Tough Love...

"...we must do as Paul says; speak 'the truth in love.' (Ephraim 4:15) And even when we must confirm our love lest the other individual 'be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.' (2 Corinthians 2:7-8) In the Doctrine and Covenants, we are asked to show forth an 'increase of love' - not the same level of love, but a visible 'increase'! (D&C 121:40-44)"

- Neal A. Maxwell "All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience"

Growth and Development...

"Furthermore, it is clear that in our daily labors, in our families, and in our church associations is a significant share of the clinical material that God has given us to practice on.  This means we will experience at each others' hands some pain, some lack of fitness, and certainly some genuine mistakes.  In fact, as we see each other developing and growing (as well as sometimes when we are not at our best), we are privy to an intimate and precious thing."

- Neal A. Maxwell "All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience"

Who We Really Are...

"Two great commandments are inextricably bound up with each other.  Mortals can clearly do much good even though they are disbelievers, but someday they will see that even their good deeds were done because of who they really are and because of forces deep within them that moved them so such actions - even though they did not, at the time, recognize or acknowledge those divine forces within them."

"It is possible for all to develop such love, because carried within each soul born on this planet is the light of Christ, which can illumine the landscape of life, even if the carrier does not understand that light within." ( D&C 93:2)

- Neal A. Maxwell "All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience"

The Lord's Love For Us....

"Eternally Encircled in His Love"

Sister Bonnie D. Parkin

October General Conference 2006

" I know of a young mother with five little children who called an older sister, her valued mentor, and asked, "Can we go  on a hike?" Her friend knew that meant she needed to talk. Halfway through an eight-mile loop, the young mother finally said , 'I just can't believe that Heavenly Father loves me; I've made lots of mistakes in my life. I can't feel that I'm worthy of his love; how can He possibly love me?' Sisters, this was a woman who made temple covenants and was  active in the Church. And yet she still felt unworthy of His love. The older sister quickly responded, “Of course He loves you. You’re His daughter. Do we frequently reject the Lord’s love that He pours out upon us in much more abundance than we are willing to receive? Do we think we have to be perfect in order to deserve His love? When we allow ourselves to feel “encircled about eternally in the arms of his love,” ¹ we feel safe, and we realize that we don’t need to be immediately perfect. We must acknowledge that perfection is a process. This is a gospel of eternal progress, and we must remember to appreciate the journey."

Serve all...

"We can serve by enduring well, for our steadiness will steady others who are otherwise on the verge of giving up... We can serve by giving deserved, specific praise... Teaching is a significant form of service, just as is witnessing to one's neighbor."

"Let us so live and serve as to give no one cause to speak with justifiable spite of us. People may say untrue things that hurt us and that may even temporarily hurt the work, but let us never give cause for calumny.  Let us so serve that those who are unrighteous, as Paul counseled 'may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say,' of us." (Titus 2:8)

- Neal A. Maxwell "All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience"

Giving and Receiving...

"Let us think of service not only as giving, but also as receiving righteously.  Parenthetically, one of the many reasons some of today's children have not learned to give is that some parents do not know how to receive."

- Neal A. Maxwell "All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience"

What is Beauty?

"How ironic it is to envy someone who has a pretty figure but who is a spiritual cripple... Think for a moment how different it would be if people took on that physical appearance which would reflect distinctly how well they are doing spiritually.  How would some of today's so-called beautiful people really look? A highly publicized movie star, if her life were fully represented in her appearance, might be ugly, perhaps with a hunched back, a prune face, and a withered arm.  In contrast, think of Quasimodo, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, his beauty was not seen by the multitude.  Under such telling circumstances- when the outer person reflected the inner person- whom would we applaud?  And who would really deserve our pity?... The faithful but perhaps plump woman whose nails are worn, but who is a giving mother, wife and neighbor has a queenly beauty and a regal way, if we could but see her as she really is; her beauty will not be taken from her by the passing years.  The paraplegic in the wheelchair who refuses to indulge himself in self-pity - his giving and achieving has genuine glamour.  One day he will stand very tall and straight; he should do so already in our eyes.  When we see 'things as they really are,' we shall see others and ourselves as we really are." 

- Neal A. Maxwell "All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience"

The Savior vs. Selfish People...

"Jesus did not find pleasure in hanging on the cross; joy came after duty and agony.  He went to Gethsemane and Golgotha out of a sense of supreme service, not because it would meet his needs.  He fulfilled all things by giving all in that remarkable and special act of service.  He descended below all - taking more than all of us put together have taken - before being lifted up."

"But selfish people are forever taking their own temperature, asking themselves, "Am I happy?"

- Neal A. Maxwell "All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience"

Roles in Life...

Matthew 22:39 ... "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 

"In keeping the second great commandment, the most significant and basic service we can regularly render unto others will emerge from our most basic roles - as brothers and sisters, as parents, as neighbors, as disciples....those of us who try to escape from or neglect, our basic roles will find that we have only made the effective keeping of the second great commandment even more difficult."

 - Neal A. Maxwell "All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience"

Selfishness...

"Selfishness leads to self-pity, which leaves no room for compassion, empathy or service to others."

- Neal A Maxwell "All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience"

Expectations...

"...for a host of reasons, correct conduct under stress is more likely when one has correct expectations about life.  If we understand the basic purpose of life, we will find it easier to see purpose in our own life."

- Neal A. Maxwell "All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience

Repentance...

"Paul overcame the stigma of his being persecutor and became an apostle with the missionary sway of his time."

- Neal A Maxwell "All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience"

Joy...

"Past mistakes and imperfections need not keep us from present and future joy."

- Neal A. Maxwell "All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience"

Plan of Salvation...

"We knew before we were born that we were coming to the earth for bodies and experiences and that we would have sorrows, ease and pain, comforts and hardships, health and sickness, successes and disappointments.  We knew also that after a period of life - we would die.  We accepted all these eventualities with a glad heart, eager to accept both the favorable and the unfavorable."

- President Spencer W. Kimball

Temptation...

"I have seen men tempted so sorely that finally they would say, 'I'll be damned if I'll stand it any longer.' Well, you will be damned if you do not."

- President Taylor

Lift Eachother...

"Thee lift me and I'll lift thee and we will ascend together." 

- Robert D. Hales' Wife

Bought With A Price

Neal A. Maxwell
All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience
pg2/3
There is little doubt, for instance, but that a goodly portion of our pride proceeds from some assumptions we make about ourselves and our lives - assumptions that are at first soothing but very wrong. We think, for instance, that we "own" ourselves. It is perfectly true that our individual identity is guaranteed, that we are agents for ourselves, and so forth - but this truth, when it is torn away from other realities, gives us a very lopsided view of things. Without the ransoming atonement of the Savior, we would be stranded souls, doomed to die with no hope of the resurrection or of individual immortality. We were literally purchased by Jesus. (Acts 20:28) Quite true, we do not yet have to acknowledge that reality, though someday we will. Nor are we now even forced to follow the conditions that the Purchaser laid down. So in a sense we are quite free to do as we please, just as if we were our "own"....this illusion underwrites the false assumptions that we make about our time, our talents, and our possessions that each of us sees as "mine." We may even feel noble when we give of our time and means, and we are apt to be somewhat grumpy if anyone, especially a prophet, reminds us that all that we have belongs to God anyway........