Month: July 2022

Gradually Yielding

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By David Armstrong and Josie Hulme

In the October 2021 general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Bishop L. Todd Budge said the following: “Ultimately, the Lord wants our hearts; He wants us to become new creatures in Christ” (“Giving Holiness to the Lord“).

How do I give my heart to the Lord? By first giving Him everything else. I sacrifice—a little here and a little there. When I was a young man, I didn’t sacrifice much at first, partly because I didn’t have much to give, and partly because I wasn’t sure that sacrificing to God was even a logical thing to do, given that God already had everything and could make more if He needed it. But I wanted to be obedient, so I tried it by paying tithing.

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The Currant Bush: A True Parable

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I was thinking recently about career changes—I underwent one about eight years ago—and how they can require you to almost start from scratch. You may go from being an expert in one field to being a newbie in another.

This line of thinking reminded me of a parable told by Hugh B. Brown, a counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, about 50 years ago. He related a personal experience from his days as the owner of a run-down farm in Canada:

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The Construction Foreman

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This day on an apartment building construction site began like any other. Farrell the foreman and the workers arrived early to get as much work done as possible before the heat of the midsummer day pressed down on them. The project was still in its early stages; the crew used heavy machinery to dig the foundation and move tons of dirt to another location on the property where it could be used to fill in the ground behind a retaining wall. The ground around the excavation sloped upward such that the plans called for the west side of the basement to have doors and windows opening to the ground, but for the main floor on the east end to also open to ground level.

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Two True Parables for the Price of One

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I’m taking some additional time on the next parable, so in the meantime, here are a couple of talks I came across from the April 2016 general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that contain true experiences that the speakers use as parables.

Photo by Philip Ackermann on Pexels.com

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Fired in the Kiln

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President Thomas S. Monson was known in part for his repertoire of stories and poetry. He related an anecdote from the life of Clinton Duffy, a prison warden who worked to help inmates move on and make something of themselves. “Said one critic, ‘You should know that leopards don’t change their spots!’

“Replied Warden Duffy, ‘You should know I don’t work with leopards. I work with men, and men change every day'” (“See Others as They May Become”).

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