I love Mom enough to call almost twice a day? Mom has been great and has been going through a lot. I love how she is always there for me and always checks in to make sure I am doing ok. Mom also told me to post my talk that I wrote, so here its is. (no laughing or anything, I wrote it in one day cause thats the heads up I got)
Good Morning Brothers and Sisters. My name is Katie Lang and I am from Southern California. Brother Call called me Friday night to speak on this lovely morning. So to say the least, the bishopric owes me for this last minute talk. Today I am speaking on Hope.
I found a talk given by Elder John H. Groberg in 1984, titled “There is Always Hope”. This talk was given way before I was born, and at a BYU fireside my Dad attended. But it still relates to us. I am going to quote Elder Groberg a lot, because I like the way he phrases things.
We live in a very dismal world, however it is important to know that there is always hope. Hope is that thing that keeps us going. The words from “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet” came to mind. When we sing, “When dark clouds of trouble hang o’er us And threaten our peace to destroy, There is HOPE smiling brightly before us, And we know that deliverance is nigh.” Do we believe what we sing? The 13th Article of faith states, “We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and HOPE to be able to endure all things.” Do we realize what we say? We say hope a lot. DO we mean it? I believe we do. Just some things we hope for more than others.
Franklin D Roosevelt once said, “We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.” Another definition of hope is given by Elder Groberg staying “Hope is Light. It is a light within us that pierces the darkness of doubt and discouragement and taps into the light (hope) of all creation-even the Savior... Hope in one word is the Savior. Hope is a part of the deity in us that attaches us to the savior. Don’t let that thread be cut. No matter how tenuous or thin it might be, There is always hope.” Personally I believe hope is both of these definitions combined.
Hope gives us something to live for, and to strive for. A person without hope, is as a person without a heart. Our hearts give life to our body, and hope gives life to our spirits. To emphasize this the Heart keeps the body alive, and hope keeps our spirit alive.
In Job 14:7 he says, “For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.” We all hope for different things, but we ALL hope. A baby might hope for a bottle, a kid might hope for a toy, a teenager may hope for a new phone, and adults might hope for their children to turn out ok.
Maybe you hope to loose weight, to get a good job, a good grade, or good health. I hope to go on a mission, to get a nursing degree, to work in the oncology center, to have a family. And We all hope for the greatest of all gifts, immortality and eternal life. Hope however isn’t always used personally or even in kind ways. When things go wrong, we often say, “I hope they get what coming”, “I hope Justice is done.” Or a personal favorite “I hope she trips and falls.” Most justice occurs in the after life, all things will be fair. Personally I struggle with this part. In May, a good friend of mine was killed in the UC Santa Barbara shootings. My friends and I used a variety of different kinds of Hope. We hoped the best for her, and her family. We hoped that he would be greatly punished. We hoped his parents would’ve said something sooner. We hoped to feel at peace. Hope is like a prayer. One you keep in your heart waiting for an answer. I did a lot of waiting and don’t have a complete answer yet. When I think about everything that happened I am able to feel at peace.
Each of us will go through really hard times. It will test our faith and strength. We have to stay hopeful. I believe if we have hope, we can endure all things.
Like everything that is good, Hope is not easy to obtain. It is going to take a lot of work to stay hopeful. People will try to get you down, But it is worth it.
In 2 Nephi 31: 20 its said “wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of god and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.” We need a perfect brightness of hope. Hope is needed for our salvation.
President Dieter F Uchtdorf shared a story of having great hope, in the October general conference in 2008. It goes a little something like this. “Toward the end of World War II, my father was drafted into the German army and sent to the western front, leaving my mother alone to care for our family. Though I was only three years old, I can still remember this time of fear and hunger. We lived in Czechoslovakia, and with every passing day, the war came nearer and the danger grew greater.
Finally, during the cold winter of 1944, my mother decided to flee to Germany, where her parents were living. She bundled us up and somehow managed to get us on one of the last refugee trains heading west. Traveling during that time was dangerous. Everywhere we went, the sound of explosions, the stressed faces, and ever-present hunger reminded us that we were in a war zone.
Along the way the train stopped occasionally to get supplies. One night during one of these stops, my mother hurried out of the train to search for some food for her four children. When she returned, to her great horror, the train and her children were gone!
She was weighed down with worry; desperate prayers filled her heart. She frantically searched the large and dark train station, urgently crisscrossing the numerous tracks while hoping against hope that the train had not already departed.
Perhaps I will never know all that went through my mother’s heart and mind on that black night as she searched through a grim railroad station for her lost children. That she was terrified, I have no doubt. I am certain it crossed her mind that if she did not find this train, she might never see her children again. I know with certainty: her faith overcame her fear, and her hope overcame her despair. She was not a woman who would sit and bemoan tragedy. She moved. She put her faith and hope into action.
And so she ran from track to track and from train to train until she finally found our train. It had been moved to a remote area of the station. There, at last, she found her children again.”
I cannot imagine her strength. She is a true example of have a perfect brightness in hope. If we could all stay this hopeful, we would have much happier lives. Hope has the power to fill our lives with happiness. Proverbs 10:28 says, “The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.” We are supposed to be hopeful. Being too hopeful is not a bad thing. It is the hope of the righteous that will make us happy. If we are keeping the commandments ad being hopeful, we will be happy.
Each time hope is fulfilled; it creates confidence and leads to greater hope. When I was in high school, I hoped for good friends. However that hope was not expressed the first two years of high school. I bounced around different friend groups, trying to find the right ones. My junior year came and I finally found them. Psalms 130:5 says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.” What we hope for, may not be given to us at the time we demand it, it may take some time.
I know the Lord blesses us for having hope. He will fulfill our hope, and give us greater hope.
I would like to finish my talk with a poem by Emily Dickinson.
BY EMILY DICKINSON
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.
I loved this poem. It reminds me how hope is light and uplifting. Hope can be found anywhere. All we have to do is find it.
I know that I can be happy by having hope. I know that hope will bless the lives of many and brings us eternal salvation. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.
Good Morning Brothers and Sisters. My name is Katie Lang and I am from Southern California. Brother Call called me Friday night to speak on this lovely morning. So to say the least, the bishopric owes me for this last minute talk. Today I am speaking on Hope.
I found a talk given by Elder John H. Groberg in 1984, titled “There is Always Hope”. This talk was given way before I was born, and at a BYU fireside my Dad attended. But it still relates to us. I am going to quote Elder Groberg a lot, because I like the way he phrases things.
We live in a very dismal world, however it is important to know that there is always hope. Hope is that thing that keeps us going. The words from “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet” came to mind. When we sing, “When dark clouds of trouble hang o’er us And threaten our peace to destroy, There is HOPE smiling brightly before us, And we know that deliverance is nigh.” Do we believe what we sing? The 13th Article of faith states, “We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and HOPE to be able to endure all things.” Do we realize what we say? We say hope a lot. DO we mean it? I believe we do. Just some things we hope for more than others.
Franklin D Roosevelt once said, “We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.” Another definition of hope is given by Elder Groberg staying “Hope is Light. It is a light within us that pierces the darkness of doubt and discouragement and taps into the light (hope) of all creation-even the Savior... Hope in one word is the Savior. Hope is a part of the deity in us that attaches us to the savior. Don’t let that thread be cut. No matter how tenuous or thin it might be, There is always hope.” Personally I believe hope is both of these definitions combined.
Hope gives us something to live for, and to strive for. A person without hope, is as a person without a heart. Our hearts give life to our body, and hope gives life to our spirits. To emphasize this the Heart keeps the body alive, and hope keeps our spirit alive.
In Job 14:7 he says, “For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.” We all hope for different things, but we ALL hope. A baby might hope for a bottle, a kid might hope for a toy, a teenager may hope for a new phone, and adults might hope for their children to turn out ok.
Maybe you hope to loose weight, to get a good job, a good grade, or good health. I hope to go on a mission, to get a nursing degree, to work in the oncology center, to have a family. And We all hope for the greatest of all gifts, immortality and eternal life. Hope however isn’t always used personally or even in kind ways. When things go wrong, we often say, “I hope they get what coming”, “I hope Justice is done.” Or a personal favorite “I hope she trips and falls.” Most justice occurs in the after life, all things will be fair. Personally I struggle with this part. In May, a good friend of mine was killed in the UC Santa Barbara shootings. My friends and I used a variety of different kinds of Hope. We hoped the best for her, and her family. We hoped that he would be greatly punished. We hoped his parents would’ve said something sooner. We hoped to feel at peace. Hope is like a prayer. One you keep in your heart waiting for an answer. I did a lot of waiting and don’t have a complete answer yet. When I think about everything that happened I am able to feel at peace.
Each of us will go through really hard times. It will test our faith and strength. We have to stay hopeful. I believe if we have hope, we can endure all things.
Like everything that is good, Hope is not easy to obtain. It is going to take a lot of work to stay hopeful. People will try to get you down, But it is worth it.
In 2 Nephi 31: 20 its said “wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of god and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.” We need a perfect brightness of hope. Hope is needed for our salvation.
President Dieter F Uchtdorf shared a story of having great hope, in the October general conference in 2008. It goes a little something like this. “Toward the end of World War II, my father was drafted into the German army and sent to the western front, leaving my mother alone to care for our family. Though I was only three years old, I can still remember this time of fear and hunger. We lived in Czechoslovakia, and with every passing day, the war came nearer and the danger grew greater.
Finally, during the cold winter of 1944, my mother decided to flee to Germany, where her parents were living. She bundled us up and somehow managed to get us on one of the last refugee trains heading west. Traveling during that time was dangerous. Everywhere we went, the sound of explosions, the stressed faces, and ever-present hunger reminded us that we were in a war zone.
Along the way the train stopped occasionally to get supplies. One night during one of these stops, my mother hurried out of the train to search for some food for her four children. When she returned, to her great horror, the train and her children were gone!
She was weighed down with worry; desperate prayers filled her heart. She frantically searched the large and dark train station, urgently crisscrossing the numerous tracks while hoping against hope that the train had not already departed.
Perhaps I will never know all that went through my mother’s heart and mind on that black night as she searched through a grim railroad station for her lost children. That she was terrified, I have no doubt. I am certain it crossed her mind that if she did not find this train, she might never see her children again. I know with certainty: her faith overcame her fear, and her hope overcame her despair. She was not a woman who would sit and bemoan tragedy. She moved. She put her faith and hope into action.
And so she ran from track to track and from train to train until she finally found our train. It had been moved to a remote area of the station. There, at last, she found her children again.”
I cannot imagine her strength. She is a true example of have a perfect brightness in hope. If we could all stay this hopeful, we would have much happier lives. Hope has the power to fill our lives with happiness. Proverbs 10:28 says, “The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.” We are supposed to be hopeful. Being too hopeful is not a bad thing. It is the hope of the righteous that will make us happy. If we are keeping the commandments ad being hopeful, we will be happy.
Each time hope is fulfilled; it creates confidence and leads to greater hope. When I was in high school, I hoped for good friends. However that hope was not expressed the first two years of high school. I bounced around different friend groups, trying to find the right ones. My junior year came and I finally found them. Psalms 130:5 says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.” What we hope for, may not be given to us at the time we demand it, it may take some time.
I know the Lord blesses us for having hope. He will fulfill our hope, and give us greater hope.
I would like to finish my talk with a poem by Emily Dickinson.
BY EMILY DICKINSON
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.
I loved this poem. It reminds me how hope is light and uplifting. Hope can be found anywhere. All we have to do is find it.
I know that I can be happy by having hope. I know that hope will bless the lives of many and brings us eternal salvation. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.