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Quotes on Choice and Accountability
"The Lord said, speaking of His servants, 'Their arm shall be my arm.' [D&C 35:14] Have you thought about this? To me this is one of the most sacred and significant and personal commissions I can read about in the holy records or elsewhere. The Lord says this arm of mine is His arm. This mind, this tongue, these hands, these feet, this purse – these are the only tools He has to work with so far as I am concerned.... So far as you are concerned, your arm, your resources, your intelligence, your tongue, your energy, are the only tools the Lord has to work with."
--Marion D. Hanks--
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Stories on Choice and Accountability
Honesty
We say we believe in being honest.
My friend Kathy Smith told a true story of a young football player. This young man was the only member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the school team. The coach made fun of him, occasionally deriding him and making his life miserable. The young man loved the sport but decided not to put himself through the agony of being picked on any more. That coach just did not understand. No more football for him.
Halfway through the summer, this young man reconsidered, deciding to play his last year of high school football after all. When he went to the counter to pay the deposit for his gear, he hurriedly accepted the change he was given and shoved it in his pocket.
When he got home and pulled the stuff out of his pockets, he was mortified to see that he had been given too much change -- five dollars too much. "Oh, great!" he said to himself. "If I take the money back, the coach will be in my face right off the bat. Forget it! I'll just keep the extra cash and save myself the problems."
He told his Mom what happened. Mom said, "Well, dear, I know you will do what you think is right." (Interesting how wise Moms can place the responsibility squarely on our shoulders, huh?)
The next morning he returned to the counter and handed over the five dollars. "Yesterday you gave me too much change. I've come to return it."
The coach, standing in the background, punched his assistant in the arm. "Pay up!" he said. "I told you he would bring the money back! You owe me ten dollars! I told you he wouldn't keep that extra money!"
The young man almost fainted. He had been set up! Even though the coach had teased him and made fun from time to time, he figured this Mormon boy lived what he was taught. His standards would not allow him to be less than honest.
What if the football player hadn't brought the money back??
Just like the wise man in the primary song, honesty is a building block for a strong house on a firm foundation. We will live better by living honestly. And we may be the example to a lot of others, even when we are unaware! Fortunate for this young man, he did live as we say we believe.
We believe in being honest!
Hands
During the Second World War, a quaint little French village was bombed by mistake. The villagers were forewarned by the air-raid sirens, and cleared out of the village before the bombing started.
Through tears of sadness, they sat on a nearby hill all that night and watched the flashes and fires as the bombs levelled their town. They returned to their village and began digging in the rubble for anything salvageable. There wasn't much. But, all the villagers joined together in the effort to rebuild there village from the bottom up.
As the rubble was cleared from the village square, several pieces of white marble where found, the remains of the statue that stood in the square. The villagers called on the best sculptor to rebuild the old statue as a remembrance of the rebuilding of the village, The sculptor worked for years on this great challenge.
Finally, as the remaining bit of paint was put on the last building in the village and the streets were washed out for the last time, a veiled figure stood in the square. The villagers held a great three day celebration to commemorate the rebuilding of the village. As the last feature in the celebration, the villagers all met together at the town square for the unveiling of the statue.
Finally the veil was removed. There in the square stood a figure of Christ exactly as in the visitors center in Salt Lake City. With his hand outstretched to all. But this statue had no hands, because the bomb blast hit too close and pulverized them beyond repair. So the inscription, instead of reading as it once did, "Come unto Christ," now read, "I have no hands but yours."
--Author Unknown--
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