Enter a search term below. If searching by episode number be sure to include the comma, for example 4,707
Every once in a long while, someone pens a poem that captures the hearts of a generation and then lives forever. John Gillespie Magee Jr. was one such uncommon poet. Early in World War II, 18-year-old John Magee enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He progressed quickly and soon became a pilot officer. One […]
For each of us, life has its share of pleasure and sorrow. Most of us prefer the pleasure, but we also need the wisdom, patience, and understanding that sorrow offers. Robert Browning Hamilton expressed it well in his poem “Along the Road”: I walked a mile with Pleasure;She chattered all the way,But left me none […]
There is a spirit that limits and shrivels the human soul whenever it remains unchallenged and unchecked. For want of better words, perhaps it could be called “the spirit of getting by”—of doing as little as possible, of giving as little as possible, of working as little as possible. With young people in school it […]
A thousand horses were entered in the show, and oh, how they could jump. The open-jumper class was the most anticipated event of the competition, and only the finest horses competed. But as the proud thoroughbreds paraded by, a hush fell over the crowd followed by laughter, for among the high-stepping aristocratic horses was what […]
Life is a journey. Very often, the most difficult journeys bring the greatest growth—and ultimately, the most joy. Today we remember an epic journey that began 150 years ago when several thousand handcart pioneers trudged more than a thousand miles, pushing and pulling wooden handcarts across the plains and over the Rocky Mountains to the […]
The story is told of a man who was busily working to install a new roof on his home. Suddenly he slipped and began to slide down the steep roof toward the edge. In desperation he cried out to heaven, “Save me and I’ll serve Thee all my days!” Just then his pants caught on […]
We all have our share of trials and tribulations, our share of joy and happiness. During the trying times, it’s easy to forget the joyful times. Life can certainly be hard, but it can also be full of hope and possibility if we keep trying, look for the good, and accentuate the positive. Look around […]
In the summer of 1776, a small group of men from all walks of life—lawyers, merchants, farmers, doctors, and ministers—stepped forward one by one to sign their names to the Declaration of Independence. There was no fanfare, no trumpets, but the event was sobering if not ceremonious. Fully aware of the risk—treason against the crown […]
Think of what a better place the world would be if we always asked ourselves, Would I like someone to do to me what I am doing to them? This simple standard, commonly known as the Golden Rule, is endorsed by religious traditions around the world. Each has its own way of saying it, but […]
The story is told of a father who overheard his son praying, “Dear God, make me the kind of man my daddy is.” Later that night, the father prayed, “Dear God, make me the kind of man my son needs me to be.”Good fathering is hard work, the most important kind of work men can […]
Shortly after being named America’s poet laureate, Robert Pinsky launched a campaign to identify the nation’s favorite poem. Thousands of poetry lovers sent in nominations, and Robert Frost’s reflective poem “The Road Not Taken” emerged as the clear favorite. The well-known lines speak of life’s pivotal choices: Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I […]
Long ago, a small group of men were riding out a rough storm on the Sea of Galilee. Fearing for their lives, they awakened their sleeping Master and implored, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” Seeing their fear and hearing their plea, He calmed the tempest with the gentle command, “Peace, be still.”1 Nearly […]
Has it occurred to you that our forebears did not live in the past? Pulitzer-Prize winning historian David McCullough has pointed out that the great men and women of history “lived in the present just as we do. The difference was it was their present, not ours. And just as we don’t know how things […]
“Reverence is more than just quietly sitting.”1 It is “profound respect mingled with love.”2 Reverence is an attitude of awe, honor, appreciation, and deference to the holy. It is reflected in the way we talk and think, the way we treat others, the way we regard sacred things. Reverent people know that such an attitude […]
For more than 300 years, the people of England have celebrated “Mothering Sunday.” Originally a religious holiday, it was also a day when servants were allowed to miss work and spend time with their mothers. In Ethiopia, a Mother’s Day celebration can last for two or three days. When the rainy season ends, sometime in […]
Love is the most powerful force in the universe. Love blesses both giver and receiver and resounds in hearts forever. It’s true that we’re all born with differing interests and capacities, strengths and weaknesses. But one thing we all need is to receive and give love. We need it in order to grow into the […]
Announcer: “The dawning of a brighter day”—these words were sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on July 15, 1929, during the first broadcast of a new program originating from Temple Square in Salt Lake City. It was a program destined to make broadcasting history. Today, nearly 77 years later, we celebrate a remarkable landmark in […]
Nearly every day we see portrayed in the media innocent children suffering the violence of war, the ravages of nature, and the pain of disability. We see little ones wide-eyed with fear or glassy-eyed from hunger, clinging to desperate parents or crying alone. The world can be so cruel to those who deserve kindness the […]
In the early spring of 1912, students crowded into a Harvard classroom for the final lecture of renowned philosopher and poet George Santayana. Near the end of his remarks, the students hanging on his every word, Professor Santayana glanced out the window. His eyes caught sight of a forsythia blossoming in a patch of lingering […]
The good shepherd has long been a symbol of God’s love and watchful care. The shepherd knows his sheep and calls each one by name. The sheep are defenseless against the wolves of the desert. They need constant care. So night and day, the shepherd protects his sheep and guides them to green pastures and […]
When all is well and life is good, we tend to forget those who have made our present comforts possible: the teachers, parents, ancestors, and others who’ve sacrificed in our behalf. We drive on roads we didn’t build, or we eat food we didn’t grow—we all enjoy benefits and blessing that have come from the […]
The life of beloved poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is proof that good can come from sorrow and difficulty. He received great honors for his many successes, but, like all of us, he also knew his share of heartbreak and grief, including the tragic death of his wife. From the losses he suffered, however, Longfellow gained […]
How we choose to spend our time says a lot about us. It’s true that sometimes we don’t have any say over how our minutes, hours, and days are spent. No one really chooses to wait in long grocery lines, catch the flu, or get stuck in traffic. But what we do with the time […]
How we treat others says much about who we really are. Civility, mercy, sacrifice, and integrity hold our society together. Yet such qualities often seem in short supply. Too often, arrogance and indifference isolate us from one another and harden our hearts. So taught Fiorello LaGuardia, mayor of New York City at the time of […]
We all have moments in life that can change us forever. Somehow we’re never quite the same after certain experiences. And more often than not, such pivotal moments can be relatively simple and small.In the late 19th century, a young American of Scottish descent traveled to Scotland to live and work for a number of […]
Since the revival of the Olympic Games in 1896, thousands of athletes have dreamed about representing their country and becoming Olympic champions. During the 1912 games, a new horse-and-rider event called dressage was introduced. It was a competition in which only commissioned military officers—all of them men—were allowed to compete. It stayed that way for […]
People who travel to foreign lands usually go hoping to see exotic scenery and famous places. They thrill at the wonderful new sights, sounds, and smells. But if they are perceptive and sensitive, they also grow to understand other peoples in other cultures. They realize, as the poet Maya Angelou said, that “all people cry, […]
Everyone wants to love, and everyone wants to be loved. From our earliest years, we look for love. Some people travel far and wide in search of it, and others may not know love when they’ve found it. In day past, children left little paper hearts or small boxes of candy on the doorsteps of […]
Parents often tell their children that life isn’t fair. The harshness of this reality is somehow softened when it comes from loving parents. It’s usually not until children become adults that they realize how right their parents were and how painful some of life’s injustices can be. Life really can be unfair. But that doesn’t […]
Saying good-bye has never been easy—especially when we have concerns about where loved ones are going or how long they’ll be gone. But knowing that good-bye is really a pronouncement of the blessing “God be with you” can make the separation more bearable. The word good-bye was formed from the longer phrase “God be with […]