Advice from Elder Busche

Elder F. Enzio Busche gave this advice back in 1996 in a BYU devotional.

Obedience

"If ye love me, keep my commandments," taught the Savior hours before going to the garden. Throughout January we as a ward have prayed to be filled with love as we've studied our duty to our eternal family. Now, the opportunity is our's to prove that love by seeking after greater obedience while studying discipleship.

Focus First on Becoming

With all the things that we could possibly do and pursue each day, how are we to know which is best? My simple solution to this question is the motto with which I've entitled this post: Focus First on Becoming.


Focus First on Becoming, to me, means first deciding the answer to these questions: of all the ways of being that I could choose today, which one is the way that I desire? What do I want to become?

January 17, 2010 Bishopric Letter to the Ward

Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Provo Peak 3rd Ward,

This past week, on January 12, 2010, we held an expanded ward council meeting wherein we decided upon an exciting way of advancing the 2010 ward theme of Come Unto Christ. We would like to present it to you here below. The purpose of the theme is to direct our efforts in becoming a Christlike, temple-going covenant people by praying for and seeking 12 Christlike attributes throughout the year.

The Church's Relief Effort to Haiti

Hope and Confidence for a New Year

This question was poised to me at work this morning:

"What if 2010 begins with you confident that this will be the most remarkable year yet in your life?"

The following questions were these:

"If you believe that, how does it affect what you'll do in the first days and weeks of the new year?"

"What would you do if you knew that a new level of success is just around the corner?"

I asked my boss if I could share this thought with our ward. I've thought about the range of expectations that we may have for the new year - ranging from poor, through benign, to great - and I've been moved by the realization that is up to us. If we want if to be "the most remarkable year yet in (our) lives" then it will be.

May we set our sites and expectations high for this new year with faith that all is possible with the Lord.

Picturing the Savior

Merry Christmas! I know that the Savior is aware of our needs and that we can reach to him for help. This video - the teachings therein contained - comforts me every time I watch it.

As we approach a new year's ward goal of coming unto Christ, this video and others like it will hopefully help each of us have a clearer picture in our minds of who Christ really is and how we can become more like Him.

Wonderful Christmas Video

Like me, you may have missed this video among the other MormonMessages productions. I think it has been added recently. It was created as a Christmas gift this time a year ago for those who donated funds to help in the production of the movie Emma Smith: My Story.



Elder Holland testifies of how Christmas helps us find meaning in life's difficulties.

Setting your sights and moving forward

A few conferences ago President Uchtdorf related an important personal lesson he had learned from his days as an airline pilot for Lufthansa. He said that the flight crew has to make absolutely sure that they are exact when they navigate and do not deviate in the slightest from their charted course. Doing so will lead the plane off course and take them to the wrong place. My father was in situation a where this lesson came to life.

Which Goal is Most Important

As we prepare for upcoming New Year's Resolutions, consider this quote from Brigham Young:

I will tell you what to do in order to gain your exaltation, which you cannot obtain except you take this course. If your affections are placed upon anything so as to hinder you in the least from dedicating them to the Lord, make a dedication of that thing in the first place, that the dedication of the whole may be complete (DNW, 5 Jan. 1854, 2).

What hinders this people from being as holy as the church of Enoch? I can tell you the reason in a few words. It is because you will not cultivate the disposition to be so: this comprehends the whole. If my heart is not fully given up to this work, I will give my time, my talents, my hands, and my possessions, until my heart consents to be subject; I will make my hands labour in the cause of God, until my heart bows in submission to it (DNW, 5 Jan. 1854, 2).

I have now told you what course to pursue to obtain an exaltation. The Lord must be first and foremost in our affections; the building up of his cause and kingdom demands our first consideration (DNW, 5 Jan. 1854, 2). 

Start first on that which distances you from being fully devoted to the Lord. Leave weight loss and other less imperative goals to take care of themselves as we first focus on the crucial.