Brightening My Light

You don't have to be married or have children to be a good spouse or parent. Sister Silvia H. Allred said in General Conference October 2010 , "You don't have to be married to keep the commandments and to nurture families, friends, and neighbors. Your gifts, talents, skills, and spiritual strengths are greatly needed in building up the kingdom. The Lord relies on your willingness to perform these essential duties." You can be a good spouse now by keeping yourself morally clean, taking care of your body, developing your talents, educating yourself both temporally and spiritually, supporting yourself financially, praying for your future spouse, learning and practicing positive relationship skills, developing habits you want to instill in your family, such as scripture study, and getting rid of bad habits that cause contention in marriages, such as spending too much money or being negative. You can be a good parent now as you serve in your ward. You can teach s...

The plan of salvation is very simple and, for the most part, easy to understand. We know that when we make mistakes we must suffer the negative consequences, and that is understandable and fair. But when terrible things happen to good and innocent people, it can be difficult to understand why God does not intervene. I have studied long and thoroughly for answers and have found the following: Agency Doctrine and Covenants 88:87-91 talks about the terribles calamaties that will happen in the Last Days, which we see all around us now. President Joseph Fielding Smith said concerning this : “It is not the will of the Lord that there should come upon the people disaster, trouble, calamity, and depression, . . . but because man himself will violate the commandments of God and will not walk in righteousness, the Lord permits all of these evils to come upon him. . . . “The Lord has made the declaration in our own day that it was his good pleasure to give to men the fulness o...

With summer trips coming, it's important we prepare for the Sabbath while on vacation. Just because we rest from our worldly cares does not mean we should forget about Sunday! It is very easy to keep the Sabbath Day holy while on vacation: If possible, try not to travel on Sunday so you can attend church and not have to buy food or gas. Find a church building and meeting times on lds.org . If you must travel on Sunday, try to arrange your travel plans so that you can still attend an early sacrament meeting if possible. If you cannot attend church because you have to travel or there are no meetinghouses nearby, hold your own devotional services at your hotel. Sing songs, pray, and read the scriptures or General Conference talks. Then spend time together playing games or watching LDS movies. Listen to the scriptures, LDS music, or General Conference talks in the car or on the plane. If you are visiting family, go to church with them--even if they are of a different faith. ...

lds.org Doctrine and Covenants 121:41-44 says, "No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; "By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile— "Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; "That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death." Most people interpret betimes as sometimes , but that is incorrect. The Institute manual explains , "Many people assume the word betimes means “occasionally” or “sometimes,” but this is not its primary meaning. To reprove betimes means to do so “at an early time, . . . in good time, in due time; while there is yet time, before it is too...

lds.org Ever wonder how the story of the Holy Grail began? Why people believed there was a cup from which they could drink and live forever? I did, and here is the answer. One day when Jesus was teaching the people, He said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. . . . I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and that bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. ( John 6:47, 51-54 ) The Jews' response shows they did not understand what Jesus meant. Then, before Jesus was crucified, He dined...

lds.org Our stake conference today focused on missionary work, a responsibility of every member of the Church. Some of us are very enthusiastic and fearless about sharing the gospel. Others are very intimidated and clueless as to how to start. If you fit in the latter category, here are some ways you can create missionary opportunities and bring up the Church or the gospel easily by arousing people's interests non-aggressively: Wear jewelry and clothing with LDS sayings on them, such as CTR or I love to see the temple . You can also put decals with LDS sayings and symbols on a backpack, tote bag, car, laptop, phone, etc. When someone asks you about your weekend, talk about any church activities you attended, like baptisms, ward activities, temple weddings, and, of course, church on Sunday. Display beautiful photos of Jesus and temples in your home and work area. Read the Ensign , scriptures, or LDS books at the doctor's office, bus stop, and other waiting a...

I have always loved the parable of the laborers in the vineyard , which I shared in a previous post . But when Elder Holland spoke in General Conference about that parable , his deeper interpretation really struck me, particularly when he said: Then this piercing question to anyone then or now who needs to hear it: “ Why should you be jealous because I choose to be kind? ” Brothers and sisters, there are going to be times in our lives when someone else gets an unexpected blessing or receives some special recognition. May I plead with us not to be hurt—and certainly not to feel envious—when good fortune comes to another person? We are not diminished when someone else is added upon. We are not in a race against each other to see who is the wealthiest or the most talented or the most beautiful or even the most blessed. The race we are really in is the race against sin, and surely envy is one of the most universal of those. Furthermore, envy is a mistake that ...