One of the advantages of having lived a long time is that you can often remember when you had it worse. I am grateful to have lived long enough to have known some of the blessings of adversity.
James E. FaustRead
As we look into the future, we are going to need to be stronger and more responsible for our choices in a world where people "call evil good, and good evil." We do not choose wisely if we use our agency in opposition to God's will or to priesthood counsel. Tomorrow's blessings and opportunities depend on the choices we make today.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of making wise choices aligned with moral values and guidance.
James E. Faust highlights the necessity for individuals to reflect on their choices in the face of moral ambiguity, where good and evil can be misrepresented. He asserts that exercising our agency responsibly and in alignment with divine guidance is crucial for securing future blessings and opportunities, and that today's decisions have lasting consequences.
In practice
Using the quote during a community discussion about ethics and decision-making.
One of the advantages of having lived a long time is that you can often remember when you had it worse. I am grateful to have lived long enough to have known some of the blessings of adversity.
Cheating in school is a form of self-deception. We go to school to learn. We cheat ourselves when we coast on the efforts and scholarship of someone else.
Without question, we need to be informed of the happenings in the world. But modern communication brings into our homes a drowning cascade of the violence and misery of the worldwide human race. There comes a time when we need to find some peaceful spiritual renewal.
In the pain, the agony, and the heroic endeavors of life, we pass through a refiner's fire, and the insignificant and the unimportant in our lives can melt away like dross and make our faith bright, intact, and strong.
Holiness is the strength of the soul. It comes by faith and through obedience to God's laws and ordinances. God then purifies the heart by faith, and the heart becomes purged from that which is profane and unworthy. When holiness is achieved by conforming to God's will, one knows intuitively that which is wrong and that which is right before the Lord. Holiness speaks when there is silence, encouraging that which is good or reproving that which is wrong.
Each temple building is an inspiration, magnificent and beautiful in every way, but the temple building alone does not bless. The endowed blessings and divine functions—come through obedience and faithfulness to priesthood authority and covenants made.
Common sense is nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down by the mind before you reach eighteen.
You win battles by knowing the enemy's timing, and using a timing which the enemy does not expect.
All the wonders you seek are within yourself. We should seek to discover our own special light. Know how to live within yourself; there in your soul lives a whole world of mysterious and enchanted thoughts; they will be drowned by noise of this world. Be still and listen to their singing and be silent.
To be simple is the best thing in the world.
People fall so in love with their pain, they can’t leave it behind. The same as the stories they tell. We trap ourselves.
Don’t see the mind for more than it is, but don’t misread it for all that it can be.
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