God the Father appeared.

Our entire case as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rests on the validity of this glorious First Vision. It was the parting of the curtain to open this, the dispensation of the fulness of times. Nothing on which we base our doctrine, nothing we teach, nothing we live by is of greater importance than this initial declaration. I submit that if Joseph Smith talked with God the Father and His Beloved Son, then all else of which he spoke is true. This is the hinge on which turns the gate that leads to the path of salvation and eternal life.  - Gordon B. Hinckley

Worship

"We believe that worship is far more than prayer and preaching and gospel performance. The supreme act of worship is to keep the commandments, to follow in the footsteps of the Son of God, to do ever those things that please Him. It is one thing to give lip service to the Lord; it is quite another to respect and honor His will by following the example" Joseph Fielding Smith ("I Know That My Redeemer Liveth," Ensign, December 1971, p. 27).

Unfading Glory

"We came into the world for a great purpose, the same as Jesus, our elder brother, to do the will and works of our Father; in this there is peace, joy and happiness, an increase of wisdom, knowledge and the power of God; outside of this are no promised blessings. Thus let us devote ourselves to righteousness, help each and all to be better and happier; do good to all and evil to none; honor God and obey His Priesthood; cultivate and preserve an enlightened conscience and follow the Holy Spirit; faint not, hold fast to what is good, endure to the end, and your cup of joy shall be full even to overflowing, for great shall be your reward for your trials and your sufferings under temptations, your fiery ordeals, your heart yearnings and tears; yea, our God will give you a crown of unfading glory." (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow, p. 154).

Perfect Submission

The Savior’s perfect submission to the Eternal Father is the very essence of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Christ’s example teaches us that a broken heart is an eternal attribute of godliness. When our hearts are broken, we are completely open to the Spirit of God and recognize our dependence on Him for all that we have and all that we are. The sacrifice so entailed is a sacrifice of pride in all its forms. Like malleable clay in the hands of a skilled potter, the brokenhearted can be molded and shaped in the hands of the Master.  -Bruce D. Porter, LDS General Conference, 2007

The Triangle(s): Romance and Discipleship

Christlike staying power in romance and marriage requires more than any of us really have. It requires something more, an endowment from heaven. Remember Mormon's promise: that such love—the love we each yearn for and cling to—is "bestowed" upon "true followers of Christ." You want capability, safety, and security in dating and romance, in married life and eternity? Be a true disciple of Jesus. Be a genuine, committed, word-and-deed Latter-day Saint. Believe that your faith has everything to do with your romance, because it does. You separate dating from discipleship at your peril. Or to phrase that more positively, Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, is the only lamp by which you can successfully see the path of love and happiness for you and your sweetheart. How should I love thee? As He does, for that way "never faileth."
—Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, BYU Devotional, February 15, 2000

Elder Holland at Harvard Law School

This says it all.
  

 How the Father and His Son are one. 
mind
deed
will
wish
hope
faith
purpose
intent
love

Just not in Body!
 

Our Best Selves

"In the search for our best selves, several questions will guide our thinking: Am I what I want to be? Am I closer to the Savior today than I was yesterday? Will I be closer yet tomorrow? Do I have the courage to change for the better? The years have come and the years have gone, but the need for a testimony of the gospel continues paramount. As we move toward the future, we must not neglect the lessons of the past." - President Thomas S. Monson, "On Being Spirtually Prepared", Ensign February 2010

A View of the Shore!

“It was July 4, 1952.  [Florence] Chadwick, who had previously swum the English Channel, now attempted the 21-mile swim from the southern California mainland to Catalina Island.  The water was a freezing 48 degrees.  The fog was thick and visibility almost nil.  Finally, only a half mile from her destination, she became discouraged and quit.  The next day reporters clamored around her asking why she had quit—had it been the cold water or the distance.  It proved to be neither.  She responded, ‘I was licked by the fog.’  She then recalled a similar experience while swimming the English Channel.  Evidently the fog was likewise engulfing.  She was exhausted.  As she was about to reach out for her father’s hand in the nearby boat, he pointed to the shore.  She raised her head out of the water just long enough to see the land ahead.  With that new vision, she pressed on and became the first woman to conquer the English Channel.

“That story teaches a magnificent principle:  with increased vision can come increased motivation.  So it is with the Atonement.  As our vision of the Atonement is enhanced, our motivation to embrace its full effects is proportionately increased…

“Every attempt to reflect upon the Atonement, to study it, to embrace it, to express appreciation for it, however small or feeble it may be, will kindle the fires of faith and work its miracle towards a more Christlike life.  It is an inescapable consequence of so doing.  We become like those things we habitually love and admire.  And thus, as we study Christ’s life and live his teachings, we become more like him.”  (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, p. 16-17)

Jacob noted that Christ will be the one to greet us on the other side, not St. Peter as is often thought.  As we come to know our Savior more, being greeted by him at the door to heaven will mean more to us.  If we gain a vision of this, it can encourage us to finish the race.  If we get lost in the fog of earth life, like Florence Chadwick we may give up just short of the shore.  Elder George F. Richards shared his vision of this reunion with us.

“Elder George F. Richards saw the Savior in a vision.  ‘He spoke no word to me, but my love for him was such that I have not words to explain.  I know that no mortal man can love the Lord as I experienced that love for the Savior unless God reveals it to him…If only I can be with my

Savior and have that same sense of love that I had in that dream, it will be the goal of my existence, the desire of my life.”  (Brent & Wendy Top, Glimpses Beyond Death’s Door, p. 87-88, also quoted by President Kimball in April 1974 General Conference.) 

Taken from here.

Passover and Easter Ideas

ttp://lds.about.com/od/visualmusicalaids/a/bkmk_easter.htm 

 Easter bookmarks!

http://lds.about.com/od/ldsscriptures/a/Chart-Of-The-Saviors-Last-Week.htm   chart of last week of his mortal life, the scriptures from all 4 gospels.

http://lds.about.com/od/jesuschrist/a/names_of_Jesus.htm 

   names of Jesus Christ

http://lds.about.com/od/1/a/les_atonement.htm    Lesson for children about the atonement- complete with printable.

http://www.lds.org/ensign/1999/04/random-sampler?lang=eng    Easter all week- activities to do with kids.

http://www.sugardoodle.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3155Itemid%3D456&Itemid=200001  A long list of everything possible- food, activities, lessons, etc.  It's in there! Much that is here is from there.

http://www.sugardoodle.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8538    the 30 day celebration,

http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/2012/03/names-of-christ-study-booklet-printable.html   printable book for children about the names of the savior. 

http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Friend/1999.htm/friend%20april%201999.htm/for%20little%20friends.htm?fn=document-frameset.htm$f=templates$3.0#LPTOC1  

 from the friend- my story of Jesus.

http://www.sugardoodle.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4342&Itemid=429    love this idea 12 Easter eggs, all with the true meaning of Easter with scriptures. 

http://beinglds.blogspot.com/2012/03/teaching-children-about-atonement.html   A FHE about the atonement for children under 6 with a carnation experiment, a book, a song, etc.  Lovely!
 

Life verses War

We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the
Sermon on the Mount . . . Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living (cited in The Life of Mahatma Ghandi, Louis Fischer, p. 349).

Every gun made, every warship launched, every rocket fired
signifies, in a final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are
not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

This world in arms is not spending money alone: it is spending
the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of
its children . . . this is not a way of life at all, in any true sense.

Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from
a cross of iron. (Peace with Justice: Selected Addresses of
Dwight D. Eisenhower, pp. 37-38)

President Hinckley quoted Charles Sumner about this matter. He wrote:
Give me the money that has been spent on war, and I will clothe
every man, woman, and child in an attire of which kings and
queens would be proud. I will build a schoolhouse in every
valley over the whole earth. I will crown every hillside with a
place of worship, consecrated to the gospel of peace (The
Ensign, March 1971, p. 20).


Nicholas Murray Butler has figured that money spent for the
World War could have built a $2,500.00 house, placed in it
$1000.00 worth of furniture, put it on five acres of land worth
$1000.00 an acre, and have given this to every family in the
United States, Canada, Australia, England, Wales, Ireland,
Scotland, France. Belgium, Germany, and Russia; could have
given to each city of 20,000 or over in each of these countries a
five-million dollar library and a ten-million dollar university; and
could still with what was left set aside a sum at 5 per cent that
would provide a $1,000.00 yearly salary for over 125,000
teachers and a like number of nurses (Reprinted from Treasures
I Would Share, Heber J. Grant, Dec. 1`937)

. . . judge among the nations, and . . . rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more (2 Nephi 12:4)

How Mothers Are Like Christ

....motherhood has taught me a lot about Jesus Christ. As a mother, I’ve learned about justice and mercy, faith and prayer, joy and sorrow, and deep, intense love. Each of these things connects me to Him.

We are taught that as mothers, we are “partners” with Christ. We offer ourselves as vehicles through which spirits can come to earth. But perhaps we are more than just “partners” with Him.  Take a look at Moses 6:58:

“As ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit…even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten.”

Isn’t that stunning? Physical birth (from a mother) is symbolic of spiritual re-birth that will take place later in life (from Christ). So, as mothers, not only are we partners with Christ–

We are symbols of Christ.

We offer our physical bodies in pregnancy and childbirth to provide life for our children. Jesus Christ offered His physical body in death, to provide life for God’s children. And both involve water, blood, and the Spirit.

But it doesn’t stop there. A mother’s offering does not begin or end with her body. Yes, a mother offers her body through sleepless nights, weary arms, a well-worn lap, an aching back, and a listening ear. But what a mother offers most is her heart. Her entire soul. And isn’t that what Jesus Christ has offered us as well? Just as we see it symbolized in motherhood, He offers us His body, and His heart and soul.

From here: 

Pay the Deductible!

“I believe, to use an insurance phrase, we must pay the deductible. We must experience sorrow enough, suffering enough, guilt enough so we are conscious and appreciative of the heavier burden borne by the Savior.” (Elder J. Richard Clarke, in Conference Report April 1993, 10)

SURVIVAL

We're not going to survive in this world, temporally or spiritually,
without increased faith in the Lord-
and I don't mean a positive mental attitude-
I mean downright solid faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is the one thing that gives vitality and power
to otherwise weak individuals.


A. Theodore Tuttle

I Believe in Angels!

[Joseph Smith's] unwavering testimony that the angel Moroni, an ancient prophet, came to him is in perfect accord with the experiences of the Wise Men; of Zacharias; Elisabeth; Mary, the mother of our Lord; Joseph, and innumerable others…. By personal appearance of the Father Himself and of the Son, and through angels, He has restored the Church of Jesus Christ in the latter days. He has called prophets and apostles to guide us to safety in this life and eternal life in the world to come.

Henry B. Eyring

Even when things go wrong!

"To do well does not mean everything will always turn out well. The key is to remember that faith and obedience are still the answers, even when things go wrong, perhaps especially when things go wrong."
--David E. Sorensen, "Faith Is the Answer," Ensign, May 2005, 72

“The cultivation of Christlike qualities is a demanding and relentless task—it is not for the seasonal worker or for those who will not stretch themselves, again and again.” President Spencer Kimball, “Privileges and Responsibilities of Sisters,” Ensign, November 1978, 105

Scripture Study

Being aware of the number of references to Christ, having an understanding of the meanings for each name, and knowing when his influence can be greatest upon the earth can inspire reverential awe for our Savior. The witness of his divinity, however, must come personally to each of us—we cannot rely exclusively on the testimonies of others. The conviction that Jesus is the Christ occurs only when God, the Eternal Father, manifests the truth of it “by the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Moro. 10:4.) To the prayerful and the sincere, the Book of Mormon bears a powerful testimony that “Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God. - Susan Easton Black.