August

Fast: that we will know what is best for our family this school year (homeschool, ignite, public school, etc.)

• There’s a difference between knowing 1000 people and touching the lives of 1000 people

When the Lord measures an individual, He does not take a tape measure around the person’s head to determine his mental capacity, nor his chest to determine his manliness, but He measures the heart as an indicator of the person’s capacity and potential to bless others.

Why the heart? Because the heart is a synonym for one’s entire makeup. We often use phrases about the heart to describe the total person. Thus, we describe people as being “big-hearted” or “goodhearted” or having a “heart of gold.” Or we speak of people with faint hearts, wise hearts, pure hearts, willing hearts, deceitful hearts, conniving hearts, courageous hearts, cold hearts, hearts of stone, or selfish hearts.

The measure of our hearts is the measure of our total performance. As used by the Lord, the “heart” of a person describes his effort to better self, or others, or the conditions he confronts.” How is my heart towards God and myself, others, and the world? Is it soft in all three areas? MJ Ashton 

• The only thing I’m overwhelmed with is God’s love for me

“None of us went into this year with Covid-19, quarantine, social distancing, masks, home school, Black lives matter campaigns, or any other events in the world.” But she then said that “none of those external influences matter much, because “In 2020 I chose magic and the magic has manifested everyday.” -Yamile Saied Mendez

Boyd K. Packer

Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

“The measure of our success as parents … will not rest solely on how our children turn out. That judgment would be just only if we could raise our families in a perfectly moral environment, and that now is not possible.

“It is not uncommon for responsible parents to lose one of their children, for a time, to influences over which they have no control. They agonize over rebellious sons or daughters. They are puzzled over why they are so helpless when they have tried so hard to do what they should.

“It is my conviction that those wicked influences one day will be overruled. …

“We cannot overemphasize the value of temple marriage, the binding ties of the sealing ordinance, and the standards of worthiness required of them. When parents keep the covenants they have made at the altar of the temple, their children will be forever bound to them” (“Our Moral Environment,” Ensign, May 1992, 68). -Packer

Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge Days of ‘47, ‘19

Bad things happen, but as with the early Saints, we must accept life’s realities, even the harsh ones; trust with the Lord’s help we may endure well; and all things, both good and bad, will ultimately work together for our good.” 

Our natural instinct understandably is to shrink from suffering, but it is a grave mistake for that to be life’s primary objective, however instinctive it may be,” he said. “That kind of thinking wrongly equates the pursuit of joy with the hollowness of ease. While that has some appeal, it is a deeply flawed strategy because suffering and joy are not incompatible, but essential companions. You can suffer and never know joy, but you can’t have joy without suffering.”

Charles Dickens described the Latter-day Saints who left England for Zion as “the pick and flower of England.”

More people benefit from hardships and suffering than are left broken by them. One who obtains an eternal perspective, has faith in the Lord, seeks the welfare of others and can change and adapt in new situations is not just one who can survive, but one who can thrive.

Survivors and thrivers see things for what they are, good and bad, and deal with them,” Elder Corbridge said. “Bad things happen, but as with the early Saints, we must accept life’s realities, even the harsh ones; trust with the Lord’s help we may endure well; and all things, both good and bad, will ultimately work together for our good.”

• Put that dang phone away already.