Rights are best guarded when each person and group guards for others those rights they wish guarded for themselves.
Sometimes it seems especially difficult to submit to "great tribulation" when we look around and see others seemingly much less obedient who triumph even as we weep. But time is measured only unto man, says Alma (see Alma 40:8), and God has a very good memory.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the challenges of obedience amid suffering, emphasizing that God's timing and memory are beyond human understanding.
In this quote, Jeffrey R. Holland addresses the struggle of maintaining faith during difficult times, particularly when it appears that others are thriving without similar commitments. He reminds us that while humans may perceive unfairness in the trials faced, God's perspective and timing are ultimately perfect. The reference to Alma serves to reinforce the idea that spiritual rewards and acknowledgment come in divine timing, which may not align with earthly expectations, encouraging patience and perseverance.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be shared at a church service to encourage those struggling with their faith during challenging times.
More from Jeffrey R. Holland
All quotes →For 179 years [The Book of Mormon] has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other religious history – perhaps like no other book in any religious history- and still, it stands.
Don't you quit. You keep walking, you keep trying, there is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon. Some come late. Some don't come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be alright in the end. Trust God and believe in Good Things to Come.
Maybe the purchasing and the making and the wrapping and the decorating - those delightfully generous and important expressions of our love at Christmas - should be separated, if only slightly, from the more quiet, personal moments when we consider the meaning of the Baby (and his birth) who prompts the giving of such gifts.
Don't you quit! You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help & happiness ahead.
Brothers and sisters, this is a divine work in process, with the manifestations and blessings of it abounding in every direction, so please don’t hyperventilate if from time to time issues arise that need to be examined, understood, and resolved. They do and they will. In this Church, what we know will always trump what we do not know. And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith.
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Our best evidence of what people truly feel and believe comes less from their words than from their deeds.
It is the unknown that excites the ardor of scholars, who, in the known alone, would shrivel up with boredom.
The smaller the mind the greater the conceit.
When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day, especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.
Good actions are a guard against the blows of adversity.
I think that in general it is a good plan occasionally to bear in mind the fact that people were in the habit of dreaming before there was such a thing as psychoanalysis.