However Long and Hard the Road
JEFFREY
R. AND PATRICIA T. HOLLANDJan. 18, 1983 • Devotional
Be excited about
your chance to grow and develop and become.
Marilyn Funt, who wrote the book Are
You Anybody? did so in response to people’s asking in the Hollywood
swirl if she “was anybody.” In answer she said:
I used to think being somebody meant public
recognition of one’s efforts. Wrong. I now know that the feeling of being
somebody comes from hard work and self-growth. Being in control of my life
makes me answer that question with a strong “Yes!” [New York: Pinacle Books, 1981]
We speak about excellence a
great deal at BYU these days, and, by definition, excellence does not come
easily or quickly—an excellent education does not, a successful mission does not,
a strong, loving marriage does not, rewarding personal relationships do not. It
is simply a truism that nothing very valuable can come without significant
sacrifice and effort and patience on our part. Perhaps you discovered that when
you got your grades last month. Maybe in other ways you are finding that many
of the most hoped-for rewards in life can seem an awfully long time coming.
My concern this morning is that you will
face some delays and disappointments at this formative time in your life and feel
that no one else in the history of mankind has ever had your problems or faced
those difficulties. And when some of those challenges come, you will have the
temptation common to us all to say, “This task is too hard. The burden is too
heavy. The path is too long.” And so you decide to quit, simply to give up. Now
to terminate certain kinds of tasks is not only acceptable but often very wise.
If you are, for example, a flagpole sitter then I say, “Come on down.” But in
life’s most crucial and telling tasks, my plea is to stick with it, to
persevere, to hang in and hang on, and to reap your reward. Or to be slightly
more scriptural:
Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for
ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things
proceedeth that which is great.
Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a
willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of
Zion in these last days. [D&C
64:33–34]
REMEMBER SCHOOL IS A WONDERFUL GOAL
AND WORTHWHILE TASK, EVEN WHEN IT IS HARD AND DIFFICULT AND TIME CONSUMING!
On 10 May 1940, as the specter of Nazi
infamy moved relentlessly toward the English Channel, Winston Leonard Spencer
Churchill was summoned to the post of prime minister of England. He hastily
formed a government and on May 13 went before the House of Commons with his
maiden speech.
I would say to the House, as I said to those
who have joined this Government: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil,
tears, and sweat.”
We have before us many, many long months of
struggle and suffering. What is our aim? . . . Victory—victory at all
costs; victory in spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road
may be. . . .
Conquer we must; as conquer we shall.
. . . We shall never surrender.
Blood? Toil? Tears? Sweat? Well, I figured I
had as much of those as anyone, so I headed home to try. I was, in the parlance
of the day, going to give it “my best shot,” however feeble that might prove to
be. Now at the same time in your life, I ask you to do the same.
With the divorce
rate hitting 50 percent and climbing, more than one million American children
live through the trauma of a marital break-up every year. Andrew Cherlin of
Johns Hopkins University says that “America[ns] . . . of the 70’s and
80’s are the first generation in the country’s history who think divorce and
separation are a normal part of family life” (“Who’s Minding the Children,”
Allan C. Brownfeld, from Divorce and Single-Parent Family Statistics, p. 24).
“You must [not
give] half-hearted compliance [to a marriage],” said President Kimball. “[It
requires] all [our] consecration” (Spencer W. Kimball, “An Apostle Speaks about
Marriage to John and Mary,” Improvement Era, February 1949, p. 74). So every worthy task will
require all that we can give to it. The Lord requires the heart and a willing
mind if we are to eat the good of the land of Zion in the last days.
But as Brigham Young also said, “We never
began to build [any] temple without the bells of hell beginning to ring” (J.A.
Widtsoe [ed.], Discourses of Brigham Young [Salt Lake City:
Deseret Book, 1973], p. 410). No sooner was the foundation work finished than
Albert Sidney Johnston and his United States troops set out for the Salt Lake
Valley intent on war with “the Mormons.” In response President Young made
elaborate plans to evacuate and, if necessary, destroy the entire city behind
them. But what to
do about the temple whose massive excavation was already completed and its 8’ x
16’ foundational walls firmly in place? They did the only thing they could
do—they filled it all back in again. Every shovelful. All that soil and gravel
that had been so painstakingly removed with those nine thousand man days of
labor was filled back in. When they finished, those acres looked like nothing
more interesting than a field that had been plowed up and left unplanted.
When the Utah War
threat had been removed, the Saints returned to their homes and painfully
worked again at uncovering the foundation and removing the material from the
excavated basement structure.
Just to put one layer of the six hundred hand-sketched, individually
squared, and precisely cut stones around the building took nearly three years.
That progress was so slow that virtually no one walking by the temple block
could ever see any progress at all.“Can you accomplish the work, you Latter-day Saints of these several counties?” he asked. And then in his own inimitable way he answered:
Yes; that is a question I can answer
readily. You are perfectly able to do it. The question is, have you the
necessary faith? Have you sufficient of the Spirit of God in your hearts to
say, yes, by the help of God our Father we will erect these buildings to his
name? . . . Go to now, with your might and with your means and finish
this Temple. [Anderson,Contributor, p.
267]
So
they squared their shoulders and stiffened their backs and went forward with
their might. But when President Brigham Young died in 1877, the temple was still
scarcely twenty feet above the ground. Ten years later, his successor,
President John Taylor, and the temple’s original architect, Truman O. Angell,
were dead as well. The side walls were just up to the square. And now the
infamous Edmunds-Tucker Act had already been passed by Congress
disincorporating The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the
effects of this law was to put the Church into receivership, whereby the U.S.
marshall under a November court order seized this temple the Saints had now
spent just under forty years of their lives dreaming of, working for, and
praying fervently to enjoy. To all appearances, the still unfinished but
increasingly magnificent structure was to be wrested at this last hour from its
rightful owners and put into the hands of aliens and enemies, the very group
who had often boasted that the Latter-day Saints would never be permitted to
finish the building. It seemed those boasts were certain to be fulfilled.
Schemes were immediately put forward to divert the intended use of the temple
in ways that would desecrate its holy purpose and mock the staggering sacrifice
of the Saints who had so faithfully tried to build it.
But
God was with these modern children of Israel, as he always has been and always
will be. They did all they could do and left the rest in his hands. And the Red
Sea parted before them, and they walked through on firm, dry ground.
On 6
April 1892, the Saints as a body were nearly delirious. Now, finally, here in
their own valley with their own hands they had cut out of the mountains a
granite monument that was to mark, after all they had gone through, the safety
of the Saints and the permanence of Christ’s true church on earth for this one
last dispensation. The central symbol of all that was the completed House of
their God. The streets were literally jammed with people. Forty thousand of
them fought their way on to the temple grounds. Ten thousand more, unable to
gain entrance, scrambled to the tops of nearby buildings in hopes that some glimpse
of the activities might be had. Inside the Tabernacle President Wilford
Woodruff, visibly moved by the significance of the moment, said:
If
there is any scene on the face of this earth that will attract the attention of
the God of heaven and the heavenly host, it is the one before us today—the
assembling of this people, the shout of ‘Hosanna!’ the laying of the topstone
of this Temple in honor to our God. [Anderson, Contributor, p.
270]
Then,
moving outside, he laid the capstone in place exactly at high noon.
In the
writing of one who was there, “The scene that followed is beyond the power of
language to describe.” Lorenzo Snow, beloved President of the Quorum of the
Twelve Apostles, came forward leading 40,000 Latter-day Saints in the Hosanna
shout. Every hand held a handkerchief every eye was filled with tears. One said
the very “ground seemed to tremble with the volume of the sound” which echoed
off the tops of the mountains. “A grander or more imposing spectacle than this
ceremony of laying the Temple capstone is not recorded in history”
(Anderson, Contributor, p. 273). It was finally and forever
finished.
Perhaps you will not see the full meaning of
your effort in your own lifetime. But your children will, or your children’s
children will, until finally you, with all of them, can give the Hosanna shout.
Looking Back and Moving Forward April 2008
President of the Church
I testify that each one
of us can feel the Lord’s inspiration as we live worthily and strive to serve
Him.
I thank my Father in Heaven for my sweet
companion, Frances. This October she and I will celebrate 60 wonderful years of
marriage. Although my Church service began at an early age, she has never once
complained when I’ve left home to attend meetings or to fulfill an assignment.
For many years my assignments as a member of the Twelve took me away from Salt
Lake City often—sometimes for five weeks at a time—leaving her alone to care
for our small children and our home. Beginning when I was called as a bishop at
the age of 22, we have seldom had the luxury of sitting together during a
Church service. I could not have asked for a more loyal, loving, and
understanding companion.
It was said of the Savior
that He “went about doing good … for God was with him.”4 May we follow that perfect example.
I would encourage members of the Church wherever they may be to
show kindness and respect for all people everywhere. The world in which we live
is filled with diversity. We can and should demonstrate respect toward those
whose beliefs differ from ours.
May we also demonstrate kindness and love within our own
families. Our homes are to be more than sanctuaries; they should also be places
where God’s Spirit can dwell, where the storm stops at the door, where love
reigns and peace dwells.
I plead with you to turn
to our Heavenly Father in faith. He will lift you and guide you. He will not
always take your afflictions from you, but He will comfort and lead you with
love through whatever storm you face.
The Five Whys
Eric Ries, Author
Ask Why ‘5 Deep’, five layers down
from each problem. Problem happens: Why? Because of XYZ, Why did XYZ happen?, ect.
Good Things to Come: Jeffrey
Holland: “Some blessings come soon, come
some late and some don’t come ‘til Heaven.”
Acton Hero David Carrington
There are only Three ways to grow a business
1. Increase your
number of customers
2. Increase the frequency
of purchase
3. Increase the
average order
Consistently execute the Brand! And you will be successful
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