HOPE

"With hope, a mind is always free."

- Amy Tan

ANGELS, OUR ASSOCIATES

"If you live up to your privileges,

the angels cannot be restrained 

from being your associates."

- Joseph Smith

ON CHILDREN

 "Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,

which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, 

but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children

 as living arrows are sent forth.

The Archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,

and He bends you with His might 

that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the Archer's hand be for gladness,

For even as He loves the arrow that flies,

so He loves also the bow that is stable.

- Kehlil Gibran, The Prophet

COME TO ME O YE CHILDREN

Come to me, O ye children!

For I hear you at your play,

And the questions that perplexed me

Have vanished quite away.

Ye open the eastern windows,

That look towards the sun,

Where thoughts are singing swallows,

And the brooks of morning run.

In your hearts are the birds and the sunshine,

In your thoughts the brooklet's flow,

But in mine is the wind of Autumn

And the first fall of the snow.

Ah! What would the world be to us

If the children were no more?

We should dread the desert behind us

Worse than the dark before.

What the leaves are to the forest,

With light and air for food,

Ere their sweet and tender juices

Have been hardened into wood,--

That to the world are children;

Through them it feels the glow

Of a brighter and sunnier climate

That reaches the trunks below.

Come to me, O ye children!

And whisper in my ear

What the birds and the winds are singing

In your sunny atmosphere.

For what are all our contrivings,

And the wisdom of our books,

When compared with your caresses,

And the gladness of your looks.

Ye are better than all the ballads,

That ever were sung or said;

For ye are living poems,

And all the rest are dead.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

EVERLASTING SPLENDOURS

"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which....you would be strongly tempted to worship....It is in light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another...There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendours."

- C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

SIN

"Whoever said that sin was not fun? Whoever claimed that Lucifer was not handsome? Persuasive, easy, friendly? Sin is attractive and desirable. Transgression wears elegant gowns and sparkling apparel. It is highly perfumed; it has attractive features, a soft voice. It is found in educated circles and sophisticated groups. It provides sweet and comfortable luxuries. Sin is easy and has a big company of pleasant companions. It promises immunity from restrictions, and temporary freedoms. It can momentarily satisfy hunger, thirst, desire, urges, passions, wants, without immediately paying the price. But, it begins tiny and grows to monumental proportions - drop by drop, inch by inch."

- Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes The Miracle, p. 229

ON LOVE

"When love beckons to you, follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him,

Though his voice may shatter your dreams.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;

For love is sufficient unto love.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires, 

let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook

that sings its melody to the night,

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart

and a song of praise upon your lips.

And think not you can direct the course of love, for love,

if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

And when you love you should not say,

"God is in my heart", but rather, 

"I am in the heart of God."

- Kahlil, Gibran, The Prophet