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Just recently I heard a speaker, or lecturer say, "As we look back over our lives, which many times were full of hardships, we somehow remember the good things."
Our memories seem to store, upfront, the good things.
As you think back of some of your everyday, family happenings, don't good things come to mind?
I remember Sunday mornings when we'd be getting ready for Sunday School. I was a young child, 5 or 6, and the smell of a good beef stew would be happily simmering those good smells through the rooms.
And I remember my mother taking her powder puff and patting it on my nose, last thing as we left the house.
What do you remember?
The Lord wants us to look for good things. He created all good things for our enjoyment. That our spirits might be elevated when we look upon a glorious sunset. That our thoughts would be elevated when we hear the strains of good music. That our emotions might soar heavenward as we glean out the good things in life.
It was President Brigham Young who said, "If the heart is cheerful all is light and glory within."
God and His son, Jesus Christ, created all great, and beautiful, and glorious things that we might have joy (as we are told in Nephi).
When we came into this earth, all of us, came with the Spirit of Christ, that we might know and choose the good things.
In Moroni 7:16-19 we read, "For behold the spirit of Christ is given to every man that he may know good from evil. Wherefore I show unto you the way to judge, for everything which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ, wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God."
We are on His side, following His path, when we partake into our lives good things.
Now this is fairly easy to do when all is going well, but he goes on to say when all is not going well to be of good cheer, because discouragement and despair are of the devil.
The scripture goes on and says, "But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil is of the devil."
Let's think of the saints as they were coming west in their trials and hardships. Striving to endure - hungry, cold, frozen - yet they sang as they walked with frozen feet.
They sang, "Come, Come Ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear, but with joy wend your way."
When things begin to seem rock bottom, we should look for the good.
I have a little paperback book at my house named "The Hidden Place," about two sisters in the concentration camp, being so mistreated and deprived. But especially the one sister, Corrie Ten Boom, had a very appreciative heart within her soul. Glad that she had scriptures hid that she could secretly read and feast upon. Always found good in the depth of the ugly.
The lines of a poem say,
"God has given me this day to use as I will
I can waste it or use it for good."
We should look for the good in everything we see, or hear or touch or think or feel.
Turn it to the good side.
Well, look at this March wind. Here are two ways to look at it:
1. Why am I sad, I don't know
Is it because these March winds blow?
And groan so loud and chill me through
And keeps me down, just feeling blue.
Why am I sad, I don't know,
It's just because these March winds blow.
2. Why am I happy, I don't know
Is it because these March winds blow?
They dance and swirl and sing their tune
And tell me spring is coming soon.
Why am I happy, I don't know,
It's just because these March winds blow.
We need to look for the good everyday.
Each day when we wake the book opens revealing a page clean and white. What words, what thoughts, and what actions will cover the page by night.
Gordon Owen, in one of his books, said if we were to have one great characteristic what would on of the most important ones be? He said, "The gift to appreciate."
Learn to be grateful for everyday simple things of life - a swallow of a good glass of water.
And it was President Thomas S. Monson who said that some of us look back on our past and dwell on our mistakes. He said, "Look forward, today is the day to reach up, do good, enjoy."
Look for all good things - religion and the abundant life- we've been given so abundantly.
Wide ranging research shows that highly religious people are happier people.
Proverbs 16:20, "Who so trusteth in the Lord, happy is he."
Pleasant Acres Relief Society
March 22, 1995
Our memories seem to store, upfront, the good things.
As you think back of some of your everyday, family happenings, don't good things come to mind?
I remember Sunday mornings when we'd be getting ready for Sunday School. I was a young child, 5 or 6, and the smell of a good beef stew would be happily simmering those good smells through the rooms.
And I remember my mother taking her powder puff and patting it on my nose, last thing as we left the house.
What do you remember?
The Lord wants us to look for good things. He created all good things for our enjoyment. That our spirits might be elevated when we look upon a glorious sunset. That our thoughts would be elevated when we hear the strains of good music. That our emotions might soar heavenward as we glean out the good things in life.
It was President Brigham Young who said, "If the heart is cheerful all is light and glory within."
God and His son, Jesus Christ, created all great, and beautiful, and glorious things that we might have joy (as we are told in Nephi).
When we came into this earth, all of us, came with the Spirit of Christ, that we might know and choose the good things.
In Moroni 7:16-19 we read, "For behold the spirit of Christ is given to every man that he may know good from evil. Wherefore I show unto you the way to judge, for everything which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ, wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God."
We are on His side, following His path, when we partake into our lives good things.
Now this is fairly easy to do when all is going well, but he goes on to say when all is not going well to be of good cheer, because discouragement and despair are of the devil.
The scripture goes on and says, "But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil is of the devil."
Let's think of the saints as they were coming west in their trials and hardships. Striving to endure - hungry, cold, frozen - yet they sang as they walked with frozen feet.
They sang, "Come, Come Ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear, but with joy wend your way."
When things begin to seem rock bottom, we should look for the good.
I have a little paperback book at my house named "The Hidden Place," about two sisters in the concentration camp, being so mistreated and deprived. But especially the one sister, Corrie Ten Boom, had a very appreciative heart within her soul. Glad that she had scriptures hid that she could secretly read and feast upon. Always found good in the depth of the ugly.
The lines of a poem say,
"God has given me this day to use as I will
I can waste it or use it for good."
We should look for the good in everything we see, or hear or touch or think or feel.
Turn it to the good side.
Well, look at this March wind. Here are two ways to look at it:
1. Why am I sad, I don't know
Is it because these March winds blow?
And groan so loud and chill me through
And keeps me down, just feeling blue.
Why am I sad, I don't know,
It's just because these March winds blow.
2. Why am I happy, I don't know
Is it because these March winds blow?
They dance and swirl and sing their tune
And tell me spring is coming soon.
Why am I happy, I don't know,
It's just because these March winds blow.
We need to look for the good everyday.
Each day when we wake the book opens revealing a page clean and white. What words, what thoughts, and what actions will cover the page by night.
Gordon Owen, in one of his books, said if we were to have one great characteristic what would on of the most important ones be? He said, "The gift to appreciate."
Learn to be grateful for everyday simple things of life - a swallow of a good glass of water.
And it was President Thomas S. Monson who said that some of us look back on our past and dwell on our mistakes. He said, "Look forward, today is the day to reach up, do good, enjoy."
Look for all good things - religion and the abundant life- we've been given so abundantly.
Wide ranging research shows that highly religious people are happier people.
Proverbs 16:20, "Who so trusteth in the Lord, happy is he."
Pleasant Acres Relief Society
March 22, 1995
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