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It has been said that while pain and heartache are inevitable, misery is optional. In other words, even amid the difficulties and adversities of life, we can choose happiness and reject misery. Misery so often leads to a sense of defeat and despair, the feeling that life is either so painful or so hard that […]
At the funeral service of his father, a middle-aged man stood to express his feelings. “Father provided well for our family,” he said. “He always made sure we had what we needed, but the greatest gift he gave me was teaching me how to work.” With tears in his eyes he continued, “Dad loved us, […]
Isaac Newton’s first law of motion states that an object in motion tends to stay in motion; and likewise, an object at rest tends to stay at rest. Unless something acts upon the object, it will remain in its current state of motion or rest. This law from classical physics has been used to explain […]
Has anyone ever given you a gift and said, “This reminded me of you”? Did it make you stop and wonder what traits or qualities stand out to others when they think about you? Consciously or not, we spend a lifetime crafting our reputation. Of course, we can’t really control what people think of us, […]
We live in an age of rapid change, when longevity and consistency are rare. And so it seems appropriate, once or twice in a decade, to pause and reflect on the long legacy of our weekly broadcast, Music and the Spoken Word. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has been broadcasting since the early days of radio. […]
In May 1860, four men were vying to be their party’s nominee for president of the United States at the Republican convention. Delegates were expected to give the nod to well-known and experienced Senator William Henry Seward, with Ohio Governor Salmon P. Chase the next most likely candidate and Judge Edward Bates another viable choice. […]
From time to time, moments arise in our lives that require us to stretch farther than we ever have before, to rise to the greatness that we didn’t know we had within us. For one young couple, it happened when their twin girls were born. All of the anticipation and expectation of the long-awaited day […]
We live in an age of disposable goods. It seems that so many of our material things are made to be enjoyed for a brief moment and then thrown away. If something breaks or loses our interest, we quickly toss it aside and run to the store for a new one. It wasn’t always that […]
Sometimes relationships flounder because we don’t convey enough genuine love—or perhaps we don’t convey it in quite the right ways. In our zeal to help loved ones improve, maybe we focus too much on how we think they should change instead of communicating sincere acceptance and appreciation for who they are. Just as plants thrive […]
Most of us would agree with the lyrics of the well-known song, “When you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you.”1 But did you know that smiling may also be good for your health? Researchers are finding that smiling slows down the heart rate, reduces stress, and can make you feel happier. In fact, some […]
Anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, and other commemorations are an important part of life. They give us a chance to mark our progress, celebrate for a moment our accomplishments and growth, and renew our bonds as a family, community, and nation. And so today we celebrate this land that we love. As we do, we recognize that […]
With great excitement, a woman nearly 90 years old smiles at her grandson as he installs a new computer in her home. “Now I can get emails and pictures over the Internet,” she says, so happy to learn about technology that could help her stay in touch with loved ones. Elsewhere, an elderly man sits […]
Popular culture and media sometimes portray fathers as either unnecessary or incompetent, and yes, there are bad fathers who are unworthy of the name. But let’s not forget, most fathers give their all for their families. Most do their best to be there for their kids, to set good examples and show their children how […]
A few years ago, a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania studied the lives of National Spelling Bee finalists. She wanted to find out how they reached this significant accomplishment. Many people assume that they are just smarter than their peers. But the researcher found in these young people a trait more important than […]
The Lesson of the Spoon Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell Sometimes we can learn great life lessons from the simple things around us. Have you ever looked at your reflection in a spoon? When the inward-curving, concave side is turned toward us, our image is reflected upside down. But if we turn the spoon […]
Pause and Remember Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell There are few things more soul-stirring than to see veterans salute the flag they have honored and defended. Their salute reflects the kind of knowledge that can come only from experience, the humble pride born of defending the cause of liberty. To them, that flag represents freedom […]
Delivered By: Lloyd D. NewellMost marriages start out like a glowing fire, full of warmth and light. But anyone who has been married for very long knows that keeping a marriage burning strong and healthy takes effort and commitment. Like a fire, love needs constant attention and nurturing through words and acts of affection and […]
There are mothers all over the world. No matter the language, culture or continent, what a difference a mother makes. She is the purveyor of love and tenderness, which prompts nation after nation from America to Ethiopia, Thailand to my homeland of Wales to honor mothers with a day of tribute once a year. The […]
Max Ehrmann loved to write. And so, after practicing law for a few years and bouncing between the meatpacking and manufacturing industries, he set it all aside, picked up a pen, and turned to writing full-time. Throughout his life he published books and essays and poems that reflected his wisdom, his passion for the written […]
A wise man who has experienced much in life recalled how, as a boy, he and his friends used to carve toy boats out of wood and race them down the river. They quickly realized that their boats were completely at the mercy of the current; if it led a boat into a whirlpool or […]
In this remarkable age, everything seems to be moving faster and faster. The Internet provides almost instantaneous information; communication crosses oceans and continents in a flash. Nearly all of us live fast-paced, hectic lifestyles. Like the view of the countryside from a speeding car, life sometimes seems to go by in a blur. The speed […]
Music has been called the timeless and universal language—a language of peace, of love, of hope. No matter where we live, regardless of our age and stage of life, music can lift and inspire us, it can soften and console us, it can instruct and entertain us. Such music becomes like a lifelong friend—we can […]
For many years, a husband and wife had been gathering branches that fell from the trees on their heavily wooded lot. One by one they stacked the branches in a pile next to the creek in their backyard. As time went on, the mound grew into a mountain of wood, and they finally determined they […]
One cold day, toward the end of a long, snowy winter, a family noticed serious damage to the beautiful ivy that grew on the outside of their home. It seemed that hungry deer had been feeding on it throughout the winter, until nothing but a tangle of brown sticks remained. The tender plants appeared damaged […]
We live in a world that seems to have stopped listening. Sound bites have replaced conversation; texting has displaced telephone calls; rhetoric has supplanted dialogue; and multitasking has divided our attention. So often, listening isn’t on the list of things to do and so it gets overlooked. Famed solo percussionist and composer Dame Evelyn Glennie, […]
When Adam Geibel was only nine days old, he caught a cold that led to an eye infection. What should have been a routine treatment for the infection went tragically wrong, and he was left blind for the rest of his life. Tragic accidents like this one can sometimes discourage people from striving to achieve […]
The classic western film Shane depicts a tragic conflict between ranchers and farmers. In one scene, the distressed wife of a farmer, feeling a need for comfort in the troubled situation, runs to her husband’s arms and says, “Hold me. Don’t say anything. Just hold me—tight.” She didn’t need advice or even kind words, just […]
The Gallup organization recently released a poll whose purpose was to measure positive emotions worldwide. A thousand people in more than a hundred countries were contacted and asked about their previous day. How often had they smiled or laughed? Did they feel respected? Did they learn or accomplish something interesting? According to the survey, the […]
Have you ever bumped into someone you knew years ago, surprised to find how much he or she had changed for the better? Life is full of little miracles, but this is perhaps the greatest miracle of all—to see people change, grow, and improve, day by day and little by little. Imagine how different life […]
When was the last time you tried something you had never done before? As creatures of habit, we tend to eat the same foods, take the same route home from work, and surround ourselves with the same people every day. There’s comfort in the familiar—that’s why we call it our “comfort zone.” But how many […]