Family Home Evening, September 24, 2007

Happy Monday, Happy Family Home Evening:

President Hinckley came to BYU and spoke at the weekly Devotional last week.

He encouraged students to strive for the qualities outlined in the 13th Article of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. [ www.lds.org ]

"We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul: We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."

Honest. Honesty means that there are no short-cuts or little white lies or big lies, only simple, honest truth spoken in total candor. And, there is nothing more honest than good hard work, too.

True. Being true is different than being honest. President Hinckley said it means that we stand tall, look the world straight in the eye and march forward. It means stability in a world of shifting values.

Chaste. Explaining what it means to be chaste, President Hinckley urged students to not sell themselves short by compromising their commitment to morality. He talked about how long it takes to put up a building and how quickly it can be imploded.

Lives can also be imploded in minutes, but they can be rebuilt through repentance. Those who have transgressed can turn to our Savior Jesus Christ; and, through the power of His atonement, be made clean and new again. Understand, too,. that you are being "chased" by Satan, and you had better run as fast as you can.

Benevolent. This means being kind, thoughtful and reaching out to those in need at all times. This may be to individuals or in humanitarian efforts across the globe.

Virtuous. He quoted Blaise Pascal: "The strength of a man's virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts." Virtue comes in doing well and consistently the every day, often rather tedious tasks of life. Prayer, scripture study, tending to financial obligations and other important commandments, if performed on a habitual basis, will yield great virtue.

Dong Good to All Men. To illustrate this point, President Hinckley gave the example of Dr. Norman Borlaug, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1970, has perhaps saved more lives than anyone in history! In the wake of a dreaded disease infesting croplands in Mexico in 1944 he went to work and developed a strain of wheat resistant to the fungus. Many said nothing could be done. The harvest became so great that the farmers began to market their wheat internationally. He then turned to Pakistan, India, China, the Philippines, and Indonesia, doing for those croplands what he did in Mexico. The whole word is in his debt.

Doing good to all men is not easy; it requires mercy, self discipline and determination. God is no respecter of persons. In His eyes, all mankind deserves our care and attention, love and consideration.

President Hinckley concluded by saying that those who seek the virtues outlined in the 13th Article of Faith will have a life that is challenging but more interesting, and the blessings of the Lord will come upon us for doing what He would have us do.

Have a wonderful week! We love you! Mom and Dad, Shauna and Robert Valentine