The Power of Words
When I was a junior in high school, I attended West High in Salt Lake City for just one year. Because I was new to SLC and to West High School I didn’t know anyone (not anyone!) and it was a difficult experience for me.
One thing that I looked forward to and enjoyed each day was my English class with Mrs. Mills. Each week she would write a new quotation on the blackboard. I read and re-read each one every day during class. The words sunk deep into my heart and I still remember some of them today nearly 50 years later!
“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time for that’s the stuff that life is made of.” –Ben Franklin
“What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” –Aristotle
I loved these quotations! I don’t recall Mrs. Mills ever saying anything about them. They were just there for us to discover and privately ponder.
God’s words are even more powerful. In the October 2011 General Conference, Richard G. Scott referred to scriptures as “packets of light.” “They are the key to opening the channel of communication with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.”
He went on to say: “There is great power in memorizing scripture. It is like forging a new friendship or discovering a new individual who can help in time of need, give inspiration and comfort and be a source of motivation for needed change. As you ponder scriptures it can be the key to unlock revelation and the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Ghost.”
I totally have a testimony of the power of words, especially the words of the scriptures. When our children were young we memorized a scripture each month. We repeated the scripture each day as we knelt at the dinner table for family prayer. Eventually, even the youngest kids were able to repeat them from memory, and now, nearly 30-40 years later, we can still say most of them!
“Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness.” D&C 58:27
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.” Matthew 5:16
“Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest.” Joshua 1:9
“And if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God.” D&C 14:7
As Elder Scott said, these words are part of us now and can be recalled when the power of those words is needed. They are friends that never fail you!
When the kids were little it always made me smile when someone would quote one of “our” scriptures in Sacrament Meeting. The kids would perk up (even when I thought they weren’t paying attention) and say: “Hey, that’s one of “our” scriptures.” Explaining the scripture made for a good Family Home Evening.
Our kids are adults now and I wanted to try this process again a while ago. So each person in the family took a turn choosing a scripture for all of us to memorize. (Even the grandkids can do this.) They sent it to everyone via e-mail. In addition, they wrote a page or so letting us know why that scripture was special to them. It was wonderful to hear their insights and testimony of God’s words in their lives.
Try it! Because, you know….
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Chaucer
Or as the scriptures say:
“And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had a more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.” Alma 31:5
~Pat Barton