As I've mentioned, President Hinckley came to BYU Tuesday to share some of his thoughts with us at the weekly devotional.
It was so neat to get to see him, and to listen to him. He has such a good sense of humor! He began with his commendation of BYU... we are after all, Stone-Cold Sober for ten years running. And the Marriott School of Business is number ONE in the West.
This of course, sent a cheer throughout the crowd.
Then, President Hinckley began his talk. He started by urging us to hold on to and live up to our high standards. He then read to us from the thirteenth article of faith, and defined the qualities listed therein.
He told us that honesty comes from within, and that nothing is more honest than good, hard work. He encouraged us to achieve greatness, but reminded us that no one can achieve greatness without hard work.
He told us to be true, to stand tall, look the world straight in the eye, and march forward.
He reminded us to be chaste. He said that we are being "chased" by the devil, and that we ought to be chaste in defense. He cautioned us against taking lightly the law of chastity, so that we do not destroy our futures.
He then discussed benevolence. I really appreciated his definition of benevolence. He called it the act of doing good to those around us, reaching out to people in need. He defined it as being kind and thoughtful, yet still made it an active virtue. (Everything is active in the gospel.)
His words concerning virtue were not quite what I expected. He defined virtue as having the strength to do whatever needs doing and doing it well. He told us that our virtue could be seen in measurable acts, through our prayers, scripture study, timely honest tithes, and so on.
Finally he talked to us about doing good to all men. He told us that this was different from benevolence, that this virtue was more about mercy, self-discipline, determination. He suggested that we "love... those who despitefully use us", then reminded us that ALL men deserve our respect.
And as I think on his words of wisdom and counsel, I can think of many things that I can improve, many ways that I can better myself.
I love the prophet, and I am grateful for the things that he said.
Some of it was precisely what I needed to hear. :)
2 comments:
Thanks for sharing. I think I am going to have to work really hard on that last part. There are some people I really can't make myself like, but maybe somehow I can be strong enough to learn to respect them. They are after all children of God too, and he loves them, no matter what they have done or will do to us.
Thank you for telling us more of what the Prophet had to say.
I am so happy that you were able to be a part of that!
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