But if you don't, here are a few of my favorite excerpts:
"We felt the great unsteadiness of life and reached for the great steadiness of our Father in Heaven. And, as ever, we found it. Americans of all faiths came together in a remarkable way."
"Our Father’s commitment to us, His children, is unwavering. Indeed He softens the winters of our lives, but He also brightens our summers. Whether it is the best of times or the worst, He is with us. He has promised us that this will never change. "
"If there is a spiritual lesson to be learned from our experience of that fateful day, it may be that we owe to God the same faithfulness that He gives to us. We should strive for steadiness, and for a commitment to God that does not ebb and flow with the years or the crises of our lives. It should not require tragedy for us to remember Him, and we should not be compelled to humility before giving Him our faith and trust. We too should be with Him in every season.
"The way to be with God in every season is to strive to be near Him every week and each day. We truly “need Him every hour,” not just in hours of devastation. We must speak to Him, listen to Him, and serve Him. If we wish to serve Him, we should serve our fellow men. We will mourn the lives we lose, but we should also fix the lives that can be mended and heal the hearts that may yet be healed."
Lately I've been thinking about how some of the differentiating doctrines we believe as Latter-day Saints are evidences of God's love for all of His children. Let me explain:
The Book of Mormon: The Book of Mormon is a record similar to the Bible, only of the people living on the American continent, primarily the ancestors of Native Americans. It tells of Jesus Christ's visit to these people following his resurrection and how he taught them the Sermon on the Mount and many other things that he also taught in Jerusalem.
In John 10:16 Christ teaches, "And other sheep I have; which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." We believe that the Book of Mormon people are some of the other sheep that would hear his voice.
The Temple: As Jesus taught, baptism is essential for salvation. John 3:5 ". . . Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" But what about those who never have an opportunity to learn of Christ or be baptized? We believe that a loving and merciful God provides an opportunity for ALL of His children to receive the saving ordinance of baptism and other important ordinances. In the temple we perform these ordinances.
Here is a short video, including interviews with two Harvard professors not of our faith, describing why we build temples and how it restores the teachings of temples in the Bible:
A Living Prophet: Just as Adam, Moses, Noah and others spoke for God and led their people, we believe that likewise God has placed living prophets on the earth today to guide and warn His people. Noah warned the people of the impending flood, our prophets prepared us for world financial difficulties. In 1998, President Gordon B. Hinckley, prophet and president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, shared the following:
"I want to make it very clear that I am not prophesying, that I am not predicting years of famine in the future. But I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order.
"So many of our people are living on the very edge of their incomes. In fact, some are living on borrowings.
"We have witnessed in recent weeks wide and fearsome swings in the markets of the world. The economy is a fragile thing. A stumble in the economy in Jakarta or Moscow can immediately affect the entire world. It can eventually reach down to each of us as individuals. There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed."
By and large the economy in 1998 was very good and we had little reason to think it wouldn't remain that way. But now we can see the wisdom in not living on the edge of our incomes, in setting aside some savings for a rainy day.
Isn't it wonderful that God loves us, just as He loved people in ancient biblical times, enough to guide us through the tumultuous times we are living in?
Our prophet today is President Thomas S. Monson. For a collection of his recent addresses, visit here
