Service Takes Time, And We Are All So Busy. Some Situations May Call For Service That Somehow Seems To Be Beneath Us. Besides, We Have Other Things To Do. The Thou Shalts Are So Convenient To Put Off. Who Will Notice The Procrastination Anyway? After All, We Are Not Robbing A Bank. Or Are There Forms Of Withholding That Constitute Stealing?
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Joshua Didn't Say Choose You Next Year Whom You Will Serve; He Spoke Of "this Day," While There Is Still Daylight And Before The Darkness Becomes More And More Normal.
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Years
Darkness
Our God Is A God Of Love. He Waits With Open Arms, And The Unfolding Of His Merciful Plan Of Salvation Is Not Only Therefore The Mark Of Divine Power But Also The Mark Of God's Relentless, Redeeming Love. It Is A Point Well Worth Pondering Because, Among Other Reasons, It Will Help Us To Understand Better Why God, Through The Prophets, Denounces Sin And Corruption In Such Scalding Terms. He Loves All Of Us, His Spirit Sons And Daughters, But Hates Our Vices. His Denunciation Of Those Vices May, If We Are Not Careful, Seem To Obscure The Enormous And Perfect Love He Has For Us.
Love
Daughter
Hate
Each Of Us Is An Innkeeper Who Decides If There Is Room For Jesus!
Jesus
Rooms
Ifs
We Tend To Think Of Consecration Only As Yielding Up, When Divinely Directed, Our Material Possessions. But Ultimate Consecration Is The Yielding Up Of Oneself To God. Heart, Soul, And Mind Were The Encompassing Words Of Christ In Describing The First Commandment, Which Is Constantly, Not Periodically, Operative (see Matt. 22:37). If Kept, Then Our Performances Will, In Turn, Be Fully Consecrated For The Lasting Welfare Of Our Souls (see 2 Ne. 32:9).
Heart
Thinking
Soul
These Really Are Our Days, And We Can Prevail And Overcome, Even In The Midst Of Trends That Are Very Disturbing. If We Are Faithful The Day Will Come When Those Deserving Pioneers And Ancestors, Whom We Rightly Praise For Having Overcome The Adversities In The Wilderness Trek, Will Praise Today’s Faithful For Having Made Their Way Successfully Through A Desert Of Despair And For Having Passed Through A Cultural Wilderness, While Still Keeping The Faith.
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Lds
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Our Goals Should Stretch Us Bit By Bit. So Often When We Think We Have Encountered A Ceiling, It Is Really A Psychological Or Experimental Barrier That We Have Built Ourselves. We Built It And We Can Remove It. Just As Correct Principles, When Applied, Carry Their Own Witness That They Are True, So Do Correct Personal Improvement Programs. But We Must Not Expect Personal Improvement Without Pain Or Some 'remodeling.' We Can't Expect To Have The Thrills Of Revealed Religion Without The Theology. We Cannot Expect To Have The Soul Stretching Without Christian Service.
Christian
Pain
Thinking
As We Come Closer To Him, We Not Only "stand All Amazed"-we Even Kneel All Amazed!
Prayer
Amazed
It Is So Easy To Be Confrontive Without Being Informative; Indignant Without Being Intelligent; Impulsive Without Being Insightful.
Power
Intelligent
Insightful
Naive Optimism And Pervasive Pessimism Are Both To Be Avoided, Therefore. It's Not An Easy Balance To Maintain, To Be Asked To Work Away In The Ninevehs Of Our Lives Without Being So Conscious Of The Coming Cataclysm That We Are Not Serious Citizens Of Our Communities And Nations. By Living And Sharing The Gospel Of Jesus Christ, We Are Doing The Most Relevant Thing We Can Do By Way Of Helping. (there Are Civic And Other Chores To Be Done, Of Course.) Day In And Day Out, The Gospel Is The One Thing That Is Most Relevant, And We Are To Be Of Good Cheer.
Life
Jesus
Cheer
It Is Not The Years But The Changes That Make Us Grow.
Change
Years
Grows
Therefore, As We Strive To Become As The Father Is And As Jesus Is, We Are To Become More Gracious And Merciful, More Kind And Considerate. Even More, We Are To Do This In A World Which Does Little To Encourage Such Qualities Of Character.
Jesus
Father
Character
Thus It Is That Our Faith And Trust In Our Heavenly Father, So Far As This Mortal Experience Is Concerned, Consists Not Simply Of Faith And Gladness That He Exists, But Is Also A Faith And Trust That, If We Are Humble, He Will Tutor Us, Aiding Our Acquisition Of Needed Attributes And Experiences While We Are In Mortality. We Trust Not Only The Designer But Also His Design Of Life Itself, Including Our Portion Thereof!
Father
Humble
Design
Any Assessment Of Where We Stand In Relationship To Him Tells Us That We Do Not Stand At All. We Kneel.
Assessment
It Is Extremely Important For You To Believe In Yourselves, Not Only For What You Are Now, But For What You Have The Power To Become.
Inspirational
Life
Believe
The Unwillingness Of Most Leaders To Set Standards, To Administer Feedback When Standards Are Not Met, To Praise Clearly When Standards Are Met, Stands In The Way Of The Development Of Excellence. The Leader Who Makes No Demands Of His Disciples Cannot Really Lead Them At All. The Sense Of New Excitement And New Challenge Generated By The Gospel Will Be Blunted By Leaders Who Shield Followers From The Full Demands Of Fellowship.
Leader
Challenges
Excellence
The Submissive Will Make It Through To That Final Scene, For The Word Of God Will Lead The Man And Woman Of Christ "in A Straight And Narrow Course Across That Everlasting Gulf Of Misery . . . And Land Their Souls . . . At The Right Hand Of God In The Kingdom, To Sit Down With Abraham, And Isaac, And With Jacob, And With All Our Holy Fathers" (helaman 3:30) "who Have Been Ever Since The World Began . . . To Go No More Out."
Father
Men
Hands
Meekness, The Subtraction Of Self, Reduces The Multiplication Of Words.
Self
Subtraction
Meekness
We Can Tell Much By What We Have Already Willing Discarded Along The Pathway Of Discipleship. It Is The Only Pathway Where Littering Is Permissible, Even Encouraged. In The Early Stages, The Debris Left Behind Includes The Grosser Sins Of Commission. Later Debris Differs; Things Begin To Be Discarded Which Have Caused The Misuse Or Underuse Of Our Time And Talent.
Pathways
Littering
Talent
We Must Endure The Contempt Of Others Without Reciprocating That Contempt.
Endure
Contempt
Conscience Warns Us Not To Sink Our Cleats Too Deeply In Mortal Turf, Which Is So Dangerously Artificial.
Cleats
Artificial
Turf
The Dues Of Discipleship Are High Indeed, And How Much We Can Take So Often Determines How Much We Can Then Give.
Giving
Discipleship
Determine
Truly We Work And Live On A Streetful Of Splendid People, Whom We Are To Love And Serve Even If They Are Uninterested In Us!
People
Splendid
Ifs
Eventually, There Will Not Be Enough Prisons If There Are Not Enough Good Homes.
Home
Prison
Enough
Frequently, We Busily Search For Group Service Projects, Which Are Surely Needed And Commendable, When Quiet, Personal Service Is Also Urgently Needed. Sometimes The Completing Of An Occasional Group Service Project Ironically Salves Our Consciences When, In Fact, We Are Constantly Surrounded By A Multitude Of Opportunities For Individual Service. In Serving, As In True Worship, We Need To Do Some Things Together And Some Things Personally. Our Spiritual Symmetry Is Our Own Responsibility, And Balance Is So Important.
Spiritual
Responsibility
Opportunity
Blessed Is He Who Will Not Be Offended
Blessed
Offended
We Cannot Repent For Someone Else. But We Can Forgive Someone Else, Refusing To Hold Hostage Those Whom The Lord Seeks To Set Free!
Forgiving
Lord
Repent
One Day The Faithful Will Have It All!
Faith
Faithful
One Day
Ultimate Hope And Daily Grumpiness Are Not Reconcilable.
Grumpiness
Ultimate
The Savior Knows What It's Like To Die Of Cancer.
Cancer
Savior
Knows
Meanwhile, Spiritual Submissiveness Brings About The Wiser Use Of Our Time, Talents, And Gifts As Compared With Our Laboring Diligently But Conditionally To Establish Our Own Righteousness Instead Of The Lord's (d&c 1:16). After All, Lucifer Was Willing To Work Very Hard, But Conditionally In His Own Way And For His Own Purposes.
Spiritual
Time
Work
I Find That Goal Setting, When Done This Way, Leads To Goal Achieving. The Chronic Failure To Achieve Goals Lowers Self-esteem. Show Me A Failure To Achieve A Goal, And Usually I Can Show You The Violation Of One Or More Of The Above Criteria. Imposed Goals, Vague Goals, And Unrealistic Goals Tend To Produce Only Partial Successes And Outright Failures.
Self Esteem
Generosity
Goal
Personal, Spiritual Symmetry Emerges Only From The Shaping Of Prolonged Obedience. Twigs Are Bent, Not Snapped Into Shape.
Spiritual
Shapes
Obedience
It Is One Of The Great Ironies Of Human History That Some Mortals With Incorrect Understanding Of God And Life's Purposes Sometimes Scold God Because Of The Abundance Of Human Misery And Suffering-which, Indeed, Lies All About Us. Such Individuals Almost Dare God To Demonstrate His Existence By Straightening Things Out-and At Once! But He Is A Much Different Kind Of Father Than That. Surely It Is Requisite To Eternal Life That We Come To Know God And Jesus Christ Whom He Has Sent (see John 17:3).
Jesus
Father
Lying
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Children
Joy
Missionary
The Flame Of Family Can Warm Us And At The Same Time Be A Perpetual Pilot Light To Rekindle Us.
Light
Flames
Pilots
The Cumulative Weight Of All Mortal Sins--past, Present, And Future--pressed Upon That Perfect, Sinless, And Sensitive Soul! All Our Infirmities And Sicknesses Were Somehow, Too, A Part Of The Awful Arithmetic Of The Atonement. (see Alma 7:11-12; Isa. 53:3-5; Matt. 8:17.) The Anguished Jesus Not Only Pled With The Father That The Hour And Cup Might Pass From Him, But With This Relevant Citation. 'and He Said, Abba, Father, All Things Are Possible Unto Thee; Take Away This Cup From Me.' (mark 14:35-36.)
Jesus
Father
Past
It Is Extremely Important For You To Believe In Yourselves Not Only For What You Are Now But For What You Have The Power To Become. Trust In The Lord As He Leads You Along. He Has Things For You To Do That You Won't Know About Now But That Will Unfold Later. If You Stay Close To Him, You Will Have Some Great Adventures. You Will Live In A Time Where Instead Of Sometimes Being Fulfilled, Many Of Them Will Actually Be Fulfilled. The Lord Will Unfold Your Future Bit By Bit.
Believe
Adventure
Important
Listen To These Wounds Of Pain Put In The Form Of Questions To Me By A Young Woman Who Had Had Two Abortions: "i Wonder About The Spirits Of Those I Had Aborted, If They Were There, If They Were Hurt? I Was Under Three Months Each Time, But A Mother Feels Life Before She Feels Movement." "i Wonder If They Are Lost And Alone?" "i Wonder If They Will Ever Have A Body?" "i Wonder If I Will Ever Have A Chance Again To Bring Those Spirits Back As Mine?" Alas, Brothers And Sisters, "wickedness Never Was Happiness" (alma 41:10).
Life
Mother
Hurt
Though We Live In A Failing World, We Have Not Been Sent Here To Fail.
World
Failing
When, As President Joseph F. Smith Said, We "catch A Spark From The Awakened Memories Of The Immortal Soul, "let Us Be Quietly Grateful. When Of Great Truths We Can Say "i Know," That Powerful Spiritual Witness May Also Carry With It The Sense Of Our Having Known Before. With Rediscovery, We Are Really Saying "i Know - Again!"
Spiritual
Memories
Powerful
No Love Is Ever Wasted. Its Worth Does Not Lie In Reciprocity.
Lying
Love Is
Doe
Time Management Tips: One Can Make A Radar-like Sweep Of The Horizon To Identify Time And Task Challenges While These Are Still Manageable And While We Still Have A Choice. The Organizational Adage, "the More Parts, The More Trouble," Also Applies To Words. Multiplying Words May Actually Multiply The Probability Of Being Misunderstood; Economies In Expression (without Being Taciturn Or Aloof) Not Only Save Time, But Usually Are More Honest And More Clear.
Expression
Choices
Challenges
During Our Mortal Schooling In Submissiveness, We Will See The Visible Crosses That Some Carry, But Other Crosses Will Go Unseen. A Few Individuals May Appear To Have No Trials At All, Which, If It Were So, Would Be A Trial In Itself. Indeed, If, As Do Trees, Our Souls Had Rings To Measure The Years Of Greatest Personal Growth, The Wide Rings Would Likely Reflect The Years Of Greatest Moisture-but From Tears, Not Rainfall.
Adversity
Years
Tree
In A 'wheat And Tares' World, How Unusually Blessed Faithful Members Are To Have The Precious And Constant Gift Of The Holy Ghost With Reminders Of What Is Right And Of The Covenants We Have Made. 'for Behold, ... The Holy Ghost ... Will Show Unto You All Things What Ye Should Do.' (2 Ne. 32:5.) Whatever The Decibels Of Decadence, These Need Not Overwhelm The Still, Small Voice! Some Of The Best Sermons We Will Ever Hear Will Be Thus Prompted From The Pulpit Of Memory—to An Audience Of One!
Memories
Blessed
Voice
Let The Scriptures Refresh You.
Scripture
There Will Be Many Fine And Wonderful Men And Women Of All Races And Creeds-and Of No Religious Creeds At All-who Will Lead Decent And Useful Lives.
Religious
Men
Race
To One Degree Or Another We All Struggle With Selfishness. Since It Is So Common, Why Worry About Selfishness Anyway? Because Selfishness Is Really Self-destruction In Slow Motion. No Wonder The Prophet Joseph Smith Urged, "let Every Selfish Feeling Be Not Only Buried, But Annihilated" (teachings Of The Prophet Joseph Smith, P. 178). Hence Annihilation - Not Moderation - Is The Destination! . . . Meekness Is The Real Cure, For It Does Not Merely Mask Selfishness But Dissolves It!
Selfish
Real
Struggle
Listening Is One Of The Forms Of Love.
Listening
Form
Forms Of Love
While Most Of Our Suffering Is Self- Inflicted, Some Is Caused By Or Permitted By God. This Sobering Reality Calls For Deep Submissiveness, Especially When God Does Not Remove The Cup From Us. In Such Circumstances, When Reminded About The Premortal Shouting For Joy As This Life's Plan Was Unfolded (job 38:7), We Can Perhaps Be Pardoned If, In Some Moments, We Wonder What All The Shouting Was About.
Jobs
Reality
Self
On The Straight And Narrow Path, There Are Simply No Corners To Be Cut.
Cutting
Path
Corners
The True Christian Is A Communicator.
Christian
Communicators
How Myopic It Is To View His Ministry As All Crucifixion And No Resurrection!
Views
Ministry
Myopic
These Transcending Truths Restructure Our Understanding Of Ourselves And Of The Universe And Bring Within Our View Resplendent Reality. To Be Seen Only By Those Who Have Eyes To See, These Flakes Of Fire Are Embedded In The Holy Scriptures. There These Tr.
Eye
Reality
Fire
Though We Have Rightly Applauded Our Ancestors For Their Spiritual Achievements (and Do Not And Must Not Discount Them Now), Those Of Us Who Prevail Today Will Have Done No Small Thing. The Special Spirits Who Have Been Reserved To Live In This Time Of Challenges And Who Overcome Will One Day Be Praised For Their Stamina By Those Who Pulled Handcarts.
Spiritual
Achievement
Challenges
Some Mothers In Today's World Feel "cumbered" By Home Duties And Are Thus Attracted By Other More "romantic" Challenges. Such Women Could Make The Same Error Of Perspective That Martha Made. The Woman, For Instance, Who Deserts The Cradle In Order To Help Defend Civilization Against The Barbarians May Well Later Meet, Among The Barbarians, Her Own Neglected Child.
Mother
Children
Home
God’s Grace Will Cover Us Like A Cloak-enough To Provide For Survival But Too Thin To Keep Out All The Cold.
Lds
Grace
Survival
Coming Unto The Lord Is Not A Negotiation, But A Surrender.
Surrender
Lord
Negotiation
Pure Religion Is Having The Courage To Do What Is Right And Let The Consequence Follow.
Courage
Chasms
Pure
The Authority Of Example And Considerations Of Character, Unlike Pudding, Are Not Whipped Up In An Instant.
Character
Example
Pudding
If We Are Serious About Our Discipleship, Jesus Will Eventually Request Each Of Us To Do Those Very Things Which Are Most Difficult For Us To Do.
Jesus
Serious
Discipleship
If The Kingdom Of God Is Not First, It Doesn't Matter What's Second.
Kingdoms
Matter
Firsts
Of All The Errors One Could Make, God's Gospel Plan Is The Wrong Thing To Be Wrong About.
Errors
Plans
Wrong Things
When Great Individuals Move So Marvelously Along The Straight And Narrow Path, It Is Unseemly Of Us To Call Attention To The Fact That One Of Their Shoelaces Is Untied As They Make The Journey.
Moving
Journey
Attention
When We Rejoice In Beautiful Scenery, Great Art, And Great Music, It Is But The Flexing Of Instincts Acquired In Another Place And Another Time.
Music
Beautiful
Art
The Truth Is That Not Yet Usually Means Never. Trying To Run Away From The Responsibility To Decide About Christ Is Childish. Pilate Sought To Refuse Responsibility For Deciding About Christ, But Pilate's Hands Were Never Dirtier Than Just After He Had Washed Them.
Running
Mean
Responsibility
The Scriptures Offer Us So Many Doctrinal Diamonds. And When The Light Of The Spirit Plays Upon Their Several Facets, They Sparkle With Celestial Sense And Illuminate The Path We Are To Follow.
Light
Play
Scripture
In Contrast To The Path Of Selfishness, There Is No Room For Road Rage On The Straight And Narrow Way.
Selfish
Way
Rooms
The Charity Of Good Women Is Such That Their 'love Makes No Parade'; They Are Not Glad 'when Others Go Wrong'; They Are Too Busy Serving To Sit Statusfully About, Waiting To Be Offended.
Waiting
Good Woman
Charity
Our Afflictions Brothers And Sisters Often Will Not Be Extinguished, They Will Be Dwarfed And Swallowed Up In The Joy Of Christ. That’s How We Overcome, Most Of The Time. It’s Not Their Elimination, But The Placing Of Them In That Larger Context.
Brother
Joy
Overcoming
To Think Of Enduring To The End As ‘hanging In There,’ Doing One’s Duty Relentlessly, Is Not Inaccurate. Yet Enduring To The End Is More Than Outlasting And Surviving, Though It Includes Those Qualities. We Are Called Upon, As Was The Prophet Joseph, To ‘endure It Well,’ Gracefully, Not Grudgingly. (d&c 121:8.) We Are Also Told That We Must ‘endure In Faith.’ (d&c 101:35.) These Dimensions Of Enduring Are Important To Note. Likewise, We Are Asked To Endure ‘valiantly.’ (d&c 121:29.)
Thinking
Enduring To The End
Important
A Friend Of Mine Who Passed Through A Most Severe Trial, When I Discussed It With Him, He Said Simply, If It’s Fair, It Isn’t A Trial.
Trials
Said
Mines
A Society Which Permits Anything Will Eventually Lose Everything.
Permit
Loses
In Conclusion, The Submission Of One's Will Is Really The Only Uniquely Personal Thing We Have To Place On God's Altar. The Many Other Things We 'give,' Brothers And Sisters, Are Actually The Things He Has Already Given Or Loaned To Us. However, When You And I Finally Submit Ourselves, By Letting Our Individual Wills Be Swallowed Up In God's Will, Then We Are Really Giving Something To Him! It Is The Only Possession Which Is Truly Ours To Give!
Brother
Giving
Individual
For Some Church Members The Book Of Mormon Remains Unread. Others Use It Occasionally As If It Were Merely A Handy Book Of Quotations. Still Others Accept And Read It But Do Not Really Explore And Ponder It. The Book Is To Be Feasted Upon, Not Nibbled (see 2 Nephi 31:20).
Book
Church
Use
We Can Learn That At The Center Of Our Agency Is Our Freedom To Form A Healthy Attitude Toward Whatever Circumstances We Are Placed In! Those, For Instance, Who Stretch Themselves In Service- Though Laced With Limiting Diseases-are Often The Healthiest Among Us! The Spirit Can Drive The Flesh Beyond Where The Body First Agrees To Go!
Attitude
Agency
Healthy
Men's And Nations' Finest Hour Consist Of Those Moments When Extraordinary Challenge Is Met By Extraordinary Response. Hence In Those Darkest Hours, We Must Light Our Individual Candles Rather Than Vying With Others To Call Attention To The Enveloping Darkness. Our Indignation About Injustice Should Lead To Illumination, For If It Does Not, We Are Only Adding To The Despair-and The Moment Of Gravest Danger Is When There Is So Little Light That Darkness Seems Normal!
Men
Light
Illumination
You Rock A Sobbing Child Without Wondering If Today's World Is Passing You By, Because You Know You Hold Tomorrow Tightly In Your Arms.
Children
Rocks
World
Regarding Trials, Including Of Our Faith And Patience, There Are No Exemptions-only Variations.
Adversity
Variation
Trials
Those Who Do Too Much For Their Children Will Soon Find They Can Do Nothing With Their Children. So Many Children Have Been So Much Done For They Are Almost Done In.
Children
Almost Done
Too Much
The Book Of Mormon Is To Be Feasted Upon, Not Nibbled.
Book
Our Goals Should Stretch Us Bit By Bit. So Often When We Think We Have Encountered A Ceiling, It Is Really A Psychological Or Experiential Barrier That We Have Built Ourselves. We Built It And We Can Remove It.
Thinking
Generosity
Goal
The Soul Is Like A Violin String: It Makes Music Only When It Is Stretched.
Soul
Violin
Strings
We Must Not Fail, Individually, For If We Fail, We Fail Twice - For Ourselves And For Those Who Could Have Been Helped, If We Had Done Our Duty.
Failure
Done
Failing
Obviously, Family Values Mirror Our Personal Priorities. Given The Gravity Of Current Conditions, Would Parents Be Willing To Give Up Just One Outside Thing, Giving That Time And Talent Instead To The Family.
Giving Up
Mirrors
Priorities
Faith In God Includes Faith In God's Timing.
Faith In God
Timing
Real Hope Is Much More Than Wishful Musing. It Stiffens, Not Slackens, The Spiritual Spine.
Spiritual
Real
Spine
Men And Women Of Christ Magnify Their Callings Without Magnifying Themselves.
Men
Calling
Christ
Patience Helps Us To View Imperfections In Others More Generously To The End That We May Learn To Be More Wise Than They Have Been.
Wise
Learning
Views
Enthusiasm Needs To Be Effective Enthusiasm. We Must Distinguish Between The Contribution And Enthusiasm Of The Cheerleader And The Enthusiasm Of The Player. While Cheerleaders Serve An Important Purpose, The Real Contest Involves Players On The Field Or On The Court Of Life. We Must Not Go Through Life Acting Only As Enthusiastic Cheerleaders Available For Hire; We Must Be Anxiously And Personally Engaged.
Real
Player
Important
Anger Should Never Be An Overnight Guest.
Anger
Guests
Should
What We Insistently Desire, Over Time, Is What We Become.
Desire
Do Not Let The Future Be Held Hostage By The Past
Future
Past
Government
In A Very Real Sense, All We Need To Know Is That God Knows All.
Real
Needs
God Knows
Ironically, Brothers And Sisters, The Natural Man Who Is So Very Selfish In So Many Ordinary Ways Is Strangely Unselfish In That He Reaches For Too Few Of The Things That Bring Real Joy. He Settles For A Mess Of Pottage Instead Of Eternal Joy.
Brother
Selfish
Real
Most Of Our Suffering Comes From Sin And Stupidity; It Is, Nevertheless, Very Real, And Growth Can Occur With Real Repentance. But The Highest Source Of Suffering Appears To Be Reserved For The Innocent Who Undergo Divine Tutorial Training.
Real
Stupidity
Growth
Every Dimension Of The Gospel Is Relevant To One Or More Of Our Social And Political Problems Of Our Time.
Political
Dimensions
Problem
It Is Possible To Know When, At Least Basically, We Please God. In Fact, Joseph Smith Taught That One Of The Conditions Of Genuine Faith Is To Have "an Actual Knowledge That The Course Of Life Which [one] Is Pursuing Is According To [god's] Will."
Life
Faith
Taught
Comparatively, We Are So Much Quicker To Return Favors And To Pay Our Debts To Mortals - And We Should Be Responsive And Grateful. But What Of Him Who Gave Us Mortal Life Itself, Who Will Ere Long Give Us All Immortality, And Who Proffers To The Faithful The Greatest Gift Of All, Eternal Life? We Are Poor Bookkeepers, Indeed!
Life
Faith
Grateful
Those Who Turn Against The Church Do So To Play To Their Own Private Gallery, But When, One Day, The Applause Has Died Down And The Cheering Has Stopped, They Will Face A Smaller Audience, The Judgment Bar Of God.
Cheer
Play
Church
Ironically, As Some People Become Harder, They Use Softer Words To Describe Dark Deeds. This, Too, Is Part Of Being Sedated By Secularism. Needless Abortion, For Instance, Is A "reproductive Health Procedure, . . ." "illegitimacy" Gives Way To The Wholly Sanitized Words "non-marital Birth" Or "alternative Parenting."
Dark
People
Giving
God's Anger Is Kindled Not Because We Have Harmed Him But Because We Have Harmed Ourselves.
We Can't Dwell Upon Another's Ingratitude Without Using Up Our Time And Talents Unprofitably.
Time
Talent
Our Time
The Imperfections Of Others Never Release Us From The Need To Work On Our Own Shortcomings.
Imperfection
Needs
Release
Never Give Up What You Want Most For What You Want Today.
Fitness
Workout
Giving Up
The Hardest Work You And I Will Ever Do Is To Put Off Our Selfishness. It Is Heavy Lifting!
Selfishness
Heavy
Hardest
A Vague Goal Is No Goal At All. The Ten Commandments Wouldn't Be Very Impressive, For Instance, If They Weren't Specific, But Simply Were Couched In A Phraseology Such As 'thou Shalt Not Be A Bad Person.
Goal
Impressive
Ten Commandments
Love, Patience, And Meekness Can Be Just As Contagious As Rudeness And Crudeness.
Rudeness
Patience Love
Meekness
Time Is Clearly Not Our Natural Dimension. Thus It Is That We Are Never Really At Home In Time. Alternately, We Find Ourselves Wishing To Hasten The Passage Of Time Or To Hold Back The Dawn. We Can Do Neither, Of Course, But Whereas The Fish Is At Home In Water, We Are Clearly Not At Home In Time--because We Belong To Eternity.
Time
Home
Water
Do Not Write A Check With Your Tongue That Your Actions Cannot Cash.
Inspirational
Writing
Cash
Sometimes We Are So Busy Being The Hammer Or The Anvil, That We Forget Who Really Needs The Shaping.
Needs
Hammers
Anvils
Our Inspired Constitution Is Wisely Designed To Protect From Excesses Of Political Power, But It Can Do Little To Protect Us From The Excesses Of Appetite Or From Individual Indifference To Great Principles Or Institutions. Any Significant Unraveling Of The Moral Fiber Of The American People, Therefore, Finally Imperils The Constitution.
Moral Fiber
People
Political
There Are Also Flat Periods In Life Which May Well Be The Periods During Which-before New Lessons Come- The Past Lessons Of Life Are Allowed To Seep, Quietly And Deeply, Into The Marrow Of The Soul. These Outwardly Flat Periods, When Enduring Well May Not Seem Very Purposeful,, Are Probably The Times When Needed Attitudinal Alignments Are Quietly Occurring.
Life Lesson
Past
Soul
Occasionally Some Individuals Let The Seeming Ordinariness Of Life Dampen Their Spirits. Though Actually Coping And Growning, Others Lack The Quiet, Inner-soul Satisfaction That Can Steady Them, And Are Experiencing Instead, A Lingering Sense That There Is Something More Important They Should Be Doing . . .as If What Is Quietly Achieved In Righteous Individual Living Or In Parenthood Are Not Sufficiently Spectacular.
Soul
Important
Satisfaction
Crowds Cannot Make Right What God Has Declared To Be Wrong.
Crowds
Our God Does Not Indulge Us, But He Is Merciful Toward Our Weaknesses As He Strives To Tutor Us.
Weakness
Doe
Strive
The Laughter Of The World Is Merely Loneliness Pathetically Trying To Reassure Itself.
Laughter
Loneliness
Lds
For The Faithful, Our Finest Hours Are Sometimes During Or Just Following Our Darkest Hours.
Time
Adversity
Faithful
Some Find It Easier To Bend Their Knees Than Their Minds. Exciting Exploration Is Preferred To Plodding Implementation; Speculation Seems More Fun Than Consecration, And So Is Trying To Soften The Hard Doctrines Instead Of Submitting To Them. Worse Still, By Not Obeying, These . . . Lack Real Knowing. Lacking Real Knowing, They Cannot Defend Their Faith And May Become Critics Instead Of Defenders!
Faith
Fun
Real
Each Day I See All About Me The Fruits Of Commandment-keeping.
Each Day
Fruit
Commandments
Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.


2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.


2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.


2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.


3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.


3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.


3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.



4. Proper Usage of Quotes


4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.


4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.


4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).


5. Common Mistakes to Avoid


5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.


5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.


5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.



6. Quotes in Different Contexts


6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.


6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.


6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.



7. Punctuation and Formatting


Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:


Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.


Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.


Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.



8. Ethical Considerations


Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes


Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.



Conclusion


Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.


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