Decide now that whatever your pursuit in life, you will do better than your best. Leaving a legacy is an outgrowth of attitude. It emerges as we rise above ourselves. - Keith B. McMullin, “Signposts for Your Future,” New Era, January 2000
Tag Archives: attitude
Promises for Scripture Study
We are promised great blessings in this life also, if we will study and live the word of the Lord. Here are just a few of the blessings we may receive:
1. Power to live righteously2. Power to overcome evil3. Power to change the heart and attitude4. Increase in hope and joy5. Increase in knowledge and understanding6. Increase in testimony
Jay E. Jensen, “Promises,” Friend, August 1995
The “Beautiful Attitudes”
Contributed by Bruce. Thanks Bruce!
In one of his greatest recorded sermons, Jesus describes his character in words, the Beatitudes--or "beautiful attitudes," we may call them (Matthew 5). "Blessed are ye" or "happy are ye,
“John, leave it alone”
I love general conference. I love what the inspired messages do for me and others, both during and following conference. I love the stories told that inspire us to choose the right and let go of the wrong. The following story shared by President Boyd K. Packer at the April 2011 General Conference is one such story. – Grandpa Tony
“John, leave it alone.”
“Latter-day Saints are taught to love one another and to frankly forgive offenses.
“My life was changed by a saintly patriarch. He married his sweetheart. They were deeply in love, and soon she was expecting their first child.
“The night the baby was born, there were complications. The only doctor was somewhere in the countryside tending to the sick. After many hours of labor, the condition of the mother-to-be became desperate. Finally, the doctor was located. In the emergency, he acted quickly and soon the baby was born, and the crisis, it appeared, was over. But some days later, the young mother died from the very infection that the doctor had been treating at another home that night.
“The young man's world was shattered. As the weeks wore on, his grief festered. He thought of little else, and in his bitterness he became threatening. Today, no doubt, he would have been pressed to file a malpractice suit, as though money would solve anything.
“One night a knock came at his door. A little girl said simply, "Daddy wants you to come over. He wants to talk to you."
"Daddy" was the stake president. The counsel from that wise leader was simply "John, leave it alone. Nothing you do about it will bring her back. Anything you do will make it worse. John, leave it alone."
“This had been my friend's trial. How could he leave it alone? A terrible wrong had been committed. He struggled to get hold of himself and finally determined that he should be obedient and follow the counsel of that wise stake president. He would leave it alone.
“He said, "I was an old man before I understood and could finally see a poor country doctor--overworked, underpaid, run ragged from patient to patient, with little medicine, no hospital, few instruments, struggling to save lives, and succeeding for the most part. He had come in a moment of crisis, when two lives hung in the balance, and had acted without delay. I finally understood!" He said, "I would have ruined my life and the lives of others."
“Many times he had thanked the Lord on his knees for a wise priesthood leader who counseled simply, "John, leave it alone."
“Around us we see members of the Church who have become offended. Some take offense at incidents in the history of the Church or its leaders and suffer their whole lives, unable to get past the mistakes of others. They do not leave it alone. They fall into inactivity.
“That attitude is somewhat like a man being hit by a club. Offended, he takes up a club and beats himself over the head with it all the days of his life. How foolish! How sad! That kind of revenge is self-inflicting. If you have been offended, forgive, forget it, and leave it alone. – Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “Guided by the Holy Spirit”, April 2011 General Conference
D&C 64: 10– I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.
Scale of Life Not As Important as Quality (Kimball)
“Let us remember, too, that greatness is not always a matter of the scale of one’s life, but of the quality of one’s life. True greatness is not always tied to the scope of our tasks, but to the quality of how we carry out our tasks whatever they are. In that attitude, let us give our time, ourselves, and our talents to the things that really matter now, things which will still matter a thousand years from now.”
–Spencer W. Kimball, “A Gift of Gratitude”, Tambuli, Dec 1977
The Grumble Family
There's a family nobody likes to meet;
They live, it is said, on Complaining Street
In the city of Never-Are-Satisfied,
The River of Discontent beside.
They growl at that and they growl at this;
Whatever comes, there is something amiss;
And whether their station be high or humble,
They are all known by the name of grumble.
The weather is always too hot or cold;
Summer and winter alike they scold.
Nothing goes right with the folks you meet
Down on that gloomy Complaining Street.
They growl at the rain and they growl at the sun;
In fact, their growling is never done.
And if everything pleased them, there isn't a doubt
They'd growl that they'd nothing to grumble about!
But the queerest thing is that not one of the same
Can be brought to acknowledge his family name;
For never a Grumbler will own that he
Is connected with it at all, you see.
The worst thing is that if anyone stays
Among them too long, he will learn their ways;
And before he dreams of the terrible jumble
He's adopted into the family of Grumble.
And so it were wisest to keep our feet
From wandering into Complaining Street;
And never to growl, whatever we do,
Lest we be mistaken for Grumblers, too.
Let us learn to walk with a smile and song,
No matter if things do sometimes go wrong;
And then, be our station high or humble,
We'll never belong to the family of Grumble!
By L. M. Montgomery
Who’s Losing?
Elder Marvin J Ashton said,
“One warm evening during the past summer months Sister Ashton and I enjoyed a professional baseball game. During the early part of the competition our attention was diverted from the action by a late arriver. As he walked by, he spotted me and asked, ‘Who’s losing?’ I responded with, ‘Neither one.’ Following my answer, I noticed that he glanced at the right-field scoreboard, saw the game wasn’t tied, and walked on, undoubtedly wondering about me.
DearScriptures.com