I prefer to laugh

"Be a Mother who is committed to loving her children into standing on higher ground than the enviroment surrounding them.
Mother's are endowed with a love that is unlike any other love on the face of the earth."
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

"The family is eternal.  Love must be nurtured.  It must be spoken.  We must put away our pride, our haughtiness, our shyness, our misunderstandings, and with humility say, "I love you.  Is there something I can do to help you?" You can never be completely happy under any other circumstances."
-Marjorie Pay Hinckley

"We women have a lot to learn about simplifying our lives. We have to decide what is important and then move along at a pace that is comfortable for us. We have to develop the maturity to stop trying to prove something. We have to learn to be content with what we are."
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

"Home is where you are loved the most and act the worst."
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

"Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Charity Never Faileth

"Think about your particular assignment at this time in your life. It may be to get an education, it may be to rear children, it may be to be a grandparent, it may be to care for an relieve the suffering of someone you love, it may be to do a job in the most excellent way possible, it may be to support someone who has a difficult assignment of their own. Our assignments are varied and they change from time to time. Don't take them lightly. Give them your full heart and energy. Do them with enthusiasm. Do whatever you have to do this week with your whole heart and soul. To do less than this will leave you with an empty feeling."
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

"The trick is to enjoy life. Don't wish away your days, waiting for better ones ahead"
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

"We are all in this together. We need each other. Oh, how we need each other. Those of us who are old need you who are young, and hopefully, you who are young need some of us who are old...We need deep and satisfying and loyal friendships with each other. These friendships are a necessary source of sustenance. We need to renew our faith every day. We need to lock arms and help build the kingdom so that it will roll forth and fill the whole earth."
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

"I know it is hard for you young mothers to believe that almost before you can turn around the children will be gone and you will be alone with your husband. You had better be sure you are developing the kind of love and friendship that will be delightful and enduring. Let the children learn from your attitude that he is important. Encourage him. Be kind. It is a rough world, and he, like everyone else, is fighting to survive. Be cheerful. Don't be a whiner."
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

"As we got closer to marriage, I felt completely confident that Gordon loved me.  But I also knew somehow that I would never come first with him.  I knew I was going to be second in his life and that the Lord was going to be first.  And that was okay.  It seemed to me that if you understood the gospel and the purpose of our being here, you would want a husband who put the Lord first."    
-Marjorie Hinckley

"The grand and the simple. They are equally wonderful."
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

"There are some years in our lives that we would not want to live again. But even these years will pass away, and the lessons learned will be a future blessing."
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

"With intellectual curiosity the world will always be full of magic and wonder."
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

"The thing about growing old is that when you wake up with a new pain, you can just about count on it becoming a permanent part of your life!"
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.
I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.
I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children.
I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.
I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.
I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

"Elder Neal A. Maxwell once said, "We are here in mortality, and the only way to go is through; there isn't any around!" I would add, the only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache."
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Try a little harder to be a little better

Gordon B. Hinckley

   

a prayer was heard

Angels on Errand

She wept as she knelt beside her bed;
"Father, please hear my prayer," she said.

I need a friend, I feel so alone,"
Her prayer was soon ended by the sound of the phone.

"Hello, I hope I'm not bothering you at all,
But I suddenly felt the need to call."

The loneliness soon faded away

As a bond of sisterhood was strengthened that day.

A heart cried out, A prayer was heard,

Because an Angel heeded a call to serve.

One Sister sat at her desk with a pen
Working on a lesson for church again.

Week after week she faithfully prepared,
But she wondered, "Does anyone really care?"

"I'm doing my best to answer my call,
But am I making any difference at all?"

What joy she found in the mail that day
when a note of gratitude came her way.

"Just want you to know we appreciate

your wonderful lessons-- they are so great!"

That simple note was such a gift,

She had really needed that little lift.
She was blessed by an angel who had taken time
to write a note so sweet and kind.

Another was feeling completely run down;

She felt overwhelmed as she looked around
at the dishes and laundry and dinner still to make
and knew this was the day she would finally break!

Then a knock at the door, a friend stopping by

"I was thinking of you, thought I'd come to say 'Hi.'"

The tears welled up, the friend jumped in,

She washed all the dishes, got some laundry put in.

She helped make the dinner, gave a hug, then went on her way;

Another Angel was on errand that day.

So many lives, So many needs,

So many Angels who do thoughtful deeds.

When promptings come, let us never fail

To heed them quickly, for we can never tell
When our Errands as Angels will be a part

Of an answer to prayer in a Sister's heart.

We are not sisters by birth

But we know

Right from the start

That God put us together to be

Sisters by Heart

Forget not

Errand of Angels

The errand of angels is given to women,

And this is a gift that, as sisters, we claim:

To do what-so-ever is gentle and human,

To cheer and to bless in humanity's name

The Junk Box
by Edgar A. Guest

My father often used to say:
"My boy don't throw a thing away:
You'll find a use for it someday."

So in a box he stored up things,
Bent nails, old washers, pipes and rings,
And bolts and nuts and rusty springs.

Despite each blemish and each flaw,
Some use for everything he saw;
With things material, this was law.

And often when he'd work to do,
He searched the junk box through and through
And found old stuff as good as new.

And I have often thought since then,
That father did the same with men;
He knew he'd need their help again.

It seems to me he understood
That men, as well as iron and wood,
May broken be and still be good.

Despite the vices he'd display
He never threw a man away,
But kept him for another day.

A human junk box is this earth
And into it we're tossed at birth,
To wait the day we'll be of worth.

Though bent and twisted, weak of will,
And full of flaws and lacking skill,
Some service each can render still.

I'm Just a Visiting Teacher
Author Unknown

"I'm just a visiting teacher,"
I said to my friend today.
And my father in Heaven heard me,
And I seemed to hear him say:
"Not just a visiting teacher,
A disciple with work to do,
And wherever you carry my message
My spirit goes with you."

"Some daughters of mine with burdens
Some seem to have lost the way
Go take them my love and my gospel
To strengthen them day by day."
"Never say you're just a visiting teacher,
Have faith and you'll understand
When you enter a home with love and prayer --
I take you by the hand."