January's Presidency Message

January's first Sunday lesson is from Elder
Oak's address in the May 2011 Ensign entitled “Desire”. Our desires shape who
we are. Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and
choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing,
our achieving, and our becoming. We sometimes override our desires with other
desires that we consider more important. The Book of Mormon contains many
teachings on the importance of desire. After many hours of pleading with the
Lord, Enos was told that his sins were forgiven. He then “began to feel a
desire for the welfare of his brethren”. He wrote, “And … after I had prayed
and labored with all diligence, the Lord said unto me: I will grant unto thee
according to thy desires, because of thy faith”. Note the three essentials that
preceded the promised blessing: desire, labor, and faith. Readjusting our
desires to give highest priority to the things of eternity is not easy. We are
all tempted to desire that worldly quartet of property, prominence, pride, and
power. We might desire these, but we should not fix them as our highest
priorities. If our righteous desires are sufficiently intense, they will
motivate us to cut and carve ourselves free from addictions and other sinful
pressures and priorities that prevent our eternal progress. We should remember
that righteous desires cannot be superficial, impulsive, or temporary. They
must be heartfelt, unwavering, and permanent. Therefore, what we insistently
desire, over time, is what we will eventually become and what we will receive
in eternity. I pray that we will desire and work for qualities required to
become an eternal being.