Agency: A Governing Principle

"Critical to our knowledge of the plan of happiness is an understanding of the great governing principle of agency. A person does not have to spend much time in the schoolroom of mortality to realize that Heavenly Father’s plan does not provide for blissful happiness at every step along our mortal journey. Life is filled with harsh realities that tug at the heart and tear away at the soul.

… We tend to think of agency as a personal matter. If we ask someone to define “moral agency,” the answer will probably be something like this: “Moral agency means I am free to make choices for myself.” Often overlooked is the fact that choices have consequences; we forget also that agency offers the same privilege of choice to others. At times we will be affected adversely by the way other people choose to exercise their agency. Our Heavenly Father feels so strongly about protecting our agency that he allows his children to exercise it, either for good or for evil."

Elder M. Russell Ballard, “Answers to Life’s Questions”, April 1995 General Conference

Read full talk here, or watch below. 

Finances: Keeping Life In Balance

"Everyone faces financial challenges in life. Through wise budgeting, control your real needs and measure them carefully against your many wants in life. Far too many individuals and families have incurred too much debt. Be careful of the many attractive offers to borrow money. It is much easier to borrow money than it is to pay it back. There are no shortcuts to financial security. There are no get-rich-quick schemes that work. Perhaps none need the principle of balance in their lives more than those who are driven toward accumulating “things” in this world."

Elder M. Russell Ballard, “Keeping Life’s Demands In Balance”, April 1987 General Conference

Access entire talk here. 

Faith: From Our Minds To Our Hearts

“Only when our testimony transcends what is in our mind and burrows deep into our heart will our motivation to love and to serve become like unto the Savior’s. It is then, and only then, that we become deeply converted disciples of Christ empowered by the Spirit to reach the hearts of our fellowmen.”

Elder M. Russell Ballard, “Be Anxiously Engaged”, October 2012 General Conference

Read full address here, or watch below. 

Trials: You Have Nothing To Fear From The Journey

“No matter how difficult the trail … we can take comfort in knowing that others before us have borne life’s most grievous trials and tragedies by looking to heaven.

…We are the inheritors of a tremendous heritage. Now it is our privilege and responsibility to be part of the Restoration’s continuing drama, and there are great and heroic stories of faith to be written in our day. It will require every bit of our strength, wisdom, and energy to overcome the obstacles that will confront us. But even that will not be enough. We will learn, as did our pioneer ancestors, that it is only in faith—real faith, whole-souled, tested and tried—that we will find safety and confidence as we walk our own perilous pathways through life.”

Elder M. Russell Ballard, “You Have Nothing To Fear From The Journey”, April 1997 General Conference.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1997/04/you-have-nothing-to-fear-from-the-journey?lang=eng

Education: More Prosperity & Education Connected to Higher Family Values

“…Worrisome is the ever-growing gap between the rich and poor and between those who strive to preserve family values and commitments and those who have given up on doing so. Statistically, those who have less education and consequently lower incomes are less likely to marry and to go to church and much more likely to be involved in crime and to have children outside of marriage. And these trends are also troubling in much of the rest of the world. (See W. Bradford Wilcox and others, “No Money, No Honey, No Church: The Deinstitutionalization of Religious Life among the White Working Class,” available at www.virginia.edu/marriageproject/pdfs/Religion_WorkingPaper.pdf.)

Opposite of what many had thought, prosperity and education seem to be connected to a higher likelihood of having traditional families and values.”

Elder M. Russell Ballard, "That the Lost May Be Found", April 2012 General Conference

Access entire address here. 

Learn more about M. Russell Ballard.

*Photo source: http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/02/dont-rule-out-having-children-because-you-want-to-have-a-career/273154/