Latter-day Saints live six years longer, on average, than the population at large, giving Church members an extended period of potentially productive life and service. But the challenges of retirement, aging, and related issues will eventually need to be tackled at some point in everyone’s life. This book addresses many issues related to retirement and later life, within an LDS context, with the goal of making that time more meaningful, productive, and fulfilling.

This helpful guide contains chapters from doctors, lawyers, marriage and family consultants, gospel scholars, and others who have drawn from their own expertise, experience, and research. Many of the contributors have been selected from the Emeritus Seventy and general Church officers, including Elder John H. Groberg, Elder Alexander B. Morrison, Elder L. Lionel Kendrick, Ardeth G. Kapp, and Elaine Jack. Packed with practical, user-friendly helps, this book is a must for those seeking to embrace the future, with all its opportunities and challenges.

Contributors: Douglas E. Brinley • Stephen R. Callister • Richard O. Cowan • Joseph E. Davis • Donald B. Doty • John H. Groberg • James M. Harper • Daren K. Heyland • Elaine Jack • Ardeth G. Kapp • L. Lionel Kendrick • James O. Mason • Joseph Fielding McConkie • Alexander B. Morrison • Dennis B. Neuenschwander • Lloyd D. Newell • Carma Prete • Roy A. Prete • Layne T. Rushforth • Helen K. Warner • Barbara R. Wheeler

Elder Alexander B. Morrison

The genius of William Shakespeare reminds us that “all the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.” In As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7, the “immortal bard” writes of the seven ages of mankind, which each of us plays out in his or her own unique time and way. The first on the scene is the infant, “mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.” Then, in sequence, we play out the roles of the whining schoolboy, “creeping like snail unwillingly to school;” the lover, “sighing like furnace;” the soldier, “sudden and quick in quarrel;” the justice, “in fair round belly;” and “lean and slipper’d pantaloon, with spectacles on nose, and pouch on side, his youthful hose well sav’d a world too wide for his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, turning again towards childish treble.” Finally, says Shakespeare, we end “this strange eventful history, in second childishness and mere oblivion, sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”

But is that all there is to our mortal journey? Is mortality bound on the one hand by the cradle, and, on the other, by the grave? Does life not have real meaning? To be sure, mortal life is short. In his time of trouble, Job averred that man “cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.”¹ The Psalmist agreed that man’s days “are as grass: as a flower of the field . . . for the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.”² But the wise Solomon retorted: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die.”³ Isaiah summarized, “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever.”⁴ I conclude, therefore, that there is much more to our eternal existence than Shakespeare’s incomplete tale of mortality’s seven stages.

Mortality and Eternity

This is neither the time nor the place to even attempt to outline the totality of so-called “Mormon doctrine” on the meaning of mortality and eternity. But Latter-day Saints recognize that our mortal birth did not herald our beginning. We have always lived; mortality is but a part—a way-stop, if you will—of a great and grand cosmic drama. We lived with God our Father in our pre-mortal existence, our “first estate.” There we were distinct, unique, conscious spirit beings, with volition, gender and moral agency. Our “first estate” was in preparation for our “second estate,” mortality. Latter-day Saints are in accord with the expressions of the poet William Wordsworth, who penned these lines:

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:

The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,

Hath had elsewhere its setting,

and cometh from afar:

Not in entire forgetfulness,

And not in utter nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come

From God, who is our home.⁵

Understanding that God is our Father, and our true home is with Him, allows our thoughts to transcend the dark despair of the grave and counter the nearly instinctive fear of death and extinction. Much of the divinely revealed information about mankind’s relationship with God was lost, we aver, soon after Christ established His church in the meridian of time.

A Glorious Restoration

Latter-day Saints believe that following Jesus Christ’s establishment of His Church upon the earth, there occurred a great apostasy which resulted in a loss of divine authority, unacceptable changes in church governance, distortion of essential doctrines, covenants and practices, and a long period of spiritual darkness. Not that there were not good people on the earth at all times, but the approval of God was missing and had to be restored. So, too, did His authority for all that is done in His name.

That restoration began on a spring day in 1820, when Joseph Smith, a farm boy from upstate New York, saw and talked with the Father and the Son in a glorious epiphany which Latter-day Saints call “The First Vision.” The Prophet Joseph Smith records part of that conversation in these words: “I was [told] that I must join none of [the churches of the day], for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me [Jesus Christ] said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight.”⁶

The dawning of a brighter day had burst refulgent on the world. It would sweep away the errors and misunderstandings of nearly two millennia and replace them with the simple restorative and rejuvenating truths of Christ’s gospel. Establishment of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints thus represents a revelatory restoration.⁷

Our Father in Heaven, knowing beforehand of our trials and tribulations, our sins and shortcomings, provided for us the means by which we may return to His presence. His Great Plan of Happiness for His children is described in various ways in the scriptures, including the plan of salvation,⁸ the plan of redemption,⁹ and the merciful plan of the Great Creator.¹⁰

The Plan of Salvation

What is the plan of salvation? It is many things. It is all-encompassing, as would, perhaps, be expected, considering the fact its author is the Father Himself. It includes the Latter-day Saint belief that the knowledge of a Savior and the plan of salvation has been revealed to mankind several times.

As the noted LDS scholar Robert Millet states, “Christian doctrines have been taught and Christian sacraments administered by Christian prophets since the beginning of time. Adam and Eve were Christians . . . Abraham and Moses and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel were Christian prophets.”¹¹ In short, God has revealed Himself and His plan of salvation during the various dispensations of time, the first of which was the Adamic dispensation.

All of the prophets testify of Christ. Each bears solemn and sacred witness of Him. He is “the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls,”¹² the “lamb without blemish and without spot.”¹³ His was the only perfect life. He and He alone remains sinless, though he was tempted as we all are. In short, He is much more than a prophet: omniscient, omnipotent, all-knowing, all-powerful, the Redeemer and Savior of all mankind. His Atonement makes it possible for all men and women everywhere and in every period of history to be forgiven, redeemed, and born again, as His sons and daughters.¹⁴

Mortal life, then, has as one of its main purposes the gaining of earthly experience “to progress toward perfection and ultimately [for each to] realize [his or her] divine destiny as [an heir] of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.”¹⁵

The Infinite Atonement

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the centerpiece of the plan of salvation. I acknowledge that the pull of living in a sinful world, and of the Fall of Adam, will ever be with us in mortality—that all of us are subject to the effects of sin and death—and hence, in our unredeemed state are separated and alienated from the full presence and influence of God our Father. However, our Father, who loves us and wishes the very best for us, whose very purpose is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man,¹⁶ has provided the means, through His Son’s sacrifice, by which we may be given relief from the pain and penalties of our sins and shortcomings. That can occur because of the Atonement of Jesus (literally at-one-ment), which brings us back to unity with God. The victory of the grave and the sting of death are forever swallowed up in Christ’s great sacrifice. This is the sublime message which all true Christians throw in the face of a disbelieving world.

There are, Latter-day Saints believe, two components to the Atonement. The first is a free gift to all of mankind. Resurrection is provided to all of God’s children. It is universal. We need do nothing to achieve it. It is provided freely to all, both the good and the bad, the evil and the righteous. Its first fruit was Jesus Himself. He became the first fruits of them that slept, the first to be resurrected, as the prophets remind us over and over again. One day, all of us will rise from death to life, and our bodies will be reunited with our spirits, never again to be divided. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”¹⁷ Thus, all of us, regardless of what we’ve done in mortality, are saved from the dark extinction of the grave through Christ’s great gift to all. He opened the door for all to rise from death to life. We are all assured of immortality.

But there is another component to Christ’s Atonement. It can never be earned, but it must at least be struggled for. It applies at the level of the individual. It is not universal, but is given only to those who follow Christ. There are certain things which must be done if God’s divine grace and mercy are to be activated in human hearts. In short, we must come to Christ, accepting Him as our Lord and Savior. We must repent of our sins, have faith in His divine name, receive baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost and strive to keep His commandments until, in His good time, we have completed our mortal journey. Thus, Jesus is “the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”¹⁸ Exaltation is more than immortality, if that be possible. It is eternal life, endless life with God. It is the highest form of salvation.

As Amulek, the great Book of Mormon prophet, explained: “He [Christ] shall come into the world to redeem his people; and he shall take upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to none else.”¹⁹

The means by which Christ carried out His atoning sacrifice is mainly a mystery, and probably always will be to mortal man. The Atonement, quite simply, is incomprehensible to our finite mortal minds. It began in the Garden of Gethsemane and reached its full fruition on the cross of Calvary. Jesus, in His agony for the sins of the world, sweat great gouts of blood,²⁰ and in a way we mortals simply cannot understand, took responsibility for our individual and collective sins. That includes my sins and your sins, and those of all who have lived or ever will live on earth. It is so glorious, “I scarce can take it in!”²¹

Aging in the Divine Plan

What has all of this got to do with aging? For one thing, each of us will die. Death, with its inevitable separation of body and spirit, comes to all, yet none is beyond the reach of Christ’s power to save; no soul is beyond the strength of His mercy and grace. Thus, though Latter-day Saints do not subscribe to the erroneous (and damnable) doctrine of predestination, we believe it is never too late in mortality to come to Christ, repent of our sins, exercise faith in Him, accept holy ordinances, and then remain faithful to His commandments until the end of mortal life.

That includes the making and keeping of sacred covenants. “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them,” said Jesus, “he it is that loveth me.”²² Jesus will soon return again to earth, with healing in His wings, to set His people free and to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The gospel of Christ is open to all, both young and old, whether youth or greybeard. Better late than never, is our dictum. Our responsibility is simple: We are to “call upon the nations to repent, both old and young, both bond and free, saying: Prepare yourselves for the great day of the Lord.”²³

Thus, we proclaim to all the world that all people, everywhere, literally are the sons and daughters of God, of His lineage, possessed in embryo of His perfection and power, and with the potential to become more like He is. As Professor Robert Millet has noted, “birth and death are inextricably intertwined. We are born to die and die to live. We . . . pass beyond this vale of tears [if we are faithful] to inherit a far greater and grander existence; it is in dying that we are born into immortality. In mortal death we leave the realm of time and return to eternity.”²⁴

Pathways to Finding Fulfillment

What other counsel can be given under the general rubric of concern for the aging?

I hesitate to give counsel to others. Too much of the snippets of understanding I’ve been able to glean and gather have come from the hard knocks encountered in every life. However, as I move deeper into the twilight of mortality, my thoughts turn increasingly to consideration of what is involved in a life well-lived, and to the components of what the Greek philosophers called the “well-ordered soul.” I confess that earlier in life, I loved to associate with the best and the brightest. I enjoyed (probably too much) the cut and thrust of high-level intellectual debate, the rough and tumble of differing views. Now, much of that seems irrelevant or pretentious. Whereas, as a young man I enjoyed being with the brightest, I now wish to be with the best.

Time and space permit mention of only a few items of counsel. I am encouraged that other authors throughout this book have amplified these and others. Every member should read and ponder President Ezra Taft Benson’s classic 1989 general conference address, “To the Elderly in the Church.”²⁵ To those who are at or approaching that “certain age,” may I suggest the following:

1. Put Emphasis on the Family.

It is important to note that traditionally, family units contained much more than the nuclear family. Elder J. Richard Clarke said: “In earliest biblical culture, the family was more than a parent and child unit. It included all who were related by blood and marriage. This kindred family, as I prefer to call it, was strongly linked by natural affection and the patriarchal priesthood. The elderly were venerated for their experience and wisdom. There were [sic] strength and safety in numbers, and, through love and support, members established solidarity and continuity.”²⁶

In such an extended kindred family, relatives travel—sometimes for great distances—to support family activities, weddings, funerals, missionary farewells. Cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents strengthen each other in making and keeping gospel covenants. Grandparents have special roles to play in the family. They often act as family historians, informing current generations about their progenitors and earlier members of the family.

They serve as vital links between generations of the family, and in the process, teach much about the importance of continuity and intergenerational experiences. Preparing life histories for each child is something only a parent can do. Copies make wonderful birthday or Christmas presents. In today’s world, with its dizzying array of technology, we can bestow the gift of an audio and/or video letter to each child, even to infants and the yet unborn. This gift can appropriately include encouragement, testimony and “the things of your soul.”

Grandparents traditionally have served as mentors and teachers of younger family members. That role remains extant today. As grandparents assume their patriarchal and matriarchal roles within the extended kindred family unit, they demonstrate both leadership skills and moral principles of lasting importance. In doing so, they build family togetherness. President Ezra Taft Benson, speaking to the elderly in the Church, called upon them to organize their families into cohesive units. Family reunions, where fellowship and family heritage can be felt and learned, can do much to further this essential sense of togetherness.

“Some of the sweetest memories I have,” President Benson said, “are of our own family reunions and gatherings.”²⁷

All in all, grandparents can, said President Benson, “have a profound influence on their grandchildren.”²⁸ As time permits (and usually time is not generally so encumbered for retirees), they [grandparents] can teach from the “best” books and the “best” stories.²⁹ In this way, honor, love and respect for all generations, and all circumstances, are taught in never-to-be-forgotten ways.

2. Take the Time to Learn Your Genealogy; Honor and Succor Your Roots.

Alex Haley, the famous author of Roots, is quoted as saying: “In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage—to know who we are and where we come from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still . . . an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness.”³⁰

I have a dear friend with whom I carpooled for many years, a faithful Christian man, though not of my faith, who exemplifies Haley’s belief. Late in life, after my friend’s retirement, he has found joy in learning about his ancestors who first arrived in Canada from Ireland in the early 1850s. He plans to visit Ireland and meet long-lost cousins as soon as he can. He has found that—as with all families—his “roots” extend back through history and forward through eternity. His ancestors became more than names on dim and dusty pages of the family Bible. They become real to him, people who felt much like he feels, who loved and laughed, and wept in joy and sorrow. His heart has turned to his fathers in fulfillment of the Spirit of Elijah, and the sacred relationships of mortality are extended forever. When blessed by priesthood power, families on earth can become families in heaven.

“The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us,” said the Prophet Joseph Smith, “is to seek after our dead. . . . It is necessary that those who are going before and those who came after us should have salvation in common with us; and thus hath God made it obligatory upon man.”³¹

3. Plan for Your Financial Future.

As we move through life towards retirement, it is wise to begin as soon as possible to prepare for the years which follow fulltime employment. That planning, and acting, should not wait until retirement is upon us. Start now, and follow your plan! Unnecessary debt must be avoided as the plague. So too should get-rich schemes and uncertain ventures. Most emphatically, do not live beyond your means. In almost all instances, if you don’t have the money, do without. Our pioneer forefathers lived by the adage: “Fix it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” That is still good advice today! All of us know, perhaps personally, of the many terrible tragedies which have come to those who unwisely borrow for things they don’t need. Curb your wants, live frugally, and be prudent in your spending.

4. Never Stop Learning.

Make a commitment to learning; let it become and remain the hallmark of your life. Read, read, read! Reading, as President Thomas S. Monson has noted, is one of the true pleasures of life. It is, he says, both “mind-easing and mind-inspiring to sit down privately with a congenial book.”³²

“Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith,”³³ the Lord instructed Joseph Smith. Every president of the Church since Joseph Smith has echoed these words, reminding us that all of us, if we are but willing, are able to walk with the great minds of history. The “mindless drivel” of the countless hours of television many watch must be replaced by efforts to really learn from the great men and women of the past.

“Get all of the education you can,” said President Gordon B. Hinckley. “The Lord will have you learn things both secular and spiritual. He has placed upon you . . . a compelling mandate.” ³⁴

The Lord has said, “And I give unto you a commandment that you shall teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom . . . [and] of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms.”³⁵

President Hinckley continues: “I know of no other people or any other system of theology which includes a God-given mandate to acquire secular knowledge as well as spiritual knowledge.” Speaking to students, he said: “I hope you will do the very best you can to prepare yourselves to make a significant contribution to the society of which you will become a part.”³⁶

It matters little what course of study you follow, in the sense that whether one is a plumber, a physician, nurse, accountant, farmer, carpenter or garbage collector probably matters little to God as long as we are honest and diligent. The important thing is to continue to learn, “whether you are thirty or whether you are seventy. Your industry in so doing will cause the years to pass faster than you might wish, but they will be filled with a sweet and wonderful zest that will add flavor to your life and power to your teaching.”³⁷

In all of your learning, which must demand your full heart and be a constant preoccupation, remember that not all knowledge is equal. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell, my beloved friend and mentor, explained: “All knowledge is not of equal significance. There is no democracy of facts! They are not of equal importance. Something might be factual but unimportant . . . Some truths are salvationally significant, and others are not.”³⁸

President Boyd K. Packer explains further, talking about events in his own family: “They [family members] will not be judged on how many degrees they hold or how extensive their schooling may be, but on how well educated they are in those things which are of eternal value.”³⁹

So put first in your list of educational priorities that body of knowledge which will lead you to God and His ways. Jacob, the Nephite prophet, warned us of those who, “when they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish. But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God.”⁴⁰

“Our purpose” [i.e., that of the Church], President Packer explains, “is to produce students who have that rare and precious combination of a superb secular education, complemented by faith in the Lord, a knowledge of the doctrines He has revealed, and a testimony that they are true.”⁴¹

Learn always: Let that counsel be the light which beckons you onward, the lamp which lights your path.

5. Continue to Serve Others.

You will never grow too old to serve others. You’ll never be too old to help the unfortunate. Doing so is the measure of your Christian discipleship. It will sanctify you and make you more holy. It will bring you closer to God and His Son.

What is there about service that purifies hearts and brings souls to Christ? There is no single answer but rather several. Service drives out selfishness, the great enemy of spirituality. The “natural man,” carnal, sensual, and devilish, is deeply selfish, caring not for the unfortunate, uninterested in helping to meet the needs of others. He sees them only as creatures to be used to gratify his wants and then to be thrown away. His ears are stopped up against the pleas of the oppressed, the poor, those in pain. Their cries of suffering are of no consequence or interest to him.

Service helps us develop compassion, that most Christ-like of virtues. Compassion is more than sympathy. It involves empathy—an ability to feel deeply the pain of others as though we were one with them. “For behold, are we not all beggars?” asked compassionate King Benjamin. “Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?”⁴²

Compassion goes beyond empathy to action, impelling us to bind up the wounds, “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees”⁴³ of those less fortunate than ourselves.

As we develop compassion, the scales of indifference, self-righteousness, and selfishness fall from our eyes. We see and feel—perhaps for the first time—the suffering of others. We weep with them and for them. We weep, too, for our own weaknesses and imperfections. We reach out to help the less-fortunate as best we can. We think less of ourselves and more of others. We set different priorities, eschewing the tawdry materialism that has claimed so much of our attention heretofore. We set aside “our consuming selfishness,” our “love for comfort and ease”⁴⁴ and seek to aid those less fortunate than ourselves.

But be careful how you spell “service.” As President Packer has noted, some spell it as though it were “serve-us,” the very opposite of those consecrated actions which express the highest degree of Christian stewardship.⁴⁵

6. Safeguard Your Physical, Mental and Emotional Health.

As a general rule, as you grow older, you’ll find that physical activity is harder to do than when you were younger. Activities which used to be easy become increasingly more difficult and take longer to accomplish. Your endurance is less than it used to be. Perhaps you can’t work or walk as easily or for as long as you once could. You may suffer one or more of the debilitating symptoms of the degenerative diseases which plague mankind, and always have. But you need not—and should not—hasten that day of your demise by foolish or neglectful actions on your part.

Put in place a daily exercise regimen. Get outside for at least 30 minutes a day and spend at least half an hour daily enjoying a fun, affirming and/or creative activity. What and how much you eat are vitally important. Be certain to include generous amounts of whole-grain foods, vegetables and fruits in your diet. Go easy on the amount of red meat or other foods high in saturated fat, such as some dairy products.

Maintain and even expand your commitment to learning as an eternal goal. Be involved in positive ways with the lives of others, and “spread your net” as widely as possible, such that you include a diverse group of people in your circles of friendship and love.

It is vitally important that you maintain a life of your own. You owe that to yourself, to other family members who are sick (either physically or mentally), to other family members who are not sick, and to the person primarily involved, as well as to friends, business associates, and even to God Himself. You must find time, amidst all of the burdens of stress and toil, of worry, of time, and financial constraints, to recharge and renew your own reserves of strength. Pray for courage, fortitude, and enhanced understanding. Walk with a beloved family member. Be slow to judge and quick to forgive. Spend a few minutes with a good book or give an hour of service to others. What you choose to do is of lesser importance than the realization that nurturing and protecting one’s personal wellbeing is essential to the health of all those you love.

It is not uncommon for mental illness to afflict you, or someone you love, during one or more phases of mortality. If you or a loved one suffers from the torment and tears involved in the terrible constellation of afflictions that is mental illness, know that much can be done by dedicated professional caregivers, including psychiatrists and psychologists. Medications may be prescribed, and unhealthy ways of thinking corrected. That is the subject of other presentations, where this and other mental health issues are discussed in greater detail.⁴⁶

Eventually, sooner or later, you—and everyone else—will die. That is as it should be. If we have lived as we should, sorrowing over our deficiencies and trying to overcome them, recognizing and accepting Christ as our Savior and Redeemer, with all that implies in terms of sacred covenants, then have no fear. All will be well. You will be welcomed Home, in His good time, to be cradled in His loving arms and reunited with others you love who have passed through the veil of death before you.

Notes

^1. Job 14:2.

^2. Psalm 103:15–16.

^3. Ecclesiastes 3:1–2.

^4. Isaiah 40:8.

^5. English Romantic Poetry and Prose, Ed. Alfred Noyes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956), 327–328.

^6. Joseph Smith, History of the Church (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, Co., 1991), 1:19.

^7. For additional details about the Great Apostasy, read Alexander B"> 7. For additional details about the Great Apostasy, read Alexander B. Morrison, Turning from Truth—A New Look at the Great Apostasy (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 2005).

^8. Moses 6:62.

^9. Alma 12:33, 22:13.

^10. 2 Nephi 9:6.

^11. 11. See Robert L.Millet, The Mormon Faith: A New Look at Christianity (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1998), 43–48.

^12. 1 Peter 2:25.

^13. 1 Peter 1:19.

^14. See Mosiah 5:7.

^15. See “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” published in Sept">15. See “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” published in Sept. 1995 by the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles.

^16. See Moses 1:39.

^17. 1 Corinthians 15:22.

^18. Hebrews 5:9; emphasis added.

^19. Alma 11:40.

^20. See D&C 19:18.

^21. Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1985), no. 86.

^22. John 14:21.

^23. D&C 43:20.

^24. Millet, The Mormon Faith: A New Look at Christianity, 63.

^25. Ezra Taft Benson, “To the Elderly in the Church,” Ensign, Nov. 1989, 4ff.

^26. “Our Kindred Family—Expressions of Eternal Love,” Ensign, May 1989, 60.

^27. “To the Elderly of the Church,” Ensign, Nov. 1989, 5.

^28. Ibid.

^29. See D&C 109:7.

^30. See www.alex-haley.com/about_alex_haley.htm.

^31. Joseph Smith, History, 6:313.

^32. “Hallmarks of a Happy Home,” Ensign, Oct. 2001, 5.

^33. D&C 88:118.

^34. “True to the Faith,” Ensign, June 1996, 7.

^35. D&C 88:77, 79.

^36. “True to the Faith,” Ensign, June 1996, 8.

^37. Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1997), 299.

^38. The Neal A. Maxwell Quote Book (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997) 185.

^39.“To Be Learned Is Good If . . .,” Ensign, Nov. 1992, 72.

^40. 2 Nephi 9:28–29.

^41. “To Be Learned Is Good If . . .,” Ensign, Nov. 1992, 72.

^42. Mosiah 4:19.

^43. D&C 81:5.

^44. “Our Mission of Saving,” Ensign, Nov. 1991, 52.

^45. See Boyd K. Packer, Mine Errand from the Lord (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 2008), 167.

^46. See Alexander B. Morrison, Valley of Sorrow: A Layman’s Guide to Understanding Mental Illness (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 2003).

Elder Alexander B. Morrison, First Quorum of the Seventy (emeritus), is a noted pharmacologist, former senior civil servant, internationally recognized health expert, the recipient of several humanitarian awards, and the author of eight books, including Valley of Sorrow: A Layman’s Guide to Understanding Mental Illness.