LET THE SONS OF GOD SHOUT FOR JOY

Let the mountains shout for joy,

and all ye valley's cry aloud:

and all ye seas and dry lands tell the

wonders of your Eternal King!

And ye rivers, and brooks and rills,

flow down with gladness.

Let the woods and all the trees of the field

praise the Lord;

and ye solid rocks weep for joy!

And let the sun, moon and the morning stars

sing together, 

and let all the sons of God shout for joy!

And let the eternal creations declare his name

forever and ever!

D&C 128:22

UPON JUDEA'S PLAINS

I stood upon Judea's plains

And heard celestial sounds and strains;

I heard an angel, free from sin,

Announce the birth of David's kin.

On shepherds watching sheep by night

There came a shining, glorious light,

As holy choirs from heaven's dome

Saw God's own Son make clay his home.

And voices sweet sang this reprise:

"To God on high, let praise arise;

And peace, good will to men on earth;

This is the day of Jesus' birth."

To me there came this witness sure:

He is God's Son, supreme and pure,

To earth he came, my soul to save,

From sin and death and from the grave.

- Bruce R. McConkie

OF HUMBLE BIRTH

"Though heaven was his habitation and earth his footstool, He chose to lie as an infant in a manger, surrounded by horses and camels and mules. Though He laid the foundations of the earth, and worlds without number had rolled into orbit at his word, He chose to come into mortality among the beasts of the field. Though He had worn a kingly crown in the eternal courts on high, He chose to breathe as his first mortal breath the stench of a stable. Though He would one day come forth with all power in heaven and on earth, for now, as the helpless child of a peasant girl, He chose to begin the days of probation as none of Adam's race had ever done before. And there, even in such a birth, He was rejected by his people, symbolically at least, for none in the recesses and rooms of the inn had seen fit to make room for a weary woman great with child....."

- Bruce R. McConkie, "The Mortal Messiah" Book 1, p 345

THE MORTAL MESSIAH

"He was to come down from heaven, dwell in a tabernacle of clay, work mighty miracles, heal the sick, raise the dead, cause the lame to walk and the blind to see, cure all manner of diseases, and cast out devils. He was to suffer temptations and pain, hunger, thirst and fatigue, and in his greatest ordeal he would bleed great drops of blood from every pore.

He was to teach the gospel, carry the lambs of his flock in his arms and speak in parables to the unbelieving......He was to be persecuted for righteousness' sake; to bear the infirmities of the people; to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.....He was to be rejected, lifted up upon a cross and crucified for the sins of the world to bring to pass the resurrection of all men."

- Bruce R. McConkie, "The mortal Messiah Book 1", p 39

UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN

"For unto us a child is born,

unto us a son is given:

and the government shall be 

upon his shoulder:

and his name shall be called

 Wonderful

Counsellor

The Mighty God

The Everlasting Father

The Prince of Peace.

- Isaiah 9:6

THE LAMB

Little Lamb, who made thee?

Dost thou know who made thee?

Gave thee life, and bid thee feed

By the stream and o'er the mead;

Gave thee clothing of delight,

Softest clothing, woolly, bright;

Gave thee such a tender voice,

Making all the vales rejoice?

Little Lamb, who made thee?

Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb, I'll tell thee,

Little Lamb, I'll tell thee:

He is called by thy name,

For he calls himself a Lamb,

He is meek and he is mild;

He became a little child.

I a child, and thou a lamb.

We are called by his name.

Little Lamb, God bless thee!

Little Lamb, God bless thee!

- William Blake, 

(English Poet 1757-1827)

TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON

 To every thing there is a season,

and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that

which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather

stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from

embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate;

A time of war, and a time of peace.

- Ecclesiastes 3:18

TO LIFT

"Thee lift me,

I'll lift thee,

and we'll ascend together eternally."

- Quaker Proverb

JOY

"He wept - He who had descended below all things,

the Man of Sorrows, He who bore all our griefs.

The heights of His infinite capacity for joy is the inverse,

mirror image of the depth of His capacity to bear our burdens."

- Bruce C. Hafen

A HOME WITHOUT BOOKS

 "A home without books is a body

without soul."

-  Marcus Tullius Cicero

Roman Philosopher

(106 BC - 43 BC)

IN ANGELS' KEEPING

"Now this is the truth. We humble people; we who feel ourselves sometimes so worthless, so good-for-nothing; we are not so worthless as we think. There is not one of us but what God's love has been expended upon. There is not one of us that He has not cared for and caressed. There is not one of us that He has not desired to save, and that He has not devised means to save. There is not one of us that he has not given His angels charge concerning. We may be insignificant and contemptible in our own eyes, and in the eyes of others, but the truth remains that we the children of God, and that He has actually given His angels -invisible beings of power and might - charge concerning us, and they watch over us and have us in their keeping...."

- George Q. Cannon, Nov 1890, "Collected Discourses Vol 2"

LIFE

 

"Life is meaningless only if we allow it to be. 

Each of us has the power to give life meaning,

to make our time and our bodies and our words

into instruments of love and hope."

- Tom Head

I DIM

"I dim,

I dim -

I have no doubt

If someone blew -

I would go out.

I did not,

I must be brighter

Than I thought.

- Carol Lynn Pearson

UPON OUR SHOULDERS

"The nearer we get to our Heavenly Father, 

the more we are disposed to look with compassion on perishing souls;

 we feel that we want to take them upon our shoulders, 

and cast their sins behind our backs."

- Joseph Smith

THE PURE LOVE OF CHRIST

"The pure love of Christ is the highest

pinnacle the human soul can reach

and the deepest expression of the 

human heart."

- Howard W. Hunter

IF NOT

"If it is not clean, don't think it;

If it is not true, do not speak it;

If it is not good, do not do it."

- Marcus Aurelius

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same; 

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

And stood and build 'em up with worn out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lost, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

- Rudyard Kipling

THE MOST WONDERFUL PLACES

"The most wonderful places to be in the world are:

in someone's thoughts,

in someone's prayers,

someone's heart

or in someone's arms.."

- Author Unknown

UNDER HIS PROTECTIVE WINGS

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how oft would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings, and ye would not."   Matthew 23:37

"O ye people of these great cities which have fallen....how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not."  3 Nephi 10:4,5

"O, ye nations of the earth, how oft would I have gathered you together as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings, but ye would not. How oft have I called upon you by the mouth of my servants, and by the ministering of angels, and by mine own voice, and by the voice of thunderings, and by the voice of lightning, and by the voice of tempests, and by the voice of earthquakes, and great hailstorms, and by the voice of famines and pestilences of every kind, and by the great sound of a trump, and by the voice of judgment, and by the voice of mercy all the day long, and by the voice of glory and honor and the riches of eternal life, and would have saved you with an everlasting salvation, but ye would not!"  D&C 43:24

GOD'S WORK

"As the heavens are higher than the earth, God's work in your life is bigger than the story you'd like that life to tell. His life is bigger than your plans, goals, or fears. To save your life, you'll have to lay down your stories and, minute by minute, day by day, give your life back to him."

- Adam S. Miller, "Letters To A Young Mormon (2014), p. 17-18

HE WILL BRING YOU HOME

"Our Saviour, the Good Shepherd, knows and loves us. He knows and loves YOU. He knows when you are lost, and He knows where you are. He knows your grief. Your silent pleadings. Your fears. Your tears. It matters not how you became lost - whether because of your own poor choices or because of circumstances beyond your control. What matters is that you are His child. And He loves you. Because He loves you, He will find you. He will place you upon His shoulders, rejoicing. And when he brings you come, He will say to one and all, 'Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.'

You may feel that your life is in ruins. You may have sinned. You may be afraid, angry, grieving, or tortured by doubt. But just as the Good Shepherd finds His lost sheep, if you will only lift up your heart to the Saviour of the world, He will find you. He will rescue you. He will lift you up and place you on His shoulders. He will carry you home."

- President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Ensign May 2016, p 101

IN THE TIME OF A STORM

"A very large ship is benefited very much 

by a very small helm in the time of a storm, 

by being kept work ways with the wind and the ways."

D&C 123:16

CHRIST'S PURE LOVE

"Under the overarching power of Christ's pure love

all spiritual powers are activated."

- The Life and Teachings of Jesus and His 

Apostles, p. 299

FEAR

 

"Everything you want is on the other side of fear."

- Jack Canfield

TREASURES IN HEAVEN

"We find in the many treasure passages [in the scriptures] that the treasure is the wisdom and knowledge we left behind us when we came down to this earth. In the premortal existence, we left our treasure in God's treasury, in His keeping. There it is, and by our good works here we can add to it; more will be waiting for us when we go back. In the Jewish apocrypha, God orders, by His word, the lights in the heavenly height, and by the utterance of His mouth He opens the treasury, where the righteous have a store of good works preserved.....everything we add to our credit is being preserved in God's treasury."

- Hugh Nibley, Temple and Cosmos, p 232-3

NO MAN IS AN ISLAND

No man is an island,

Entire of itself, 

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thy friend's

Or of thine own were:

Any man's death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind,

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.

- John Donne, 1572-1631

TO LOVE

"To love another person 

Is to see the face of God."

- Jean ValJean, Les Miserables

HE WHO SAVES ONE

"He who saves one, saves the world entire."

- Oscar Schindler

WOMAN'S CHARMS

"A woman should possess all the

charms of beauty, 

gentleness and simple truth 

that can purify

 and subdue the heart of man."

- Author Unknown

STATUE OF LIBERTY

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

- Emma Lazarus, (Statue of Liberty)

A MAN'S REACH

"A man's reach should exceed his

grasp or else

what's Heaven for?"

- Robert Browning

A HUMBLE AND CONTRITE HEART

"The tumult and shouting dies;

The captain and the kings depart,

Still stands thine ancient sacrifice,

an humble and contrite heart.

Lord of Hosts, be with us yet,

Lest we forget, lest we forget."

-  Rudyard Kipling
"Recessional"

MOST POWERFUL

 "Most powerful is he who has himself

in his power."

- Seneca

LOVE

LOVE - it is the gift of heaven,

Like the rose, how sweet its bloom,

And where'er is felt its presence,

There it dissipates each gloom.

And the heart that liveth truly,

In its first affection pure,

Shall, as long as life continues,

Find its happiness endure.

- Anonymous, 19th Century

TANGIBLE WEALTH UNTOLD

"You may have tangible wealth untold;

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be -

I had a mother who read to me."

- Strickland Gillian

TO EVERY SEASON

"To every season its proper act of joy,

To every age its natural mode of grace,

Each vision its hour, each talent we employ

Its destined time and place."

- A.D. Hope

DARKNESS BEFORE THE DAWN

"Do not be fooled by the darkness

before the dawn."

- Florence Scovel Shinn

GOOD GROUND

I have seen love,

Fallen on unbroken ground,

Blow with the first wind.

I have seen love,

Laid in a shallow row,

Unearthed with the lightest rain.

But pain

Is a plow

That opens earth for planting.

My heart is ready now.

Hurt-furrowed, it has depths

Designed for sowing.

Oh, love that lands here

Finds good ground for growing.

Carol Lynn Pearson

IN GOD'S PRESENCE

"I am in God's presence night and day

And he never turns His face away."

- William Blake

HAPPINESS

 

"The only way that I know to be happy is to live the gospel. It is not possible to sin enough to be happy. It is not possible to buy enough to be happy or to entertain or indulge yourself enough to be happy. Happiness and joy come only when you are living up to who you are."

- Sheri L. Dew

THE WORLD

"Every spirit builds itself a house;

And beyond its' house a world;

And beyond its' world a heaven;

Know then that world exists for you."

-  Ralph Waldo Emerson

IN THE LIGHT

"Believe in the dark

what God told you in the light"

- Corrie Ten Boom

A TOUCHING HEART

"A life that touches the hearts

of others

lives on forever."

- Author unknown

WEEKEND WARRIOR

"True Christian soldiers are more

than weekend warriors."

- Neal A. Maxwell

WHO YOU ARE MEANT TO BE

"Let go of the person you think you are,

so  you can become who 

you are meant to be."

- Author unknown

CHARITIES ON ALL

Have love: not love alone for one,

But man as man thy brother call,

And scatter like the circling sun

Thy charities on all.

- Schiller

THE ANSWER

"I testify that in this, the twilight of the dispensation of the fullness of times, when Lucifer is working overtime to jeopardize our journey home and to separate us from the Savior's atoning power, the only answer for any of us is Jesus Christ."

-  Sheri L. Dew, (in CR Apr 1999, Ensign May 1999, p 67)

THE ONE

"You may be only one person

to the world,

but you may be the world

to one person."

- Bill Wilson

SAFETY IN HARBOUR

"Ships are safest in the harbour,

but that's not what ships are made for."

- William G.T. Shedd

SACRED LIFE

 

"I wish that life should not be cheap, 

but sacred.....

The days to be as centuries,

loaded, fragrant...."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson