We Have a Work to Do

I love you children. You are very much the same the world over. Regardless of the color of your skin and of the circumstances in which you live, you carry with you a beauty that comes of innocence and of the fact that it was not long ago that you lived with your Father in Heaven. How lovely you are, wherever you are, you precious children!

I look back to my own youth. Neither young men nor young women were doing much scripture reading at that time. What a marvelous change has been wrought. A new generation is arising who are familiar with the word of the Lord. Growing up in a world that is full of immorality and filth of every kind, you, for the most part, are meeting the challenge of living in the world without partaking of the evils in it.

Now is a time to do what is right, regardless of the consequences that might follow. It is a time to be found keeping the commandments. It is a season to reach out with kindness and love to those who need help. It is a time to be considerate and good, decent and courteous toward one another. In other words, to become more Christlike.

Each of us can do a little better than we have been doing. We can be a little more kind. We can be a little more merciful. We can be a little more forgiving. We can live with respect and appreciation for those not of our faith. We can improve the world about us, in our homes and in our social activities. We can do it, if we will be prayerful and faithful.

We can spend a little less time in idleness, in watching some worthless television programs. That time can be put to better advantage, and the consequences will be wonderful. Of that I do not hesitate to assure you.

The Church needs your strength. It also needs your love and loyalty and devotion.

May we go forward with determination to try a little harder to be a little better.