"You Need All the Virtues You Can Get!"

Our mission has a newsletter, called the Sickle Thruster, that is published weekly for our missionaries. The front page consists of an essay that I write each Monday afternoon, based on thoughts and impressions that I've had over the past week. The back page of the newsletter contains updates on our weekly mission statistics, training tips, recipes from Joyce, and messages from our office staff.

Here is this week's Sickle Thruster essay:

Many years ago I lived in Silicon Valley in California and worked in the computer industry. One day I was able to assist Rob and Taylor, two young entrepreneurs who had an idea for a new company, but were in need of financing. I put them in touch with a friend who was a venture capitalist. Venture capitalists are the people who fund many of the start-ups in Silicon Valley. My friend liked the idea presented by the two young entrepreneurs and his firm agreed to provide the necessary capital. The company got started and several months later introduced their first product, a software application called PowerPoint.

About this time Rob and Taylor came back to my office and handed me an envelope. Inside the envelope was a stock certificate for a certain number of shares in their company. This was their way of thanking me for my help. Because the company was still very young, the stock was worth only pennies. But the entrepreneurs told me that patience was required because they felt that in due time it would become a good investment. I can remember Rob saying these exact words to me, “Patience is a virtue…and you need all the virtues you can get!”

Eventually I was able to sell the stock – not for a fortune, but enough for a nice dinner at a good restaurant. I have no idea what I ate that night, but I still remember those interesting words, “Patience is a virtue…and you need all the virtues you can get!”

What is virtue? It relates to the moral excellence of a person. It is a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards. It is the quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong. The opposite of virtue is vice. One commits a sin when he knows the right thing to do, and chooses not to do it. Conversely, one is being virtuous when he knows the right thing to do – and does it!

In many nice restaurants one can order a delicious steak dinner. The dinner will arrive on a large plate with the steak, a baked potato with sour cream and chives, a vegetable and a salad. And often, sitting directly next to the steak is a sprig of parsley. The parsley is called the “garnish”. In this context the word garnish means to decorate food with something that adds to its appearance. The green color and ornamental structure of parsley adds a nice decorative touch to the dinner plate and can also be eaten if desired. This word garnish has an additional definition, which is to embellish, or make beautiful.

Now consider the following scripture as it relates to the words virtue and garnish:
“Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven,” D&C 121: 45.

Have you given quiet consideration to the phrase, “let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly”? Virtue – the quality of doing what’s right. Garnish – to make beautiful. Said in another way, it is, “Let the goal of always doing what’s right beautify your thoughts all the time.” We must insist that virtue sit directly next to our thoughts, influencing what we think, say and do.

During our time as missionaries we are separated from the world. Gone are the daily distractions and intrusions of a world full of carnal temptations. It is during this unique time that we are free to adopt a new way of thinking and a new way of living. We can agree that we need “all the virtues we can get”. And we can invite virtue to sit adjacent to our thoughts – teaching us and reminding us that we have the power to choose “the better part”.

We are “free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself,” 2 Nephi 2:27.

Around 1730, while in his late 20s, Benjamin Franklin listed thirteen virtues that he felt were an important guide for living. These virtues consisted of temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility. He knew there was a better man inside waiting to emerge, but it would require diligence and dedication. He desired to “let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly”.

Franklin tried to lead his life following these virtues. He placed each one of the virtues on a separate page in a small book that he kept with him for most of his life. He would evaluate his performance with regard to each of them on a daily basis. He would also select one of the virtues to focus on for full week.

Of humility he wrote, “In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps, often in this history; for, even if I could conceive that I had compleatly overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.”

While in your twenties, why not conduct a similar experiment? Chapter 6 in Preach My Gospel (our missionary training guidebook) teaches that Christlike attributes develop as one uses agency righteously. “Christlike attributes are gifts from God. You cannot develop them without His help. With a desire to please God, recognize your weaknesses and be willing and anxious to improve.”

This inspired chapter lists eight attributes, or virtues, that you can move to the forefront of your mind. You can create new habits that allow these attributes to garnish your thoughts unceasingly, so that your “confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.” The attributes taught in Chapter 6 are: faith in Jesus Christ, hope, charity and love, virtue, knowledge, patience, humility, diligence and obedience.

For our mission to achieve our great goal of helping to build the Church, we need all the virtues we can get! Can we commit individually and collectively to yield our wills to Jesus Christ. Can we demonstrate our great love for Him through our willing obedience? Can we seek to have virtue, in all its wonderful dimensions, garnishing our thoughts, words and deeds? In so doing we will be calling down from heaven the power we need to do His work.

Band of Brothers

Joyce and I took our Zone Leaders to Valley Forge National Park, the place where George Washington and his ragtag army spend a miserable winter in 1777. This was the year after the Declaration of Independence had been signed and the Revolutionary War commenced. Philadelphia was the capital of the United States and the British army had taken over the city. The American army was without food, clothing, munitions, medical supplies, communications and hope. Yet the hand of God was evident in many miraculous ways. The British army, though much larger, stronger and powerful was unable to defeat the upstarts. Ten years later the Constitution was written -- a stunning set of ideas, contrary to any roadmap ever created for a country. The basic idea was that the land was to be ruled by the vote of the people, where all are created equal. This same document insisted in the right of every person to worship according to the dictates of his own mind and soul. And thus the ground was laid for the restoration of Christ's original Church on April 6, 1830. (For more information on the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, please go to http://www.josephsmith.lds.org.)



Without the vision, determination, courage and belief of the founders and fighters of the American Revolution, we would still be in the dark.

"And also it is an imperative duty that we owe to all the rising generation, and to all the pure in heart. For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it. Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven." Doctrine & Covenants 123:19-21.

Lucy Goosey

The Mission Home backs up to a beautiful stream. With spring in full force, the trees are finding new leaves, flowers are blooming and birds of all kinds are singing to the heavens and below. Which brings us to the story of Lucy who has taken up residence on the green lawn that runs to the stream.

Lucy is a stranded, lost goose. Geese will often mate for life. But something has gone horribly wrong. Flocks of geese were flying overhead a month or so ago. They would stay on the back lawn for a few days. And once nourished and rested they would fly north for the summer. All except Lucy.

Lucy now waits and waits and waits. "He said he would be back in just a few minutes." Minutes have stretched to weeks. Did he forget? Did he get caught in the jet stream? Did he find someone else? Did his goose get cooked?

And what is really going through Lucy's little brain? She senses something is amiss. But try as she might, she is unable to find words to express the emotions.