Week 7

I have included some of my favorite quotes from our readings this week.  Our bees seem to be doing well this week, in fact, my sister-in-law and her family purchased some bees.  It will be fun to see how each hive does and maybe in the future we can breed the two hives.  Our weather is still cool so it will be interesting to see what happens at the end of June, by then things usually start warming up.  The first have we have had four years ago was very successful, then we went through some painful learning experiences with the bees.  We purchase our own property last year and are excited to be working on our own place to establish a healthy bee population.  I am still surprised at how much I enjoy having the bees and I really hope we can be successful in getting our "bee" business started.

Looking Back Moving Forward

Pres. Monson

Throughout the journey along the pathway of life, there are casualties. Some depart from the road markers which point toward life eternal, only to discover the detour chosen ultimately leads to a dead end. Indifference, carelessness, selfishness, and sin all take their costly toll in human lives.

May we also demonstrate kindness and love within our own families. Our homes are to be more than sanctuaries; they should also be places where God’s Spirit can dwell, where the storm stops at the door, where love reigns and peace dwells.

We are waging a war with sin, my brothers and sisters, but we need not despair. It is a war we can and will win. Our Father in Heaven has given us the tools we need in order to do so. He is at the helm. We have nothing to fear. He is the God of light. He is the God of hope. I testify that He loves us—each one.

However Long and Hard the Road

Elder and Sister Holland

“Only a small portion of what we are [is developed] and there is enormous potential in the human being” (Leo Buscaglia, Love [New York: Fawcett, 1982], p. 19).

Be all that you can be! If you have oil in your lamps, you will find how often you get a chance to light them. If you have cared enough to prepare, your light will attract many, both men and women who will seek and cherish your companionship.

My concern this morning is that you will face some delays and disappointments at this formative time in your life and feel that no one else in the history of mankind has ever had your problems or faced those difficulties. And when some of those challenges come, you will have the temptation common to us all to say, “This task is too hard. The burden is too heavy. The path is too long.” And so you decide to quit, simply to give up. Now to terminate certain kinds of tasks is not only acceptable but often very wise. If you are, for example, a flagpole sitter then I say, “Come on down.” But in life’s most crucial and telling tasks, my plea is to stick with it, to persevere, to hang in and hang on, and to reap your reward. Or to be slightly more scriptural:

Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.

Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days. [D&C 64:33–34]

The baking of life’s best cakes takes time. Don’t despair of tarrying and trying. And don’t “burn your lips” with impatience.

I pray that your life may be “a monument to Mormon perseverance” “however long and hard the road,”…