Gospel Cogitations

It is a well-established, scientific fact that I like Star Wars.  I have been pondering some things from this universe, especially from The Last Jedi.  While I will not give away very much to those of you who haven't seen it, there is some discussion about the importance of failure as a teacher.  I expect that fear of failure is something present in many students' minds as the final exam season approaches.  Perhaps some things I say will help to alleviate those fears. In the most recent general conference, Elder Lynn G. Robbins spoke of failure, and its importance in our spiritual progression.  To quote: “Success,” it has been said, “isn’t the absence of failure, but going from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm.” This is a very important clarification.  Sometimes we can look at other people, who seem to have everything going perfectly in their lives, and think "wow, that person never fails at anything!"  But, as Elder Robbins said, this is not a

This general conference has been an interesting one, to be sure.  If any of you missed it, you can find the talks here ; I would encourage you to study them.  The things that were taught will certainly provide me with plenty of topics to write about in the coming weeks.  This time I will highlight the three major announcements made, and also summarize the words and admonitions of each of the prophets and apostles. Saturday night Pres. Nelson announced in the priesthood session that the elder's quorum and high priest's groups in each ward will be reorganized into a single elders quorum.  This is to enable greater ministering efforts and streamline the bishop's ability to delegate responsibilities in the ward.  Along with this came the announcement that the only coordination meetings in wards will be with the ward council; Priesthood Executive Committee meetings will no longer take place. This leads very well into the second announcement about ministering.  Pres. Nelson d