I thought some of you might be intrested in this...the excerpts from tha talks are wonderful =) Love Cora --------------------- Forwarded message: From: [email protected] (David Kenison) Sender: [email protected] Reply-to: [email protected] To: [email protected] Date: 97-08-29 05:38:35 EDT [Note - occasionally we recommend books on LDS-Gems that we think are worthwhile and interesting to our readers... here's one I enjoyed:] BOOK SUGGESTION: _Clothed with Charity_, Talks from the 1996 Women's Conference (Deseret Book, 1997, 285 pages), $15.95 Each year, a "Women's Conference" is sponsored by Brigham Young University and the Relief Society of the Church. Many of the presentations from those sessions are reprinted in book form in an annual collection - this is the 11th such book, from last year's meetings. The reading is interesting and profitable, for men as well as women. The talks are not doctrinal pronouncements, and do not profess to be; but they are thought-provoking, and many offer practical suggestions for daily living. The book has six sections or chapters: "Developing Spiritual Maturity" "Nothing Exciting Ever Happens" "Finding Holiness" "Family Matters" "The Works of God" "Awakenings" Each chapter contains several articles by different speakers, including Elaine L. Jack, Patricia T. Holland, Bruce C. and Marie K. Hafen, Robert D. Hales, Marilyn Arnold, Camille Fronk, and many other lesser-known sisters. Talks deal with growing in personal spirituality, dealing with troubled or handicapped children, decision making, communication, prayer, overcoming abuse, treatment of depression, the arts and the Gospel, the role of women in the Church, a number of experiences of international Saints, and many others. Here are a few excerpts I enjoyed: === (From Patricia Holland, "Filled with all the Fullness of God", pp. 7-8:) President Gordon B. Hinckley has spoken often lately of meditation. My husband has commented on how often, in speaking to the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, he has asked that they make sure they take time for thoughtfulness, for pondering, for introspection, for meditation.... Somewhere in our lives there must be time and room for such personal communion. Somewhere in our lives there must be time for the celestial realities we say we believe in -- or when will millennial peace be ours? The kind of contemplation, reflection, and yearning for God I am speaking of can't be accomplished very handily in competition with cellular phones, computers, or a blaring TV. God can enter our realm only at our invitation. He stands at the door and knocks always, but someone has to hear that knock and let him enter. In this effort we ought to do whatever we can to make our homes -- or our apartments or our condominiums -- the temples, quite literally, that God intends them to be. Places for the Spirit of the Lord to dwell. Places for meditation, contemplation, prayer, and study. Places where good conversation and charity out of a pure heart can be present. Places where we find the fulness of God. We need to simplify and spiritualize and celestialize. If most of what we are doing doesn't fit these categories, if at least some portion of our day is not turned to heaven, then we have a wrenching, rending emptiness awaiting us -- isolation of the first order -- and we will find no cloak of charity with which to protect ourselves or our sisters. We simply have to see what we can eliminate, what we can replace with something higher and holier, more reflective, compassionate, and eternal. Second only to dedicated temples, our homes are to be the sacred edifices of the Lord, places of peace and holiness and sanctity. === (From Robert D. Hales, "The Family: A Proclamation to the World", pp. 145-46) One of President Spencer W. Kimball's frequent topics was marriage. He taught that there is no such thing as soul mates; that is, marriages are not made in heaven -- two people are not destined from the premortal existence to meet and marry. President Kimball felt that we had to work together and work through our differences, that we had to get over our selfishness and not be spoiled, that we had to sacrifice and to share with one another. I remember him telling us, "Don't just pray to marry the one you love; pray to love the one you marry." Praying together daily will help love grow. So will expressing love for one another daily -- more than once. Doctrine and Covenants 42:22 says: "Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and cleave unto her and none else." === (From Ann N. Madsen, "Pray With All Energy of Heart", p. 94) We can pray any place, any time -- beside a mountain trail at Brighton, kneeling in a closet, anywhere. We are the ones who choose the when and the where. No time is wrong. The only prerequisite is a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And I think *broken* can mean more than the painful process we think of in repentance. *Broken* can also mean open, not hardened and inaccessible but open and ready to receive, to make place for the Lord's direction. The scriptures teach us to "pray *always*, and I will pour out my Spirit upon you, and great shall be your blessing" (D&C 19:38; emphasis added). === (From Jeanne Edmondson Carraway, "An Earth-Life Thing", pp. 110-111) Elder Russell M. Nelson has said, "With celestial sight, trials impossible to change become possible to endure." Celestial lenses, I have found, reveal things that are invisible to the earthbound eye. Through them, we can see what we can become, and what it will take to get there. As Paul told the Corinthians: "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). === _Clothed with Charity_ can be ordered online from Deseret Book; for details see the following page: http://www.deseretbook.com/~dsku=3328809 The Deseret Book "Superstore" website provides a great resource for those who don't have an LDS bookstore close by. See their homepage for more info about their services, including an "800" number to call if desired: http://www.deseretbook.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- Distributed on the Internet via the LDS-Gems mailing list. 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