Of All Things

Washed Clean!

All the Apostles are called as special witnesses of our Savior, Jesus Christ. President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has expressed some of his feelings about the Savior in poetry. Here is an excerpt from one of his poems:

What must be done to make us clean

We cannot do alone.

The law, to be a law, requires

A pure one must atone.

He taught that justice will be stayed

Till mercy’s claim be heard

If we repent and are baptized

And live by every word. …

If we could only understand

All we have heard and seen,

We’d know there is no greater gift

Than those two words—“Washed clean!”

“I have tried to express my feelings in words,” President Packer says, “though no words are adequate to tell you what the Atonement means to me. I pray that each of you may be blessed with a desire to study it, to learn of it, and to understand more fully what it means to you” (New Era, Apr. 1998, 8–9).

Sow a Thought …

President George Albert Smith, left, the eighth President of the Church, was born on 4 April 1870, just across the street from Temple Square. When he was 13, he attended Brigham Young Academy. He said, “I cannot remember much of what was said during the year that I was there, but there is one thing that I will probably never forget. Dr. [Karl] Maeser one day stood up and said:

“‘Not only will you be held accountable for the things that you do, but you will be held responsible for the very thoughts you think.’

“Being a boy, not in the habit of controlling my thoughts very much, it was quite a puzzle to me what I was to do, and it worried me.” A few days after this, President Smith came to a realization: “Why, of course, you will be held accountable for your thoughts because when your life is complete in mortality, it will be the sum of your thoughts. That one suggestion has been a great blessing to me all my life, and it has enabled me upon many occasions to avoid thinking improperly because I realize that I will be, when my life’s labor is complete, the product of my thoughts” (Church News, Feb. 16, 1946, 1).

April 6th

Many important Church history events have taken place on April 6th in this dispensation. Here are just a few.

1830 The Prophet Joseph Smith organized the Church of Jesus Christ in Fayette, New York.

1841 The cornerstone ceremony for the Nauvoo Temple took place for the first time.

1893 President Wilford Woodruff (1807–98) dedicated the Salt Lake Temple.

1941 General conference was broadcast outside of Utah for the first time on the radio.

2000 President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Palmyra New York Temple. The dedication was broadcast by satellite to many stake centers in the United States and Canada.

Leadership Tip

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Prov. 3:5–6).

In other words, as you fulfill your calling, seek the companionship of the Holy Ghost so you can know what Heavenly Father wants you to do. He will guide you. And when you receive His guidance, be sure to trust Him and follow what He has prompted you to do.

“I Forgive You.”

“There is no peace in the nursing of a grudge. There is no happiness in living for the day when you can ‘get even. …’

“If there be any who nurture in their hearts the poisonous brew of enmity toward another, I plead with you to ask the Lord for strength to forgive. This expression of desire will be of the very substance of your repentance. It may not be easy, and it may not come quickly. But if you will seek it with sincerity and cultivate it, it will come. And even though he whom you have forgiven continues to pursue and threaten you, you will know you have done what you could to effect a reconciliation. There will come into your heart a peace otherwise unattainable” (Ensign, June 1991, 4–5).
—President Gordon B. Hinckley