Who is Jesus to you?

Of all the things for which I feel grateful, one stands [above all the others].  That is a living testimony of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Almighty God, the Prince of Peace, the Holy One... Jesus is my friend.  He is my exemplar.  He is my teacher.  He is my healer.  He is my leader.  He is my Savior and my Redeemer.  He is my God and my King.  Gratefully, and with love, I bear witness of these things.  (President Gordon B. Hinckley, "Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice: Gratitude," The Friend, November 2002, page 3)

Who is Jesus

"We discover he is more than the babe in Bethlehem, more than the carpenter’s son, more than the greatest teacher ever to live. We come to know him as the Son of God. He never fashioned a statue, painted a picture, wrote a poem, or led an army. He never wore a crown or held a scepter or threw around his shoulder a purple robe. His forgiveness was unbounded, his patience inexhaustible, his courage without limit. Jesus changed men. He changed their habits, their opinions, their ambitions. He changed their tempers, their dispositions, their natures. He changed men’s hearts."

--Thomas S Monson, "The Paths Jesus Walked", May 1974 Ensign

We are not perfect

God is fully aware that you and I are not perfect.  Let me add: God is also fully aware that the people you think are perfect are not.  And yet we spend so much time and energy comparing ourselves to others--usually comparing our weaknesses to their strengths.  This drives us to create expectations for ourselves that are impossible to meet.  As a result, we never celebrate our good efforts because they seem to be less than what someone else does.  (President Dieter F Uchtodorf, General Relief Society Meeting, Sept 2011)

Rejoice!

Lift up your heart! Lift up your voice! Rejoice, again I say, rejoice! (Rejoice the Lord is King, Hymn #66)  It's spring!  Join your heart and your voice with that of nature and rejoice!

Love God

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.  1 Corinthians 2:9

Don't be limited in your views...

Don't be limited in your views with regard to your neighbors' virtues... You must enlarge your souls toward others if you [would] do like Jesus... As you increase in innocence and virtue, as you increase in goodness, let your hearts expand--let them be enlarged towards others--you must be longsuffering and bear with the faults and errors of mankind.  How precious are the souls of men!  (Joseph Smith, Daughters in My Kingdom: the History and Work of Relief Society, p 23)

Art thou greater than He?

The Son of Man hath descended below them all.  Art thou greater than he?  (Doctrine & Covenants 122: 8)

Look to God and live

Yea, did he [Moses] not bear record that the Son of God should come?  And as he [Moses] lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, even so shall he [the Son of God] be lifted up who should come.  And as many as should look upon that serpent should live, even so as many as should look upon the Son of God with faith, having a contrite spirit, might live, even unto that life which is eternal.  (Helaman 8: 14-15)

We must be grateful

We are unaware of hosts of blessings that we receive from day to day.  It is extremely important that we have a spirit of gratitude in our hearts.  (Elder Quentin L Cook, General Conference, October 2011)

God is a person

God our Father is not a feeling or an idea or a force.  He is a holy person who, as the scriptures teach, has a face and hands and a glorious immortal body.  He is real, He knows each of us individually, and He loves us, every one.  He wants to bless us.  (Elder J Devn Cornish, General Conference, October 2011)

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?... Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8: 35, 37-39

Choose eternal life

It is never too late to begin to choose eternal life!  (Elder Randall K Bennett, General Conference, October 2011)

Power to bind on earth and heaven

It may seem to some to be a very bold doctrine that we talk of--a power which records or binds on earth and binds in heaven.  Nevertheless, in all ages of the world, whenever the Lord has given a dispensation of the priesthood to any man by actual revelation, or any set of men, this power has always been given.  Hence, whatsoever those men did in authority, in the name of the Lord, and did it truly and faithfully, and kept a proper and faithful record of the same, it became a law on earth and in heaven, and could not be annulled, according to the decrees of the great Jehovah.  This is a faithful saying.  Who can hear it?  Doctrine & Covenants 128: 9

Thank the Lord

Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things. Doctrine & Covenants 59: 7

Believe and ask

Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.  (Mormon 9: 21)

Storms are inescapable

The storms will still beat at our doors from time to time, for they are an inescapable part of our existence in mortality.  We, however, will be far better equipped to deal with them, to learn from them, and to overcome them if we have the gospel at our core and the love of the Savior in our hearts. (President Thomas S. Monson, General Conference, October 2011)  Remember, the rains fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon the houses of BOTH the foolish and the wise men, but it was the wise man whose house fell not for it was founded upon a rock (the teachings of the Savior and His prophets).

Painful things happen even to the pure and perfect

In fact, in a resurrected, otherwise perfected body, our Lord of this sacrament table has chosen to retain for the benefit of his disciples the wounds in his hands and his feet and his side—signs, if you will, that painful things happen even to the pure and perfect. Signs, if you will, thatpain in this world is not evidence that God doesn’t love you. It is thewounded Christ who is the captain of our soul—he who yet bears the scars of sacrifice, the lesions of love and humility and forgiveness. (Elder Jeffrey R Holland, General Conference, October 1995)

We are never alone and unaided

God never leaves us alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenge that we face. (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, The Ministry of Angels, Ensign, Nov '08, p29)

He is Risen!

O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit.  (2 Nephi 9:10)  He Is Risen!  Happy Easter!