Sunday Happenings

Today our lesson was taught by Sister Smith, it was taken from Bishop H. David Burton's Oct 2009 Conference talk entitled: "Let Virtue Garnish Your Thoughts".

Bishop Burton starts his talk by quoting D&C 121:45, "Let virtue garnish they thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God".

There are many virtuous traits we should make apart of our lives that end with the letters ity: this suffix means quality, state, or degree of being. Some of these virtues include: "integrity, humility, civility, fidelity, and the list goes on and on. Bishop Burton refers to these virtues ending in ity as the "ity" virtues."

We can see the lack of these virtues everywhere we look in the world. What can we do to lift ourselves above the world, and make sure we embrace these "ity" virtues? Bishop Burton states, "We need to stand tall and be firmly fixed in perpetuating Christlike virtues, even the "ity" virtues, in our everyday lives. Teaching virtuous traits begins in the home with parents who care and set the example. A good parental example encourages emulation; a poor example gives license to the children to disregard the parents' teachings and even expand the poor example. A hypocritical example destroys credibility."

"President James E. Faust suggested that integrity is the mother of many virtues. He noted that integrity can be defined "as a firm adherence to a code of moral values." It is difficult for a person to display virtuous traits if he or she lacks integrity."

Bishop Burton ends by saying, "I testify and declare that our Heavenly Father expects His children to exercise integrity, civility, fidelity, charity, generosity, morality, and all the "ity" virtues. May we have the humility to take the opportunity to act upon our responsibility to demonstrate our ability to do so, I pray in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Which of the "ity" virtues could be worked on this week to bring you closer to the Savior?