The Memory of Your Successes

I was reading old general conference talks this morning and found a few amazing quotes. I love reading talks that are decades old because what they say still applies today. The gospel is amazing that way isn't it? God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

"Yes life is eternal, so:

What through the skies seem dark today,

Tomorrow's will be blue;

When every cloud has cleared away

God's providence shines through."

- Author Unknown

"Hang on the walls of your mind the memory of your successes. Take counsel of your strength, not your weakness. Think of the good jobs you have done. Think of the times when you rose above your average level of performance and carried out an idea or a dream or a desire for which you had deeply longed. hang those pictures on the walls of your mind and look at them as you travel the roadway of life."

- "Great Experiences" Sterling W. Sill 1971 April Conference 

I loved this whole talk. He said we focus too much on our insecurities and problems and don't take enough time to celebrate our great experiences. It's so true! I don't know how we got here, but for some reason it's somewhat unacceptable to celebrate your great experiences. You don't want to brag...or seem prideful...or make others feel bad. But that shouldn't be the case. If you have done something amazing, share it with the world!


The last quote I loved is talking about people who never have to work for anything in their lives and why working for what you have is a great virtue.

"The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light, 
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest kind
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil to live,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.
Good timber does not grow at ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger tree."