Tithing

I love the name of the talk this first quote came from, "Tithing, a Commandment Even for the Destitute." I think it should have been titled, "Especially for the Destitute." I see the Lord's hand in so many things these last few months when our cupboard has been "bare." The garnishments of Don's wages, the foreclosure on the house. Yet, each pay period tithing comes out of his check first. I, on the other hand, have a harder time, yet I am striving to pay my tithing also. It isn't as "easy" as it is with Don's check. His comes out by bill pay. We set it up & don't have to worry about it. My savings account doesn't have that option.

"...the truer measure of sacrifice isn't so much what one gives to sacrifice as what one sacrifices to give. Faith isn't tested so much when the cupboard is full as when it is bare. In these defining moments, the crisis doesn't create one's characterit reveals it."

--Lynn G. Robbins, "Tithing, a Commandment Even for the Destitute," Ensign, May 2005, 34 

This next story is something I should've had 34 years ago when I started working in the Missionary Department in the Church Office Building. I had a very hard time with the "human-ness" of the General Authorities.

"May I offer counsel of a general nature, first with comments about General Authorities. We recognize them as instruments in the hand of the Lord, yet realize that they are ordinary human beings. They require haircuts, laundry services, and occasional reminders just like anyone else. President [Ezra Taft] Benson once shared with us a story to illustrate. He said:

" 'Orson F. Whitney . . . was a great man to concentrate. One day when he was traveling by train, he was so preoccupied that he did not notice the train pass the station where he was to get off. So he had to [be driven] back to where he should have been. Meanwhile the stake president waited and waited. . . . Finally when he decided that something had more than likely happened to Brother Whitney and he was not going to make it, they commenced the meeting. As Elder Whitney approached, he was greeted by the opening hymn, which was "Ye Simple Souls Who Stray." '

"We honor such a man because of his extraordinary calling. His official acts are valid on earth and in heaven."

--Russell M. Nelson, "Honoring the Priesthood," Ensign, May 1993, 40

Life events

I'm trying to catch up on my Old Testament reading & so, I requested 2 reading assignments today.

"Closely related to our own obligation to repent is the generosity of letting others do the same...In this we participate in the very essence of the Atonement of Jesus Christ...We don't want God to remember our sins, so there is something fundamentally wrong in our relentlessly trying to remember others' sins...It is one of those ironies of godhood that in order to find peace, the offended as well as the offender must engage the principle of forgiveness."

--Jeffrey R. Holland, "The Peaceable Things of the Kingdom", Ensign, Nov. 1996, 82

They were LOONNG quotes today:

"Sadness, disappointment, and severe challenge are events in life, not life itself. I do not minimize how hard some of these events are. They can extend over a long period of time, but they should not be allowed to become the confining center of everything you do. The Lord inspired Lehi to declare the fundamental truth, "Men are, that they might have joy." That is a conditional statement: "they might have joy." It is not conditional for the Lord. His intent is that each of us finds joy. It will not be conditional for you as you obey the commandments, have faith in the Master, and do the things that are necessary to have joy here on earth."

--Richard G. Scott, "Finding Joy in Life", Ensign, May 1996, 24

I only saved one quote from the first request. This one:

"No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God . . . and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven"

--Orson F. Whitney, in Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, 98