excited by posthumous fame

People who are excited by posthumous fame forget that the people who remember them will soon die too. And those after them in turn. Until their memory, passed from one to another like a candle flame, sputters and goes out.

But suppose that those who remembered you were immortal and your memory undying. What good would it do you? And I don’t just mean when you’re dead, but in your own lifetime. What use is praise, except to make your lifestyle a little more comfortable?

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Modern Library. 2003. P.41, Book 4, #19. Also see The Internet Classics Archive | The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (mit.edu)

grab hold of your family

“I hope that the avalanche of lights and camera flashs rushing toward you is a light one,” wrote Hernan Rivera Letelier, a Chilean writer, as he sought to warn the miners of the media barrage headed their way. “It is true that you have survived a long season in hell, but when all is said and done, it was a hell you know. What is headed your way, companions, is a hell that you have not experienced at all: the hell of the show, the alienating hell of TV sets. I have only got one thing to say to you, my friends: grab hold of your family. Don't let them go, don't let them out of your sight, don't waste them. Hold on to them as you hung on to the capsule that brought you out. It's the only way to survive the media deluge that is raining down on you.”

33 Men: Inside the Miraculous Survival and Dramatic Rescue of the Chilean Miners by Jonathan Franklin. Putnam 2011.

drinking our cup

Action… can help us to claim and celebrate our true self. But here again we need discipline, because the world in which we live says: “Do this, do that, go here, go there, meet him, meet her.” Busyness has become a sign of importance. Having much to do, many places to go, and countless people to meet gives us status and even fame. However, being busy can lead us away from our true vocation and prevent us from drinking our cup.

It is not easy to distinguish between doing what we area called to do and doing what we want to do. Our many wants can easily distract us from our true action. True action leads us to the fulfillment of our vocation…. The most prestigious position in society can be an expression of obedience to our call as well as a sign of our refusal to hear that call, and the least prestigious position, too, can be a response to our vocation as well as a way to avoid it.

Drinking our cup involves carefully choosing those actions which lead us closer to complete emptying of it, so that at the end of our lives we can say with Jesus: “It is fulfilled” (John 19:30). That indeed, is the paradox: we fulfill life by emptying it. In Jesus’ own words: “Anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt. 10:39).

When we are committed to do God’s will and not our own we soon discover that much of what we do doesn’t need to be done by us. What we are called to do are actions that bring us true joy and peace. Just as leaving friends for the sake of the Gospel will bring us friends, so too will letting go of actions not in accord with our call.

Actions that lead to overwork, exhaustion, and burnout can’t praise and glorify God. What God calls us to do we can do and do well. When we listen in silence to God’s voice and speak with our friends in trust we will know what we are called to do, and we will do it with a grateful heart.



Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Only Necessary Thing: Living A Prayerful Life, Compiled & Edited by Wendy Wilson Greer. 1999. p. 141, 142.  Originally quoted in Can You Drink the Cup? 1974.

the seduction of veneration

Hinckley... took his message of normalcy to other countries as he dedicated temples there. He launched a series of "cultural nights" where members in the region could gather in giant stadiums to show off their unique traditions and talents. Such giant public events helped mute the suspicion of this American church.

It also elevated Hinckley in the eyes of local members.

When Hinckley entered those arenas - or, indeed, in any large gathering of the faithful - the crowd instinctively stood up and grew suddenly silent.

Yet such hero worship had its downside. He could never take a stroll on Salt Lake City's Main Street Plaza or a city park without being besieged. As he recovered from his 2006 surgery in a Salt Lake hospital, he was virtually imprisoned in his room to protect him from well-meaning intrusions.

To the end, Hinckley faced head-on the seduction of veneration.

"Adulation is a disease I fight every day," Hinckley said.



"Gordon B. Hinckley: A lifetime of faithful service " by Peggy Fletcher Stack The Salt Lake Tribune, Jan. 27, 2008, quoted by "Mormon president can do no wrong to religion's members" Peggy Fletcher Stack, Religion News Service, March 31, 2011

a precious manifestation of what you are becoming

We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day. Righteous character is a precious manifestation of what you are becoming. Righteous character is more valuable than any material object you own, any knowledge you have gained through study, or any goals you have attained no matter how well lauded by mankind. In the next life your righteous character will be evaluated to assess how well you used the privilege of mortality.

“The Transforming Power of Faith and Character,” by Richard G. Scott, General Conference October 2010

a partnership with the Lord

In our pre-existent state, in the day of the great council, we made a certain agreement with the Almighty. The Lord proposed a plan, conceived by him. We accepted it. Since the plan is intended for all men, we become parties to the salvation of every person under that plan. We agreed, right then and there, to be not only saviors for ourselves, but measurably saviors for the whole human family. We went into a partnership with the Lord.

The working out of the plan became then not merely the Father's work, and the Savior's work, but also our work. The least of us, the humblest, is in partnership with the Almighty in achieving the purpose of the eternal plan of salvation. That places us in a very responsible attitude towards the human race. By the doctrine, with the Lord at the head, we become saviors on Mount Zion, all committed to the great plan of offering salvation to the untold numbers of spirits. To do this is the Lord's self-imposed duty, this great labor his highest glory. Likewise, it is man's duty, self-imposed, his pleasure and joy, his labor, and ultimately his glory.

There is no place for forgetting the other man in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. There stands my brother; it was for him that the whole plan was made, for him the Church was organized, for him all these blessings were given—not for me alone. Oh, I stand there, too. The Church was made for me, the gospel was given for me, all the blessings were given for me; but my brother is entitled to them just as much as I am. He and I together and all of us must unitedly work together to fulfill the great purposes of the Almighty Father.

Under the Gospel, what is man’s highest ideals? Under the Gospel it must be to become like the Father. [D&C 76:54-60, 132:24; Moses 1:29.] If the Lord’s concern is chiefly to bring happiness and joy, salvation to the whole human family, we cannot become like the Father unless we too engage in that work. There is no chance for the narrow, selfish, introspective man in the kingdom of God. He may survive in the world of men; he may win fame, fortune and power before men, but he will not stand high before the Lord unless he learns to do the works of God, which always point toward the salvation of the whole human family. [D&C 15:6, 18:10-16, 128:5,15-18.]



John A. Widtsoe, Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, October 1934, p.289 [see History of the Church 6:59-61.], Latter-day Prophets and the Doctrine & Covenants, Volume 1 compiled by Roy W. Doxey. Deseret Book. 1964. p.21,22

I Have Never Wanted Fame

I have never wanted fame
nor wanted to leave my poems
behind in the memory of men.
I love the subtle worlds,
delicate, almost without weight,
like soap bubbles.
I enjoy seeing them take the color
of sunlight and scarlet, float
in the blue sky, then
suddenly quiver and break.


~Antonio Machado (Translated by Robert Bly. Roots & Wings: Poetry from Spain 1900-1975. Hardie St. Martin, Editor. Harper & Row. 1976. p.51)

the crowning glory of man

What is the crowning glory of man in this earth so far as his individual achievement is concerned? It is character-character developed through obedience to the laws of life as revealed through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. Man's chief concern in life should not be the acquiring of gold nor fame nor material possessions. It should not be the development of physical prowess nor of intellectual strength, but his aim, the highest in life, should be the development of a Christlike character.


David O. McKay (1873 – 1970) was the ninth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), serving from 1951 until his death. "Obedience Develops Character," Instructor, Aug. 1965, 301 as quoted in David O. McKay, “The Shape of Character: Classic Insights from President David O. McKay,” Liahona, Sep 2001, 40

the possession of a noble character

Day by day, hour by hour, man builds the character that will determine his place and standing among his associates throughout the ages...More important than riches, more enduring than fame, more precious than happiness is the possession of a noble character. Truly it has been said that the grand aim of man's creation is the development of a grand character, and grand character is by it's very nature the product of a probationary discipline.


David O. McKay (1873 – 1970) was the ninth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), serving from 1951 until his death. "Man's Soul Is As Endless As Time," Instructor, Jan. 1960, 1-2 as quoted in David O. McKay, “The Shape of Character: Classic Insights from President David O. McKay,” Liahona, Sep 2001, 40