This page is devoted to short stories and quotations that have given me inspiration. If you like them or would like to add one please e-mail me.

Dance like no one's watching

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough, and we'll be more content when they are. After that we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire. The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. A great quote comes from Alfred D. Souza. He said,

"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin-real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."

This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have. And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time...and remember that time waits for no one. So stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until you are off welfare, until the first or fifteenth, until your song comes on, until you've had a drink, until you've sobered up, until you die to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

Thought for the day: Work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt, and dance like no one is watching!!!

Truth stands up to examination. False ideas do not.

"My religion teaches me to embrace all truth in the heavens, on the earth, under the earth, and in the bottomless pit, if there is any there. My creed embraces all truth. If you have truth that I have not, let me know it, and it will come to where it belongs; and if I have truth which you have not you are welcome to it. There is no need of debate and contention in regard to truth and error, for debate tends to create a spirit of bitterness."

Brigham Young, JD, Vol.9, p.316 - p.317

During a political debate an opponent of Abraham Lincoln called him " two-faced ".
Lincoln replied, " I leave it to my audience. If I had another face, do you think I'd wear this one? "

How Are You Connecting the Dots?

You look down at the sheet of paper lying on your desk and notice what appears to be the dotted outline of a sailboat. Instinctively, you connect the dots. Congratulations, you’re the four thousand, seven hundred and seventeenth consecutive person to connect the dots in such a way as to create that same tedious, predictable and boring little picture of a sailboat.
If you had paused to ponder the dots just a little longer, you might have seen how you might connect them to reveal two swordsmen fighting on a mountainside, or the skyline of New York City, or a little boy swinging a baseball bat at home plate.
It’s strange, but some people actually argue about what the picture is "supposed" to be. It isn’t supposed to be anything! It’s just a bunch of dots. You can make of them whatever you want.
What are you making with your minutes and your hours, the "dots" of your life? Are you connecting them to create the picture that you most want to see?
Or are you just drawing the sailboat?

"True happiness comes only by making others happy the practical application of the Savior's doctrine of losing one's life to gain it. In short, the Christmas spirit is the Christ spirit that makes our hearts glow in brotherly love and friendship and prompts us to kind deeds of service. It is the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, obedience to which will bring peace on earth because it means good will toward all men."

President David O. McKay

Friendship

"Christ, who said to the disciples 'Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,' can truly say to every group of Christian friends 'You have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another.' The Friendship is not a reward for our discrimination and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all the others. They are no greater than the beauties of a thousand other men; by Friendship God opens our eyes to them. They are, like all beauties, derived from Him, and then, in a good Friendship, increased by Him through the Friendship itself, so that it is His instrument for creating as well as for revealing. At this feast it is He who has spread the board and it is He who has chosen the guests. It is He, we may dare to hope, who sometimes does, and always should, preside."
(C.S.Lewis, The Four Loves)

God the builder

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of -- throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace."
(C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)

God Is the gardener

Could I tell you just a quick story out of my own experience in life? Sixty odd years ago, I was on a farm in Canada. I had purchased the farm from another who had been somewhat careless in keeping it up, and I went out one morning and found a currant bush, at least six feet high. I knew that it was going all to wood, there was no sign of blossom or of fruit. I had had some experience in pruning trees before we left Salt Lake to go to Canada, as my father had a fruit farm. So I got my pruning shears and went to work on the currant bush, and I clipped it and cut it and cut it down until there was nothing left but a little clump of stumps. And as I looked at them, I yielded to an impulse, which I often have, to talk with inanimate things and have them talk to me. It's a ridiculous habit, one I can't overcome. As I looked at this little clump of bushes, stumps, there seemed to be a tear on each one, and I said, "What's the matter currant bush? What are you crying about?" And I thought I heard that currant bush speak. It seemed to say, "How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as large as the fruit tree and the shade tree, and now you've cut me down. And all in the garden will look upon me with contempt and pity. How could you do it? I thought you were the gardener here?" I thought I heard that from the currant bush. I thought it so much that I answered it. I said, "Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. If I let you go the way you want to go, you'll never amount to anything. But, someday, when you are ladened with fruit, you're going to think back and thank and say, 'Thank you, Mr Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me.'"
(Hugh B. Brown, God Is the Gardener)

[There was a] little boy who went to the park with his father to fly a kite.
The boy was very young. It was his first experience with kite flying. His father helped him, and after several attempts the kite was in the air. The boy ran and let out more string, and soon the kite was flying high. The little boy was so excited; the kite was beautiful. Eventually there was no more string left to allow the kite to go higher. The boy said to his father, "Daddy, let's cut the string and let the kite go; I want to see it go higher and higher."

His father said, "Son, the kite won't go higher if we cut the string."

"Yes, it will," responded the little boy. "The string is holding the kite down; I can feel it." The father handed a pocketknife to his son. The boy cut the string. In a matter of seconds the kite was out of control. It darted here and there and finally landed in a broken heap. That was difficult for the boy to understand. He felt certain the string was holding the kite down.

The commandments and laws of God are like the kite string. They lead us and guide us upward. Obedience to these laws gives us peace, hope, and direction.

(Patricia P. Pinegar, From her talk Peace, Hope, and Direction.) Given at the 169^th General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints.

Strength and struggle go together. The Supreme reward of struggle is strength. Life is a battle and the greatest joy is to overcome. The pursuit of easy things makes men weak. Do not equip yourselves with superior power and hope to escape the responsibility and work. It cannot be done. It is following lines of least resistance that makes a river and men crooked. (Miracle of Forgiveness, Bookcraft pl64)

Time

"Each of us is given a pocketful of time to spend however we may. We use what we will. We waste what we will. But we can never get back a day." The adversary is cunning and deceitful. He has convinced many there is no heaven. He's convinced others there is no hell. But we are not better off than any of them if we apathetically allow Satan to convince us there is no hurry.
(The New Era, March 1997)

"God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other."
(President Spencer W. Kimbal, Ensign, October 1985, P3)

Small things

Everything we do in life, whether it be good or bad, simple or profound, has an effect or influence on someone -- either ourselves or others. "Be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work," the Lord told the early saints. "For out of small things proceedeth that which is great." (D&C 64:33). Small things -- actions, words, deeds that we may think are "no big deal" -- may in fact, powerfully affect another, either positively or negatively. And even if we don't think our action may influence another, we are reminded that there are no small things to the Lord in his assessment of who and what we really are, for our entire life and spiritual character is made up of a lifetime of small things. For this reason the Lord has declared that in his judgement of mankind, "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7).
(Brent L. Top, Lord I Would Follow Thee, Bookcraft, p3)

The test of tolerance comes when we are in a majority.
The test of courage comes when we are in a minority.

Don't give up what you want most, For what you want now.

Self-discipline is doing something that needs to be done whether or not you find it convenient. Self-discipline is usually motivated by our convictions, our internal hopes, and our desires.

(Robert L. Simpson)

"The height of a man's success is gauged by his self-mastery; the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment... He who cannot establish a dominion over himself will have no dominion over others. He who masters himself shall be king."

(Spencer W. Kimball)

Let no man break the laws of the land, for he that obeys the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land.

(Joseph F. Smith)

"The treasures of both secular and spiritual knowledge are hidden ones - but hidden from those who do not properly search and strive to find them... Spiritual knowledge is not available merely for the asking; even prayer is not enough. It takes persistence and didication of one's life."

(Spencer W. Kimball)

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible whithout surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clealy, and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare youself to others you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your career however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for, high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourse1f, especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture the strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress youself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholsome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars: you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be; and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. With all its shams, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Stive to be happy.

To complain that life has no joys while there is a single creature whom we can relieve by our bounty or assist through our service, is like dying of thirst with a cup of water in our hands.

Author:Fitz Osborne

No Man is an Island

No man is an island, entire of itself:
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were.
Well as if a manor of thy friend
Or of thine own were.
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind;
And, therefore, never send to know
For whom the bells tolls:
It tolls for thee.

Author: John Donne-1624, From Devotions upon Emergent Occasions

"Before we can teach our children, we must understand and live the principles ourselves. It is vital that the child learn from our example that what we say and what we live are the same."

Dwan J. Young (Ensign, November 1983, page 86)

I Believe in Christ as I believe in the sun at noon day, not that I can see it, but by it, I can see everything else.

CS. Lewis

The Swallow and the Other Birds
It happened that a Countryman was sowing some hemp seeds in a field where a Swallow and some other birds were hopping about picking up their food. "Beware of that man," quoth the Swallow. "Why, what is he doing?" said the others. "That is hemp seed he is sowing; be careful to pick up every one of the seeds, or else you will repent it." The birds paid no heed to the Swallow's words, and by and by the hemp grew up and was made into cord, and of the cords nets were made, and many a bird that had despised the Swallow's advice was caught in nets made out of that very hemp. "What did I tell you?" said the Swallow.

Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin.

Easop Fable

You cannot run away from a weakness; you must sometimes fight it out or perish. And if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?

Author: Robert Louis Stevenson

Overdoses of needed medication can be toxic. Boundless mercy could oppose justice. So tolerance, without limit, could lead to spinless permissiveness

Russell M. Nelson (Perfection Pending p71, Deseret Book Company, SLC, UT)

Gerrard M. Burnell Home ^Top of page

Links