Fresh Up With Sunday

All the world needs Sunday, a day for physical, mental, spiritual refreshment.

Our creator set the pattern and gave us this right-to-rest law — the law of the Sabbath. He worked six days, rested the seventh, and, the Good Book says, “He was refreshed.”

Refreshed; relieved of fatigue; restored in strength and spirit. How we need this blessing in our busy, modern world!

How to keep Sunday? Try this once-a-week prescription:

Start on Saturday night. Retire early so you will arise, on the Sabbath, refreshed. Give thanks as you awaken that you are alive for another day of glorious living.

Cleanse your body; dress in your go-to-meeting best; breakfast gratefully; and go to church.

While in church you will learn wisdom and faith with choice friends and neighbors.

At mealtimes add zest to your appetite and nourishment to your soul by keeping a prayerful heart. On Fast Days, rest your digestion, refresh your spirit, and give the savings to the needy.

Between meals and meetings, cultivate your mind with good reading and pleasant visiting at home or with friends.

For good health and stimulating outdoor enjoyment, walk more, ride less to church if you live nearby.

As a perfect nightcap, add an hour of good fellowship and faith with a friendly fireside group.

Time on your hands? No Sunday will be long enough for all the appropriate and refreshing things you’d like to do.

As you prepare to retire, give thanks again that your Father in Heaven gave you this precious gift — one day in seven – when man can rest and be refreshed.

Let’s keep the Sabbath — let’s keep it because He gave it to us — and because we need it!

BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF.

Live and Learn Forever

This life is for serving and learning; so is the next. Part of life’s lessons we learn by failing first and trying over. Some call it trial and error; another name for it is experience.

A certain amount of trial and error we must accept. It’s good for us. But there’s a short-cut to learning, shorter than trial and error, which each of us should try to find. We should seek this short-cut through thoughtful study, from the experiences of others, by the reading of good books, by going to school. Most folks call this kind of learning “education.”

The chief purpose of education is to prepare us to live happily here and hereafter…and to make the world better for others who follow. The scriptures tell us why: “We are saved no faster than we gain knowledge”; “The glory of God is intelligence.” These lofty concepts of the place of education in the lives of people are the special incentives which spur us on in our search for knowledge.

It has been said even more plainly: “…if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another he will have so much advantage in the world to come.”

Yes, and in this life, too. For knowledge here is also power — the power to produce the essentials of healthful, happy, comfortable living; the power to govern wisely and effectively; the power to avoid some of life’s unnecessary pains and frustrations which come to the ignorant or unadjusted; the power to recognize and appreciate truth and teach it to others.

These are some of the aims and products of learning and living–now and forever

BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF.

More Precious Than Rubies

A virtuous young man pledges his love and fidelity to the girl of his dreams with a precious stone…a diamond. And the happy girl treasures the gift as she would her life, promising, in return, her own fresh, virtuous love in marriage.

the ring–with its precious gem–becomes a symbol of fidelity for the engaged couple…and a reminder of the priceless value of virtue in them both.

Solomon said it centuries ago: “A virtuous woman…her price is far above rubies…” For man it is equally true.

A latter-day hymn-writer composed these beautiful lines:

“Cherish virtue! Cherish virtue!
God will bless the pure in heart.”

Cherish–how beautiful and meaningful the word: to hold dear; to trust or keep with tenderness.

And virtue: integrity of character; uprightness of conduct; chastity.

The prophet Mormon, in his last affectionate message to his son Moroni, called virtue and chastity “the most dear and precious of all things.”

Modern prophets have reaffirmed this eternal truth.

So, young people of the Church, if you would deserve the confidence of the clean young man or young woman you someday hope to marry–if you would enjoy the fullness of happiness which belongs only to the pure in heart, be clean, be chaste.

BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF.

The Right Circles

Swing the corner like swingin’ on a gate;
Now your own if you’re not too late;
Ring up four with all your might…
All join in and circle right.

Gaily the dancers circle and swing to the beat of the band and the command of the caller…every happy heart in tune.

What wholesome harmony; what wonderful fun…when everybody’s in step and in tune, and when your partners in the dance are clean, healthy, wholesome people like yourself.

And so it is in real life, too. The circle is gay or dull, good or bad, as we find, or fail to find, the right partners and heed, or ignore, the command of the “caller.”

Life is a series of circles, beginning with the family circle. For this happy circle, when love and faith abide in the home, we give thanks to kind and wise parents. Working, playing and praying together, the happy family moves from round to round in perfect rhythm.

Next we widen the circles to include an ever-growning number of casual or close associates: chums of our youth, neighbors, schoolmates, club, social, business and church friends. Out of these circles come eventually our more enduring friendships, our lovers and sweethearts, and the permanent partners we will choose to help us start new family circles of our own.

These permanent circles of association and affection will become for us, if we choose them widely and keep in time and tune, the right circles. In them we will find true harmony and happiness.

BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF.

Healthy Happy Lucky You!

Lucky is the youth who has learned that health, success, and happiness come with clean living. Lucky is the youth who has learned that some things should not be touched or tampered with…that some things should be left alone.

Lucky is the youth who learns this lesson early in life, from parents and from the teachings of the Church — and who doesn’t have to learn it the hard way.

Health and happiness and success are what our Father in Heaven wants for us. And that is why He has given us commandments to keep — and not for any other reason.

Health and happiness and success are what our parents want for us. And that is why they give us counsel and commandments — and not for any other reason.

We have one mind and one memory — and it deserves to be clear and clean.

We have one earthly body which must last for a lifetime. Our Maker planned it that way. He knows what is good for us. He knows what will give us health and happiness and success and peace inside ourselves. That is why He has told us how to live; that is why He has told us to leave some things alone.

Lucky you; you don’t have to learn everything the hard way. Lucky you; you can learn from those who love you. Lucky you; you don’t have to pay a painful price for learning how to live — you don’t have to learn too late.

Be smart. Be clean. Be virtuous. Be healthy. Be happy.

BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF.