As He Thinketh in His Heart

 To my daughter, 

                The book of Proverbs gives us this statement about the power of our thoughts: “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). There is a famous book by James Allen with this phrase as a title. The book begins this way: “Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes, And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills, Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills: —He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass: Environment is but his looking-glass.” Indeed there is a great power in our minds, more powerful than our surroundings and environment. There is so much we can accomplish through a determined mind, despite the difficulties we face. Lehi gave these stirring words of encouragement to his sons: “Arise from the dust, my sons, and be men, and be determined in one mind and in one heart, united in all things, that ye may not come down into captivity;… Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust” (2 Nephi 1:21, 23). No matter what our difficulties, with a determined mind and help from the Lord we can accomplish miracles in our lives. When challenges come we need not dwell on the things that we can’t control; instead we should be determined to do our best in what we can control and leave the rest in the Lord’s hands. We need not murmur like Laman and Lemuel when things do not go our way or when we face hard things, but instead we can turn to the Lord for His help. I love the words of the angel to the young Mary who wondered how she could fulfill her grand mission as the mother of the Savior: “For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37). I hope you always remember those words!

                  In our dispensation the Lord said this: “Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great. Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days” (Doctrine and Covenants 64:33-34). It is easy to get discouraged when things are hard, but the Lord does not want us to get weary but to remember that we are doing a great work as we seek to do good things and follow Him. As Alma taught his son Helaman, “By small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls” (Alma 37:6-7). Through consistent effort in the small things, you can do very great things. We move mountains not by magically making them change locations, but by grabbing a shovel and starting to move the dirt one scoop at a time until we turn around and realize that the Lord has helped us move the whole thing. But usually nothing happens until we start giving it our all. Winston Churchill spoke these stirring words when World War II came upon them and they were under the threat of being conquered by the Germans: “We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and with all our strength that God can give us. . . .That is our policy. You ask, What is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory—victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road may be.” We are not in a physical war, but whatever you are doing which is good, I hope that you will persevere no matter how long the road. When we are striving to do what is right and follow the Savior, He will bless our efforts and help us overcome all our challenges and become as He would have us become.

Love, 

Dad