I Want to Be This Pure
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about my personal life and my standing in God’s eyes. I’m not sure why. It’s not that I have some awful disease, with pending death in the picture. It’s just that this has been a refrain in my mind. If the day I had to appear before...
Be Patient in Conversion
As I was investigating the church, I asked the missionaries some very difficult questions about the church on the very first day. This was before the Internet, so I couldn’t look up the answers myself and needed the information from the missionaries. To my...
Joseph Smith: Perfection Possible
I appreciate hearing talks that clarify the Mormon Church’s position on man’s perfectibility. Misunderstood, this doctrine at best can discourage, and at worst can encourage a "holier than thou" attitude. We wish to avoid these pitfalls, and understand what Joseph...
Disciples in the Workplace
Many of us feel a sense of comfort about who we are when we’re within the walls of our own home. Hopefully, we feel a similar level of comfort within our religious congregations. But, what about the workplace? Discipleship is a full-time, life-time commitment. So All...
Happiness and Self-Worth
Which do you value more, a beat up old car or a pristine, new model? Do you enjoy getting that crisp new dollar bill over that old wrinkly, torn one? Can you appreciate the fresh cleanness of a country meadow right after a cleansing rain? Or do you prefer the stale...
Helping Children Cope With Moving
It’s a big step, moving to a new home, especially when it means uprooting your family. Children feel the upheaval and don’t often understand all the why’s and how’s. All they know is they’re being tor anway from everything and everyone familiar. Being the friend left...
10 Reasons I’m Grateful to be a Latter-day Saint
1. The Living Christ- I’m grateful for the knowledge that I have that Jesus Christ is a resurrected, glorified person who knows me personally. He is my friend, my supporter, my advocate, my Savior. He lived. so that He could understand us, comfort us and offer us a...
Mormon Missionary Helps People Stop Smoking
One thing that many people know about members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or “Mormons”) is that they don’t smoke. According to the Word of Wisdom, received by the prophet Joseph Smith in 1833, “tobacco is not for the body, neither for the...
Why you should visit your local Genealogical Society
I admit that upon moving to my current state of residence, I only considered visiting my local genealogical society because I had some ancestry in the area. I doubt I would have considered it otherwise. I probably would have assumed they wouldn’t have any information...
Helping others with their family history
“Genealogy is not family group record forms, pedigree charts, microfilms, name abbreviations, and technical regulations. These are only tools. Genealogy is the study of one’s family, the study of our ancestors—their birth, their childhood, their dreams, their...
The Joy Within Me
"I have it. Why not share it? Why not share it with my brother? See the joy within me shine in someone else's eyes. I know it and I love it. Why not share it with my brother? See the joy within me shine in someone else's eyes." (Written by Susan E. McCloud and Denny...
Compliment Someone Today
A recent thread on a favorite bulletin board of mine invited us to come in and share with everyone some of the compliments we receive. The responses were uplifting and enlightening about many of the men and women I've chatted with over the years. For many it was...
Gratitude
“He who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious” (D&C 78:19). For those of us in America, when we think of being thankful it’s typically November and we’re celebrating Thanksgiving (a holiday centered around giving thanks). Yet gratitude is a...
Teens: Agency and Accountability
We always have a choice. My Young Women, the girls 12-17 in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church), hear this often from me. I don’t believe this was something I knew as a teen myself, but rather have grown to the realization over the last...
Getting Started With Your Personal History
When you joined the church, did you find yourself making lists of all the things you needed to “catch up” on? It might seem there are a lot of tasks that would be easier if you had joined the church sooner and started doing them at a younger age, such as writing your...
Your Attitude Can Influence New Members
The first year of church membership is challenging. The new member has just made a tremendous commitment, and may be nervous and worried about whether he made the right choice. As he begins to see that members are less than perfect, and learns things about the church...
Howard W. Hunter: Prophet of God
Of his calling to the highest and holy office in the world, Howard W. Hunter, the fourteenth called prophet in these modern times, said: “I have shed many tears and have sought my Father in Heaven in earnest prayer with a desire to be equal to the high and holy...
Christ Blessed the Little Children
I think there are, perhaps, many of us who would have loved to live at the time of Christ. The thought of walking with Him, talking with Him, and even watching as He blessed little children brings joy to my heart. One of my favorite songs as a child in the Church of...
Become the Master of Your Destiny
I remember going to a movie several years ago with my mother. It wasn’t the happiest of movies. In fact I still hesitate to watch it today as I find myself susceptible to the atmosphere of the things I watch. Of course if I’m looking for a good cry it’s perfect. In...
Mormonism and Tolerance
This Martin Luther King Day I reflected on the work Dr. King did in “cashing the check” promised to all in the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution. Even though for African Americans the promissory note had bounced, King still had faith in America: “We...
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