gifts

Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by the covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the covering and you will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love, by wisdom, with power.

Everything we call a trial, a sorrow or a duty, believe me, that angel's hand is there, the gift is there, and the wonder of an overshadowing presence. Our joys, too, be not content with them as joys. They, too, conceal diviner gifts.

Hell begins on the day when God grants us a clear vision of all that we might have achieved, of all the gifts which we might have wasted, of all that we might have done which we did not do.

It has been my habit when I crossed the ocean-and I have been on both the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans many times-when a storm came up, or we appeared to be in danger from ice or any other cause-to watch the captain of the ship. I noted his demeanor, and I thought that by it I could form a correct idea of our danger. He knew, probably better than anyone else about our position and our danger, and therefore I took pleasure in watching him. And so it is in regard to the work of God. . . . It is my privilege to have all the gifts and blessings resting down upon me by virtue of my calling. If I am faithful thereto they will rest upon me. But it is not my privilege to guide the ship. . . . In times of danger, whatever my own feelings may be, . . . I always look . . . to the man whom God has placed to preside over his people. I watch him. I know that it is for him to direct the movements of the crew of the Ship Zion. It is for him to direct how she shall be steered, so far as human power is necessary for this purpose. When there are no tremors in him, when there are no indications of fear on his part, when he feels serene and confident, I know that I can do so with the utmost safety, and that this entire people can trust in that God who has placed a prophet, a seer, and a revelator to preside over his people upon the earth.

He [Oliver Cromwell] said: "I see there is a people risen, that I cannot win either with gifts, honors, offices or places; but all other sects and people I can."

Reverie is not a mind vacuum. It is rather the gift of an hour which knows the plenitude of the soul.

To put up with. . . distortions and to stick to one's guns come what may - this is the. . . gift of leadership.

Faith is a gift-but you can ask for it.

People who have given us their complete confidence believe that they have a right to ours. The inference is false, a gift confers no rights.

Technology is a gift of God. After the gift of life it is perhaps the greatest of God's gifts. It is the mother of civilizations, of arts and of sciences.