Work
World Class Expert
Last evening Marjorie and I read “To Become a World-Class Expert” on page 196 of I Have No Greater Joy. The point of the article is that 10,000 hours of practice is necessary to make one an expert in anything. Ten-thousand hours is a long time. I got to wondering if Marjorie qualifies as an expert piano player.
Read MorePassionate
It’s always refreshing to meet someone who is passionate about something. It’s interesting to hear him or her discourse on what he’s excited about.
Today we met a young man who attended our ward for the first time with his wife, two little boys, and his mother. He has taken a job at our local car dealership. His mother explained that he is passionate about cars.
Man with a Purpose
Aunt Peggy said to my father, “James moves like a man with a purpose.”
I now think often of that compliment and observation as I slowly amble to the next thing needing to be done. Moving is harder now. Things take longer. I’m in need of a new knee, I’m 75 years old, and I don’t have the energy that I used to have.
Inch By Inch
The song says, “Inch by inch, and row by row, I’m going to make this garden grow.” That’s the way we operate. At the beginning of a big job you look ahead and think, “There’s no way I’ll ever be able to get this done.” But you just begin. You do a little each day, and suddenly, one day, the job is done.
Read MoreFrom Last Place to First
The Kentucky Derby in 2022 was won by a horse named Rich Strike. The top 20 horses in the country qualify to enter the derby. Rich Strike was number 21; but just before the derby began, one of the 20 other horses had to drop out, putting Rich Strike in. He was rated last, and was late getting out of the gate. He was initially one of the last three horses in the pack. He wove in and out among the horses, and passed one after another until there were only two running ahead of him. He put on a burst of speed, and passed them by a length to win the Kentucky Derby. It was a hugely exciting race.
Read MorePromised Lands Don’t Come Easy
The Tabernacle Choir on Temple Square sings a song so rousing that you become so caught up in it that you just have to move. It is called “Bound for the Promised Land.” The lyrics say, “Oh, who will come and go with me, I am bound for the promised land.”
Read MoreYa Gotta Have a Cadence
While visiting with my brother, Tim, today he said, “Ya gotta have a cadence.” I like that. I like that a lot. It puts into focus what I’ve always felt and believed.
Read MoreBy Small and Simple Things
I am at loose ends and confused this morning. I don’t know what to do. I reached my goal yesterday of indexing general conference talks, and have no more to do. I’m a creature of habit, and this is going to upset my whole daily routine.
Read MoreI Have A Project
I wake in the morning feeling excited. I’m excited because I have a project. I’m eager to start the next step, and to continue putting together my creation. I’m bringing something into existence which has never existed before. I’m developing an idea, and the result is going to be beautiful and useful.
Read MoreDeath and the Spirit World
One of my earliest memories is of sitting on the floor in a nook of our kitchen with my back to the wall, the end of the cabinets to my right, and the freezer to my left. I was listening to my parents and their visiting friends as they sat at the kitchen table. I marveled as their voices began droning, and their words became indistinguishable. I fell asleep. My next conscious moment was of waking up in my own bed. How I got there, I didn’t know; but I assume that my father must have picked me up and put me there.
Read MoreDo It Heartily
This past week Danny was given the opportunity of playing his guitar and of singing with his wife at the funeral of a 94-year-old man. The man had requested that Danny do so. Danny was lamenting the fact, which is so often the case, that it takes a funeral to inform you about what an outstanding and interesting person the deceased individual was. “If only I had known these things during his life,” we say to ourselves, “I’d have been able to talk with him or her, and to ask questions, and to have learned some valuable things.”
Read MoreSeven Years to Read Book of Mormon
Sister Knell is a covenant woman who makes a difference. She is a widow in her 80s with a 47-year-old son, mentally and physically disabled from birth.
Read MoreOh, To Be Able to Scrub The Oven
A faithful member shared her testimony of how the power of goodness influenced her life. She writes:
“Until I was about eight years old, I was oblivious to the fact that my mother had serious health problems—later diagnosed as multiple sclerosis.
The Five-Dollar Lawn
No one in our Utah town knew where the Countess had come from; her carefully precise English indicated that she was not a native American.
Read MoreHanging On
It reminds me of two trees that were close to my home when I was growing up. The one was a Russian olive and grew right in our yard.
Read MoreStick to Your Task—Poem
Stick to your task ‘til it sticks to you;
Beginners are many, but enders are few.
Honor, power, place and praise
Will always come to the one who stays.
Touch of the Master’s Hand—Poem
‘Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile:
The Little Red Hen—Poem
Said the big white rooster, “Gosh all hemlock; things are really tough,
Seems that worms are getting scarcer and I cannot find enough;
What’s become of all those fat ones is a mystery to me;
There were thousands through the rosy spell but now where can they be?
Tree That Never Had to Fight—Poem
The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
David and Goliath
The Philistines had a super weapon in their arsenal which they believed made them invincible. They had Goliath. The Israelites were all pessimists. When they saw Goliath they thought, “Wow, with a guy that big, we’ll never be able to beat the Philistines.” David, on the other hand was an optimist. When he saw Goliath he thought, “Wow, with a target that big, I can’t miss!”
Read MoreOne Thing About Satan
I have to say one thing about Satan. He’s not afraid of hard work, long hours, and impossible odds. He never gets discouraged. He knows he can’t ultimately win, but rejoices in accomplishing little goals along the way. How happy it makes him when I bend to a temptation.
Read MoreCarefree, Complacent and Comfortable
We received a Christmas letter from a woman who reported on the doings of her family. One son and his wife had only one child. There would be no more because “one is all the children they can handle.” The other son is “not married and will never have children but does have girlfriends, lives rather a rogue life in that he prefers living out of his van, but is happy that way.” Her former husband has left his wife of 20 years.
Read MoreTime Management
In the just-past general conference Elder Gong told of his wife’s grandmother. The grandmother had a foot pedal installed on her butter churn so that she could make butter,
Read MorePay Attention!
My mother once went into a car dealership to buy a pickup. She had the money in her purse and was ready to pay in full for the vehicle.
Read MorePromised Lands
Promised lands aren’t what they’re cracked up to be. Utopias don’t come ready-made. We have to create them.
Read MoreTo Become a World-class Expert
Elder Quentin L. Cook mentioned in general conference what is called “the 10,000-hour rule.” Research experts assert “that ten thousand hours of practice is required…
Read MoreSpectator or Participant?
The secret to living a joyful and a successful life is to live it as a participant rather than as a spectator.
Read MoreAllegory of the Raspberry Patch
Besides olives and grapes, the master of the vineyard also grew raspberries.
Read MoreOne By One
Today (28 February 2016) I reached a milestone. Last fall, because of our mission, I was five conferences behind in my indexing…
Read MoreA Mark of Distinction
I have an irritation. I caught glimpses of myself yesterday in windows and mirrors, and was shocked at what I saw. I saw images of a very stooped man. I tried straightening my back, and I was still stooped.
Read MoreGod’s Focus and Greatest Creation
In 1956 Harry de Leyer went to the auction to buy a horse for his children to ride. He got there too late. All the good horses had already been sold.
Read MoreJohn Bennion
The story of the Church is a story of chain reactions. One step in the process of the Restoration always leads to another. A chain reaction was initiated by Joseph Smith’s reading of James 1:5 that continues today in an ever-widening, ever-lengthening chain of events that is currently linking millions of lives in miraculous ways.
Read MoreThe Apprentice and the Master Craftsman – James’ Parables
There was once a man who apprenticed himself to a master craftsman. The master craftsman was able to work with every material, in every medium, and to create beautiful things.
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