The Life and Teachings of President Thomas Spencer Monson

The Biography of President Thomas Spencer Monson

One of the things which really struck me as interesting about President Monson was just how many degrees, honorary degrees, and awards he has received in his lifetime. The reason this is so interesting to me is because it is a perfect example of not just the importance of getting an education, but also the importance of that education being extended beyond the classroom setting. There are things in life we can’t learn from a book or teacher, they are things we have to learn from our own experiences. The experiences in President Monson’s life are what have prepared him to be the Prophet of the Lord. Another thing which I found exciting to know was that I share a similar interest with President Monson, besides the Church and the Gospel of course. This similar interest is President Monson’s career in the media and with the Deseret News, and my desire to someday be a newspaper reporter and journalist, as well as one day write and edit articles for Church Magazines. I also found it interesting that President Monson serviced as the mission president of the Canadian Mission which included Quebec, the place where my mom served her mission in the 1970s. Another thing I found fascinating was the presence President Monson had with being able to receive permission to not only build a temple in Germany behind the Iron Curtain, but also his ability to convince government officials to let the missionaries come and go between West Germany and East Germany before he fall of the Berlin Wall. I also thought it was noteworthy that President Monson served with President Ronald Reagan on a special task force. All of these things leave no other conclusion, but that President Monson’s life has been one of service and dedication to others and their needs.

The Testimony of President Thomas Spencer Monson

One of the things which really impressed me about President Monson’s testimony was how he chose to bear his testimony of the Book of Mormon. I loved how he gave a brief history lesson of how before the printing press, things had to be painstaking written out by hand. I don’t think I would have been able to deal with something like that. I make enough mistakes when I’m just typing something. I loved how from there he bore his testimony of Joseph Smith’s humble circumstances and how even with the little education he had that he was able to bring forth the Book of Mormon. It is only through the divine help of the Savior and our Father in Heaven that this was possible. I found it interesting that the Book of Mormon came about at the time when the printing press was taking off as a means of publishing things. I loved how President Monson bore his testimony of how with no help of his own, he was able to bring comfort to dying man through being open to the Holy Ghost. I also loved how he told the story of Elder Stapley and the copy of the Book of Mormon that was the reason so many people have joined the Church. It is so true that from small and simple thing are great things brought to pass.

Recent Teachings

President Thomas Spencer Monson, Welcome to Conference, April 2014 General Conference, Saturday Morning Session

Key Doctrine and Principles:

·         “Live True to the Faith”

·         “We are a temple-building and a temple-attending people.”

Favorite Quotes and Why They Matter to Me:

·         “Despite the cold and the rain, this was a faith-filled and inspiring experience these young people will ever treasure and will be relating to children and grandchildren in the years to come.”

o    This quote matters to me because it has a lot to do with family history. Family history isn’t just names, dates and places of births, deaths, and marriages, but it is so much more than that. Whenever I have a particularly spiritual experience, I have learned from my mother to write everything about it in my journal. The stories I write down in my journal are my own personal history, and they are stories I will one day tell my children and grandchildren. These stories will one day become my children and grandchildren’s family history. The chance to relate personal spiritual experiences to one’s posterity is what makes a person’s family history so fascinating.

·         “We are a temple-building and a temple-attending people.”

o    This quote matters to me because it also has a lot to do with family history. In my mind, it is through temple attendance that we are able to feel closest to those family members who have passed on. I recently went through and scanned over 1,000 old family photos dating as far back as 1900. I also scanned several old photos and mementos from a scrapbook belonging to my paternal grandmother. The scrapbook contained items dating back to the 1930s when my grandmother was in grade school. As I went through these old photos and mementos, I felt very close to my family members who had passed on, many of whom I had never even met, or hadn’t been given the opportunity to get to know them better before they died. This closeness drove me to look up my cousin’s family history blog, where I proceeded to cut and paste over ten generations of family names and other information. As each of the different photos and mementos were being scanned, I would go through the ten generations and extract the names, dates and places of birth, death, and marriage, and I put them on a separate Word document. I now am in the process of taking all of this information and getting it ready to take to the temple.

President Thomas Spencer Monson, Be Strong and of a Good Courage, April 2014 General Conference, Priesthood Session

Key Doctrine and Principles:

·         Courage to Choose the Right

·         Courage to Defy the Consensus

·         Courage to Stand for Principle

Favorite Quotes and Why They Matter to Me:

·         “We live in a world where moral values have, in great measure, been tossed aside, where sin is flagrantly on display, and where temptations to stray from the strait and narrow path surround us. We are faced with persistent pressures and insidious influences tearing down what is decent and attempting to substitute the shallow philosophies and practices of a secular society.”

o    The reason this quote matters to me is because despite not mentioning pornography, in my mind it is referring to it indirectly. I know the Brethren never beat around the bush, nor will they ever sugarcoat, or refer to things indirectly, but for some reason, I feel that despite all this, it is a stab at both pornography and moral agency. It speaks of moral values, sin, and temptations, all of which refer to our agency and to pornography. This quote was one I didn’t originally feel was important, but as I reread President Monson’s talk, I couldn’t help but feel it was important for me to include this quote for the very reason that although it doesn’t directly refer to pornography, it doesn’t directly refer to any of the other various sins people commit, so it could in a way be referring to any and all sins people might commit, without directly stating what they are.

·         “The call for courage comes constantly to each of us. Every day of our lives courage is needed—not just for the momentous events but more often as we make decisions or respond to circumstances around us.”

o    I loved this quote because it makes it plainly clear that courage is needed in every aspect of our lives. Yes, there will be moments in our lives where only courage and the divine help from our Father in Heaven and our Savior will be the things which ensure our success in getting through the trials and tasks at hand. However, we will need courage to be ready to face those trials and tasks when we are asked to face them. The trial might come as the loss of a loved one or family pet, and we need the courage to face those who we do not get along with in our families with humility, and if necessary, to take the metaphorical (or even literal) blows they might inflict upon us. The trial might come as simply as saying your moral values dictate your choices and that you choose to not watch a rated R movie, even if that movie is Jersey Boys and you are a Broadway fanatic.

·         “Said Scottish poet and novelist Robert Louis Stevenson: ‘Everyday courage has few witnesses. But yours is no less noble because no drum beats for you and no crowds shout your name.’ Courage comes in many forms. Wrote the Christian author Charles Swindoll: ‘Courage is not limited to the battlefield…or bravely catching a thief in your house. The real tests of courage are much quieter. They are inner tests, like remaining faithful when no one’s looking…like standing alone when you’re misunderstood.’ I would add that this inner courage also includes doing the right thing even though we may be afraid, defending our beliefs at the risk of being ridiculed, and maintaining those beliefs even when threatened with the loss of friends or social status. He who stands steadfastly for that which is right must risk becoming at time disapproved and unpopular.”

o    I loved this quote because not only is it true in the secular sense, but also in the spiritual sense. I am a daughter of my Heavenly Father, and I am of noble birth. I let my moral values dictate my choices so I have the courage to face the trials ahead, so I will be prepared when the time comes for me to return home to my Father in Heaven and I will be able to tell Him, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” It is important to remain true to our values even if we are standing alone and the drum beats and crowd we hear are really just the jeering and taunting of those who refuse to understand why we are so willing to stay true instead of “doing it just this once, because no one will know.”

President Thomas Spencer Monson, Love—the Essence of the Gospel, April 2014 General Conference, Sunday Morning Session

Key Doctrine and Principles:

·         Love and Forgiveness within the Family are Important

·         Discipleship through Charity, the Pure Love of Christ

·         Only Forgiveness [and the Atonement] Heals

Favorite Quotes and Why They Matter to Me:

·         Love should be the very heart of family life, and yet sometimes it is not. There can be too much impatience, too much arguing, too many fights, too many tears. Lamented President Gordon B. Hinckley: ‘Why is it the [ones] we love [most] become so frequently the targets of our harsh words? Why is it that [we] sometimes speak as if with daggers that cut to the quick?’ The answers to these questions may be different for each of us, and yet the bottom line is that the reasons do not matter.”

o    I love this quote because it really describes how things are in my family. Constant fighting, very little patience, days where someone cries themselves to sleep, and times when I tell my parents to shut up and stop arguing. I have often wondered why many times I am the focus of so much hatred from my siblings, but as I wonder, I also think of my Savior who was the focus of many peoples hatred, and I know He is there beside me, helping me get through the trials He has asked me to bear, even if one of those trials is having the family I have grown up with. I have come to understand I was placed in the family I was born into because the trials I am asked to bear in relation to my family members are what will help to know what I won’t tolerate in the family I will one day have of my own.

·         Forgiveness should go hand in hand with love. In our families, as well as with our friends, there can be hurt feelings and disagreements. Again, it doesn’t really matter how small the issue was. It cannot and should not be left to canker, to fester, and ultimately to destroy. Blame keeps wounds open. Only forgiveness heals.

o    I love this quote so much. At the present time, I am dealing with some very difficult issues in my family, and I don’t know how to deal with them. I don’t get along with my siblings, despite the fact my sister is 32, my brother is 28, and I am 26, it seems like we fight far worse now, than we did when we were children. Many events of the last year have left me with time to think about my relationship, or lack of relationship with my siblings. I feel I have forgiven them, but there are times when my anger at their actions towards me boils up again and I am left to wonder if I really have forgiven them. It’s at times like these that I start to ponder something a missionary told me several years ago: “When someone asks for our forgiveness, but we tell them we cannot forgive them, it is as if we are looking our Savior in the eye and saying to Him, ‘The Atonement wasn’t good enough. The Atonement can fix everything, but this.’ The same goes for when a person may or may not know they have hurt or offended us, but even though they may never ask for our forgiveness, if we still say we cannot forgive them just because they never ask, we still are telling our Savior, ‘The Atonement wasn’t good enough and it will never be able to fix this.’ You need to understand, Amanda, the Atonement covers everything, even the things I said that offended you.” This missionary had said some things which I had found very offensive, and it was only after I told him I couldn’t forgive him, that he explained the Atonement like this.

President Thomas Spencer Monson, Until We Meet Again, April 2014 General Conference, Sunday Afternoon Session

Key Doctrine and Principles:

·         Read the Conference Messages

·         Ponder the Messages

Favorite Quotes and Why They Matter to Me:

·         “May the Spirit we have felt during these last two days be and abide with us as we go about those things which occupy us each day, and may we ever be found doing the work of the Lord.”

o    I love this quote because it the last part speaks of service and missionary work. The work of the Lord is service through charity and missionary work through service. So in essence, the work of the Lord is missionary work done through service because we have charity, which is the Pure Love of Christ.

·         “May we realize how close to us He is willing to come, how far He is willing to go to help us, and how much He loves us.”

o    I love this quote because it plainly speaks of the Atonement. At the present time, the Atonement is something I am really trying to gain a better understanding of, especially with all the things I have been going through in the last eighteen months, but mostly in the last few weeks. My relationship with my immediately family members, especially my siblings, is something I need to come to terms with, but I can only do this through gaining a better understanding of the Atonement, which will in turn help me to understand why our Savior has asked me to face this particular trial at this specific time in my life. Right now I am listening to as song titled, “Arise and Shine Forth” from the BYU Women’s Conference from 200. The starts off with speaking of how “He did not come in glory, when He first came to earth. And most the world ignored His humble birth.” It goes on to say “and the Light that He gave was to Lift and to Save. And the burdens that He came to bear are the ones we can’t carry and need to share. I give thanks for His sweetness, I have faith in His power, and I know He’ll strive will me every hour. For He suffered in darkness kneeling in Gethsemane, so the Light of His Love could shine on me.” This song speaks directly of what this quote means. Although President Monson didn’t pose the questions of how close, how far, and how much, this song answers those questions. How close is He willing to come? “I give thanks for His sweetness, I have faith in His power, and I know He’ll strive with me every hour.” How far is He willing to go to help us? “The Light that He gave was to Lift and to Save. And the Burdens that He came to bear are the ones we can’t carry and need to share.” How much does He love us? “For He suffered in darkness kneeling in Gethsemane, so the Light of His Love could shine on me.”

Past Teachings

President Thomas Spencer Monson, What Have I Done for Someone Today?, Ensign and General Conference (through the LDS Gospel Library App), November 2009 (General Conference October 2009, Sunday Morning Session)

Key Doctrine and Principles:

·         Service Towards Others

·         There is a Satisfaction in Serving Others Voluntarily

·         Each of Us Can Do Something to Help Someone

Favorite Quotes and Why They Matter to Me:

·         “The Apostle Paul admonished, ‘By love serve one another.’ Recall with me the familiar words of King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon: ‘When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.’ The Savior taught His disciples, ‘For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.’ I believe the Savior is telling us that unless we lose ourselves in the service of others, there is little purpose to our own lives. Those who live only for themselves eventually shrivel up and figuratively lose their lives, while those who lose themselves in service to others grow and flourish—and in effect save their lives. In the October 1963 general conference—the conference at which I was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles—President David O. McKay made this statement: ‘Man’s greatest happiness comes from losing himself for the good of others.’”

o    I thought it was a fitting quote for service. One of my favorite scriptures is the scripture President Gordon B. Hinckley read soon after receiving a letter from his father telling him to forget himself and go to work. It is Mark 8:35, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.” Some of the happiest moments of my life I can trace back to the fact that I was serving others at those moments. I recently was released from being a Primary teacher. I had spent roughly eighteen months serving the Primary children in my ward, and when I was released, I cried. I found such joy in serving them that I didn’t want to lose that joy. However in the last three months, I have been in two different callings, and I have found joy in both of them. There is just something about serving others that seems to make all of your cares melt away when you start to think about the cares of others.

·         “Often we live side by side but do not communicate heart to heart. There are those within the sphere of our own influence who, with outstretched hands, cry out, ‘Is there no balm in Gilead?’ I am confident it is the intention of each member of the Church to serve and to help those in need. At baptism we covenanted to ‘bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light.’ How many times has your heart been touched as you have witnessed the need of another? How often have you intended to be the one to help? And yet how often has day-to-day living interfered and you’ve left it for others to help, feeling that ‘oh, surely someone else will take care of that need.’ We become so caught up in the busyness of our lives. Were we to step back, however, and take a good look at what we’re doing, we may find that we have immersed ourselves in the ‘thick and thin things.’ In other words, too often we spend most of our time taking care of things which do not really matter much at all in the grand scheme of things, neglecting those more important causes.”

o    This is a very long quote, but I love it so much. Again, it reminds me of a song I just listened to call “Safe Harbors” and it is also from the 2000 BYU Women’s Conference. It is a beautiful song. It starts off with, “There are refugees among, they are not from foreign shores, and the battles they been waging, are from very private wars.” It goes on to say, “There are refugees among us, they don’t carry flags or signs, they are standing right besides us, in the market checkout lines.” The song makes “a call to arms” stating the arms are “to reach out and to hold, evacuees from the dark” and are meant “to lead anguished souls to safe harbors of the heart.” The song also states that “there are no correspondents, documenting all their grief, but these refugees among us all, are yearning for relief…and the war that they’ve been fighting, it will not be televised, but the story of their need for love, is written in their eyes. The most poignant lyrics of this song pose the following questions: “Can you see through their disguises?” “Can you feel the pleas of the refugees for safe harbors of the heart?” “Can you hear what words won’t tell?” “Is there anyone to help those who have nowhere else to flee?” These are important questions to ask ourselves since we don’t know what people are always going through. There are times when it is very difficult for me to hide my emotions, but then there are other times when no one but our Savior and our Father in Heaven know what I going through. We don’t know if “some are losing faith in Heaven because their life’s a living hell.” We must make a conscious effort to go out of our way to help and serve others because we have no idea what they are going through, and a small simple act of kindness may be what keeps a person from doing something which could have lasting consequences on everyone around them.

·         “Many years ago I heard a poem which has stayed with me, by which I have tried to guide me life. It’s one of my favorites: ‘I have wept in the night, For the shortness of sight, That to somebody’s need made me blind; But I never have yet, Felt a tinge of regret, For being a little too kind.’ My brothers and sisters, we are surrounded by those in need of our attention, our encouragement, our support, our comfort, our kindness—be they family members, friends, acquaintances, or strangers, We are the Lord’s hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and to lift His children. He is dependent upon each of us.”

o    President Monson used this same poem in one of his conference talks from this last conference, and since it was already one of my favorite quotes from that particular talk that he gave, but I didn’t include it in my favorite quotes for that talk on this assignment, I thought since it showed up in the talk I chose for the past teaching section, it was important for me to include it. The quote from this last conference is: “I have always cherished the sentiment expressed in the short poem: ‘I have wept in the night, For the shortness of sight, That to somebody’s need made me blind; But I never have yet, Felt a tinge of regret, For being a little too kind.’”