Teenagers also sometimes think, “What’s the use? The world will soon be blown all apart and come to an end.” That feeling comes from fear, not from faith. No one knows the hour or the day (see D&C 49:7), but the end cannot come until all of the purposes of the Lord are fulfilled. Everything that I have learned from the revelations and from life convinces me that there is time and to spare for you to carefully prepare for a long life.
| Ensign, May 1989, p. 59
There is a recurring theme in the revelations having to do with learning. And, from the beginning, Church leaders have counseled us to get all of the education we can as a preparation for and as an improvement of our careers. For example:
“Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.” (D&C 88:118)
| The Gospel—The Foundation for Our Career
“Priesthood holders carry with them the antidote to remove the terrible images of pornography and to wash away guilt. The priesthood has the power to unlock the influence of our habits, even to unchain from addiction, however tight the grip. It can heal over the scars of past mistakes.”
| Cleaning The Inner Vessel, October 2010 General Conference
“I found in the Word of Wisdom a principle with a promise. The principle: Care for your body; avoid habit-forming stimulants, tea, coffee, tobacco, liquor, and drugs (see D&C 89:3–9). Such addictive things do little more than relieve a craving which they caused in the first place. The promise: Those who obey will receive better health (see D&C 89:18) and “great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures”
| “Ye Are the Temple of God,” LDS General Conference (October 2000)
“There are few things more powerful than the faithful prayers of a righteous mother.”
“We owe an immense debt to the protesters and the reformers who preserved the scriptures and translated them. They knew something had been lost. They kept the flame alive as best they could. Many of them were martyrs.”
| Boyd K. Packer, in Conference Report, April 2000,
“The words death and happiness are not close companions in mortality, but in the eternal sense they are essential to one another.”
“Forgiveness is powerful spiritual medicine. To extend forgiveness, that soothing balm, to those who have offended you is to heal. And, more difficult yet, when the need is there, forgive yourself!”
“The reason we have not yet produced a greater heritage in art and literature and music and drama is not … because we have not had talented people. … Some have reached great heights in their chosen fields. But few have captured the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the restoration of it in music, in art, in literature. They have not, therefore, even though they were gifted, made a lasting contribution to the onrolling of the Church and kingdom of God in the dispensation of the fulness of times. … They have missed being what they might have become.”
| “The Arts and the Spirit of the Lord,” Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, Aug. 1976, 61.
The work of the Lord has been moved by the members in the wards and stakes and branches who have been blessed with special gifts and who use them unselfishly. Because of what they do, we are able to feel and learn very quickly through music, through art, through poetry some spiritual things that we would otherwise learn very slowly. All of us are indebted to them for their generous service. I am humbly grateful to those who render such service in the Church.
| “The Arts and the Spirit of the Lord,” Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, Aug. 1976, 61.