Tragedy, loss, and hurt often arrive unanticipated. How we react when we are surprised will tell our families whether what we have taught and testified lies deep in our hearts.
Interpretation
Our reactions to unexpected hardships reveal our true values and teachings.
This quote emphasizes that during times of tragedy and loss, our immediate reactions are crucial indicators of the principles and values we genuinely hold. It suggests that the way we respond to unexpected challenges showcases the depth of the wisdom and teachings we've internalized, influencing not only ourselves but also setting an example for our families.
In practice
In a memorial speech, discussing how we cope with loss can draw on this quote.
My point is to urge you to find ways to recognize and remember Godβs kindness. It will build our testimonies. You may not keep a journal. You may not share whatever record you keep with those you love and serve. But you and they will be blessed as you remember what the Lord has done.
Increased spiritual strength is a gift from God which He can give when we push in His service to our limits. Through the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our natures can be changed. Then our power to carry burdens can be increased more than enough to compensate for the increased service we will be asked to give.
Whether or not you choose to keep your covenant to always remember Him, He always remembers you.
What all of us long for in our hearts, at Christmastime and always, is to feel bound together in love with the sweet assurance that it can last forever.
We cannot control what others choose to do, and so we cannot force our children to heaven, but we can determine what we will do. And we can decide that we will do all we can to bring down the powers of heaven into that family we want so much to have forever.
It is serving God and others persistently with full heart and soul that turns testimony of truth into unbreakable spiritual strength.
We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil.
No durable things are built on violent passion. Nature grows her plants in silence and in darkness, and only when they have become strong do they put their heads above the ground.
I have made no money. I am as poor now as ever I was in my life - except in hope, which is by no means bankable.
As a confirmed melancholic, I can testify that the best and maybe only antidote for melancholia is action. However, like most melancholics, I suffer also from sloth.
The sacrifice which causes sorrow to the doer of the sacrifice is no sacrifice. Real sacrifice lightens the mind of the doer and gives him a sense of peace and joy. The Buddha gave up the pleasures of life because they had become painful to him.
It is a wise child that knows its own father, and an unusual one that unreservedly approves of him.
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