more important than being authentic

While it is true that each of us travels an individualized discipleship journey on the covenant path, striving to keep our hearts and minds centered on Christ Jesus, we need to be careful and constantly vigilant to not be tempted to adopt this type of worldly philosophy in our life. Elder Quentin L. Cook said that “being sincerely Christlike is an even more important goal than being authentic.”

My dear friends, when we choose to let God be the most powerful influence in our life over our self-serving pursuits, we can make progress in our discipleship and increase our capacity to unite our mind and heart with the Savior. On the other hand, when we don’t allow God’s way to prevail in our life, we are left to ourselves, and without the Lord’s inspiring guidance, we can justify almost anything we do or don’t do. We can also make excuses for ourselves by doing things our own way, saying in effect, “I am just doing things my way.”

Ulisses Soares

"Aligning Our Will with His", General Conference October 2024

fail to get outside ourselves

[W]e [often] fail to get outside ourselves. We are so busy checking on our own temperatures, we do not notice the burning fevers of others even when we can offer them some of the needed remedies, such as encouragement, kindness, and commendation. The hands which hang down and most need to be lifted up belong to those too discouraged even to reach out anymore.

Neal A. Maxwell

“Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father”, General Conference October 1995

thy will be done

If you want to receive the companionship of the Holy Ghost, you must want it for the right reasons. Your purposes must be the Lord’s purposes. If your motives are too selfish, you will find it difficult to receive and sense the promptings of the Spirit.

The key for me and for you is to want what the Savior wants. Our motives need to be driven by the pure love of Christ. Our prayers need to be “All I want is what you want. Thy will be done.”

Henry B. Eyring

"Our Constant Companion" General Conference October 2023

forget yourself and go to work

I was not well when I arrived. Those first few weeks, because of illness and the opposition which we felt, I was discouraged. I wrote a letter home to my good father and said that I felt I was wasting my time and his money. He was my father and my stake president, and he was a wise and inspired man. He wrote a very short letter to me which said, “Dear Gordon, I have your recent letter. I have only one suggestion: forget yourself and go to work.” Earlier that morning in our scripture class my companion and I had read these words of the Lord: “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.” (Mark 8:35.)

Those words of the Master, followed by my father’s letter with his counsel to forget myself and go to work, went into my very being. With my father’s letter in hand, I went into our bedroom in the house at 15 Wadham Road, where we lived, and got on my knees and made a pledge with the Lord. I covenanted that I would try to forget myself and lose myself in His service.

Gordon B. Hinckley

"Taking the Gospel to Britain: A Declaration of Vision, Faith, Courage, and Truth," by Gordon B. Hinckley. Ensign. July 1987. Adapted from a talk given at a BYU symposium on the 150th anniversary of the opening of the British Mission. As quoted in Not My Will, but Thine by Neal A. Maxwell. 2008. Deseret Book. p. 117, 118

an unstained character and unselfish acts

Revere the gods; watch over human beings. Our lives are short. The only rewards of our existence here are an unstained character and unselfish acts.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Modern Library. 2003. P.75, Book 6, #30. Also see The Internet Classics Archive | The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (mit.edu)

Jesus: The Perfect Leader - Selfless leadership

The Savior’s leadership was selfless. He put himself and his own needs second and ministered to others beyond the call of duty, tirelessly, lovingly, effectively. So many of the problems in the world today spring from selfishness and self-centeredness in which too many make harsh demands of life and others in order to meet their demands. This is a direct reversal of the principles and practices pursued so perfectly by that perfect example of leadership, Jesus of Nazareth. 

Jesus’ leadership emphasized the importance of being discerning with regard to others, without seeking to control them. He cared about the freedom of his followers to choose. Even he, in those moments that mattered so much, had to choose voluntarily to go through Gethsemane and to hang on the cross at Calvary. He taught us that there can be no growth without real freedom. One of the problems with manipulative leadership is that it does not spring from a love of others but from a need to use them. Such leaders focus on their own needs and desires and not on the needs of others.

Jesus had perspective about problems and people. He was able to calculate carefully at long range the effect and impact of utterances, not only on those who were to hear them at the moment, but on those who would read them 2,000 years later. So often, secular leaders rush in to solve problems by seeking to stop the present pain, and thereby create even greater difficulty and pain later on.

  

  

Jesus: The Perfect Leader By President Spencer W. Kimball. From an address delivered to the Young Presidents organization, Sun Valley, Idaho, 15 January 1977. Ensign. August 1979.

the giving and receiving of... communications

There are some important ground rules for us all that pertain to the giving and receiving of... communications:

1. We should not give advice or be candid merely to punish or to meet our own ego needs. Rather, we must do as Paul says: speak "the truth in love." (Ephesians 4:15.) And even when we must give reproof, we should, as Paul also suggested, 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.)

In general conference in April 1962, President David O. McKay observed of the phrase about giving reproof—"when moved upon by the Holy Ghost"—that this "limiting clause" is very significant. Reproof, he said, should not be given because of "selfishness, not because of any personal antipathy, not because of personality." He then described verse 43 of this section of the Doctrine and Covenants as being without parallel "in governing people." (Conference Report, April 1962, p. 93.)

2. We need to take into account our own capacity and that of the others involved to manage the consequences of candor, counsel, and correction.

3. We should consider the appropriateness of the setting, as well as the appropriateness of what is said.

4. The correction or counsel given should bear reasonable relationship to the importance of the issue, lest there be "over-kill."

5. Corrective counsel is facilitated when there is shared expectation that it will be given.

6. Ongoing counsel has the advantage of allowing for course corrections without being so ultimate and final. (Note Jesus' relationship with Peter—how the Master's love was felt by Peter and how Peter grew with the mix of constant love and occasional reproof.)

7. If we truly care about giving counsel and correction, in addition to taking the time to ponder beforehand the content and substance, we will make certain that our voice tone, bodily posture, and facial expression "are all enlisted," so that the moment draws the best out of us, in order to have the best chance of completing the communication circuit.

8. Timing is often as crucial as content.

9. A pattern of commendation can blunt the tendency some of us have to give too much corrective commentary. Regrettably we sometimes see an individual get classified, and no matter how well he or she does thereafter, it is difficult to get reclassified. It is sometimes like the chicken whose comb gets bloodied; all the chickens then peck at it, making the situation even worse. These "walking wounded" are all about us, and they need someone else to help them bind up—not add to—their wounds.



Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience. Deseret Book, 1979.

this Christmas...

This Christmas, mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love and then speak it again.

Howard W. Hunter, "The Gifts of Christmas", Ensign, Dec. 2002, 16

warmed and healed by the priest's faithfulness

The only person who have Toshiko any real comfort was Father Kleinsgorge, who continued calling on her in Koi. He was clearly bent on converting her. The confident logic of his instruction did little to convince her, for she could not accept the idea that a God who had snatched away her parents and put her through such hideous trials was loving a merciful. She was, however, warmed and healed by the priest’s faithfulness to her, for it was obvious that he, too, was weak and in pain, yet he walked great distances to see her.

Her house stood by a cliff, on which there was a grove of bamboo. One morning, she stepped out of the house, and the sun’s rays glistening on the minnowlike leaves of the bamboo trees took her breath away. She felt an astonishing burst of joy – the first she had experienced in as long as she could remember. She heard herself reciting the Lord’s Prayer.

In September, she was baptized. Father Kleinsorge was in the hospital in Tokyo, so Father Cieslik officiated.


Hiroshima by John Hersey. Vintage Books. 1989. p.119, 120

spirit of enryo

Father Kleinsorge was briefly hospitalized in Tokyo twice more. His German Jesuit colleagues were of the opinion that in all his work he was a little too much concerned for others, and not enough for himself. Beyond his own stubborn sense of mission, he had taken on himself the Japanese spirit of enryo – setting the self apart, putting the wishes of others first. They thought he might literally kill himself with kindness to others; he was too rücksichtsvoll, they said – too regardful. When gifts of delicacies came from relatives in Germany, he gave them all away. When he got penicillin from an Occupation doctor, he gave it to parishioners who were as sick as he. (Among his many other complaints, he had syphilis, which he had apparently caught from transfusions in one of his hospital stays; it was cured eventually.) He gave lessons on the catechism when he had a high fever. After he came back from a long hike of pastoral calls, the Misasa housekeeper would see him collapse on the steps of his rectory, head down – a figure, it seemed, of utter defeat. The next day, he would be out in the streets again.


Hiroshima by John Hersey. Vintage Books. 1989. p.110, 111

Study to do another's will rather than thine own. Choose ever to have less rather than more. Seek ever the lower place and to be subject to all; ever wish and pray that the will of God may be perfectly done in thee and in all. Behold such a man enters the bounds of peace and calm.


Thomas à Kempis - (1380-1471), German monk, mystic. The Imitation of Christ, pt. 3, ch. 25 (1471)

Service requires unselfishness, sharing, and giving. My wife and I learned a valuable lesson during our time of service in Africa. We were assigned to a district conference in Jinja, Uganda. Early Saturday morning before our meetings began, we took the opportunity to tour a new chapel in the area. As we arrived at the building, we were greeted by a young boy of three to four years of age. He had come to the Church grounds to see what was going on. Struck by his broad smile, Sister Snow reached in her purse and handed him a wrapped piece of hard butterscotch candy. He was delighted.

We spent a few minutes touring the chapel before returning outside. We were met by more than a dozen smiling children, who each wanted to meet the new neighborhood candy lady.

Phyllis was heartbroken, as she had given the boy her last piece of candy. She disappointedly gestured to the children there was no more. The small boy who initially greeted us then handed the candy back to Sister Snow, gesturing for her to unwrap it. With a heavy heart, Phyllis did so, fully expecting the boy to pop the butterscotch candy into his mouth in full view of his envious friends.

Instead, to our great surprise, he went to each of his friends, who stuck out their tongues and received one delicious lick of the butterscotch candy. The young boy continued around the circle, occasionally taking his own lick, until the candy was gone.

Now, one can argue the lack of sanitation with this gesture of sharing, but no one can dispute the example set by this young boy. Unselfishness, sharing, and giving are essential to service. This child learned that lesson well.


Steven E. Snow, “Service,” Ensign, Nov 2007, 102–4

The only gift is a portion of thyself.

Emmerson, "Gifts," 5:220 as quoted in Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement. 2000. p.157

Do we really comprehend, do we understand the tremendous significance of that which we have? This is the summation of the generations of man, the concluding chapter in the entire panorama of the human experience.

But this does not put us in a position of superiority. Rather, it should humble us. It places upon us an unforgiving responsibility to reach out with concern for all others in the spirit of the Master, who taught, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself' (Matthew 19:19). We must cast out self-righteousness and rise above petty self-interest.

Gordon B. Hinckley - "The Dawning of a Brighter Day," Ensign, May 2004, 83-84