Give Me This Mountain

Joshua 14:12

From a talk by President Spencer W. Kimball when he was first sustained as a prophet:

 "Caleb concluded his moving declaration with a request and a challenge with which my heart finds full sympathy. The Anakims, the giants, were still inhabiting the promised land, and they had to be overcome. Said Caleb, now at 85 years, “Give me this mountain” (Josh. 14:12).

"This is my feeling for the work at this moment. There are great challenges ahead of us, giant opportunities to be met. I welcome that exciting prospect and feel to say to the Lord, humbly, “Give me this mountain,” give me these challenges.

Humbly, I give this pledge to the Lord and to you, my beloved brothers and sisters, fellow workers in this sacred cause of Christ: I will go forward, with faith in the God of Israel, knowing that he will guide and direct us, and lead us, finally, to the accomplishment of his purposes and to our promised land and our promised blessings."

I have to admit that this is not really my mantra.  I want to avoid challenges and hardships.  But I love the attitude of Caleb and President Kimball.  If they can do it at their age, I also need to say, "Give me this mountain!"

Don't Water the Weeds

This represents my parenting philosophy.  I always said it a different way: "Accentuate the positive; eliminate the negative."  But the meaning is the same.  As parents or teachers, if we, for the most part, ignore negative behavior and praise and appreciate positive behavior the negative will gradually disappear.  It takes longer than if we scream at them or punish, but the effects are more lasting and it is a much more positive environment.  Don't water the weeds!

Three Daily Wins

 I love this.

Loving Kindness

 Loving Kindness  

This has been the mantra of our temple since it opened.  Temple ordinance workers are reminded again and again that this is how we treat the patrons- with loving kindness.  

Jay and Debra Ence, Red Cliffs Utah temple president and matron

Loving kindness is what is of most importance as people come to the temple.  And you feel it in our temple.  The workers display this in a powerful way.  This makes a huge difference in the feeling in the temple.

At a recent training for the sealers and wives, President Ence said something powerful, "There will only be kind people in heaven."

"O Lord, I want to be in that number " Help me be kind.

Loving kindness.

One Day at a Time with Gratitude

 Ken went to visit an aged friend the other day.  They worked together in their professions for many years and became good friends.  We hadn't seen he and his wife for a very long time.  He was on Ken's mind, so on the way home from watching me perform with the Keynotes he stopped by his home.  This good man is now in his 80's and has some health problems, as most do at that age.  In their discussion, he shared with Ken his mantra:

One day at a time with gratitude.

Isn't that a great mantra?  I knew I wanted to share it here.

Stay Positive

 A very timely mantra:

How I loved President Hinckley.  

Jesus Will Come and Everything Will Be Fine

 My good friend, Marsha and her husband served two missions in Africa.  They met this fine, faithful family there and became good friends with them.  The father has a mantra that he repeats often.  Whenever there are challenges or difficulties he says, "Jesus will come and everything will be fine."  Now I find myself repeating it.  Isn't that a great mantra?

OPO

 

Our grandson, Nathan, Elder Mackrory, shared with us a mantra that he and his mission district came up with.

OPO

That stands for:

Opposition Provides Opportunity

They came up with it during the recent huge snowstorm that inundated the midwest and east.  All kinds of things happened during that that hindered their work and plans.  Elder Soares was supposed to come to their mission.  Because of the storm, his plans were on again/ off again several times.  He decided to push through and come "for the missionaries."  But they had to travel to be at the chapel by 7:30am so that he could get a flight out before the storm hit.  That meant being up and ready at 4am to get there on time.  But it was a great opportunity and Nathan outlined so much that he learned from Elder Soares including that opposition is a good thing.  We came to earth to have challenges.  Elder Soares challenged them to never complain.

Soon thereafter, a car backed into theirs in a parking lot= opposition.  The state declared that no one could drive on Sunday because of the snowstorm, so they spent the day in their apartment doing lots of phone contacting.  The opportunity came in that they could spend time on the phone, answering questions. They had some great gospel/teaching discussions on the phone.

 They had their district conference by facetime and came up with this mantra and shared miracles that have happened because of the storm, building one another's faith.  

I thought it was a great mantra and a great way of looking at opposition.

Advice from Mother Teresa

 

Do Hard Things on Purpose

 

When I read this I thought it was a good idea.  But when I started to try to apply it, I realized that, at this age, much of what I do every day is hard.  Some of it very hard.  So I don't need to take a cold shower or go on a long run to do something hard.  But I do appreciate what this is teaching.  We can make ourselves stronger by doing hard stuff.  Okay, okay.

Pray On

 

I was (and always am) reading the Book of Mormon.  I recently read 3Nephi chapter 19.  I realized it is all about prayer.  The word prayer or pray is mentioned 28 times.  When I read verse 26, a wonderful mantra popped out at me.  Pray On.  Isn't that a great mantra.  Words to live by; to repeat to one's self over and over.  PRAY ON!

Change Your Daily Routine

 

Your Name is Safe in Our Home

 

Don't Put it Down; Put it Away

 My mantra for 2025:

Just Show Up

 It seems that half of the battle is to just show up.  I say this mantra to myself as I'm trying to get myself to go to the gym/swimming pool.  "All you have to do is show up, Kay.  You don't have to do anything."  I have never gone and not exercised, but somehow telling myself I don't have to helps me go.  Just show up.

Center Your Life on the Temple

 At the dedication of the St. George temple, Sister Toni Caplin gave the closing prayer (she and her husband are serving as 2nd counselor in the new temple presidency.)  She said something in that prayer that really stood out to me.  She said, "Help us to center our lives on the temple."  I have thought a lot about that sentence.  If we center our lives on the temple, everything else will fall into place.  I now frequently pray that I and my family can center our lives on the temple.  What a beautiful, perfect mantra.

No Negative Thoughts Will Take Root in My Mind

 We all have negative thoughts.  The key is to not let them have a place to plant and grow.  Replace a negative thought with a positive one.

It's Not Going to Get Easier

 I post a lot of lovely mantras on here.  But to be real, the mantra I repeat to myself most often right now is "It's not going to get easier."

Whenever I need to get something done that is hard like doing a chore or getting into the cold swimming pool to exercise or even just to take a shower, I say this mantra to myself.  "Just do it, Kay.  It's not going to get easier."  Somehow that motivates me.  This little mantra helps me every day.  

It's not going to get easier.

Count It All Joy

 In studying for the next Gospel Doctrine lesson I teach in November, this phrase in James 1:2 just jumped out at me:

"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;"

The Joseph Smith translation changes it to "when ye fall into many afflictions."

I looked at other bible translations.  In the Christian Standard Bible it reads:

" Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials."

What?  I'm supposed to count it joy to have trials?  I have thought a lot about this.  I look forward to the discussion on it in our gospel doctrine class.  How can our trials bring us joy?  What do you think?

A speaker in general conference, Elder Jaggi, said that his family had t-shirts with "Count it all joy" printed on them, representing their family's mantra.  What a great reminder when difficult times come.

A mantra from the scriptures to consider:  Count it all joy!

Never Suppress a Generous Thought

 Never suppress a generous thought.  Isn't that a beautiful mantra?  It was told recently in a conference talk.  You might remember the story of the sister who made a silk tie for the prophet, but, as she approached his door to give it to him, her mind filled with doubts.  She lost her courage and turned to go.  Sister Kimball saw her through her window and came out, put her hands on the sister's shoulders and said these words to her, "Never suppress a generous thought."  It doesn't matter if the spirit directed us to do a good thing.  If it is a good thing, it is of the spirit.  

Another beautiful mantra to consider adopting.