Sept 15 2015 Proverbs by Nancy Baird

Audio

Scriptures
Proverbs
Alma 5
D&C 93

Quotes
“The life of a Christian is said to be full of pain, tribulation, sorrow, and excruciating torments…of anxieties, despair, gloominess, and mourning…but this is a mistake, for “the path of the just is as the shining light”…The faith that I have embraced has given me light for darkness, ease for pain, joy and gladness for sorrow and mourning, certainty for uncertainty, hope for despair.” Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 9:318.

“…Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears. “  from William Wordsworth,“Ode: Intimations of Immortality.

Robert Fulghum writes about hearing a Greek man, Dr. Papaderos, respond to the question of “What is the meaning of life?” at a cultural seminar in Greece.

Dr. Papaderos pulled a small, round mirror from his wallet and said:

“When I was a small child, during [WWII], we were very poor and we lived in a remote village. One day, on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place.

“…I kept only the largest piece….I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine—in deep holes and crevices and dark closets.”

When he became an adult, Dr. Papaderos realized that his childhood game was a metaphor for his life’s mission.

“I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of light. But light—the light of truth, understanding and knowledge—is there, and that light will only shine in many dark places if I reflect it….I can reflect light into the dark places of this world…and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of life.”

Robert Fulghum, What on Earth Have I Done?” 290-91. Also found in March 2015 Ensign, “Put on the Armour of Light,” by Elder Nielsen

 “For wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me…in her spirit intelligent, holy, mobile, clear, undefiled, distinct, beyond harm, loving the good…all-powerful, all-seeing, in all spirits that are intelligent, pure and most subtle. She is the breath of the power of God, a pure emanation of his glory; nothing defiled can enter her, for she is a reflection of light, a likeness of his goodness…fairer than the sun or stars. But evil cannot overpower wisdom.”

Wisdom of Solomon, (Aprocrypha), chap. 7-8.