It is very important that we genuinely encourage the full development of women in the Church, so that they can carry out their unique roles effectively and articulately--in the nursery and neighborhood, and in the classroom as well as in cookery.

Brethren, marry a woman who is your better in some respects; and, sisters, do likewise, so that your eternal partnership is one of compensating competencies. This is certainly the case in my own marriage, so far as certain attributes are concerned. I am gladdened--not threatened--by my wife's superior qualities. I am grateful for her traits and qualities that excel my own in some critical dimensions of our partnership.

I remember a BYU movie a few years ago in which there was a line something like this: "Some men never recover from the ignorance of their mothers." Conversely, one cannot fully appreciate the Prophet Joseph Smith without noting the remarkable qualities of his outstanding mother, Lucy Mack Smith. We give to our children what we are. The more a mother brings to a nest, the more nutritive the nest.

On one of those rare occasions when the U.S. Marines had been driven back and were surrounded, the general commanding that particular unit, instead of sending off a despairing and discouraging communique to the commandant of the corps, sent this interesting message: "At last we have the enemy just where we want him. We are surrounded and we can fire in every direction!" I say to you, at last The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the world just where we want it--we can serve in every direction! Not only these young men and women present who are now in the Language Training Mission, but each of us. There is always more to be done than we have time to do it in. Rejoice, for though we may seem to be encircled, in fact we are not.

No "natural" resource is more precious and to be used more wisely than time. These mortal moments matter more than we know. There are no idle hours; there are only idle people. In true righteousness there is serenity, but there is an array of reminders that the "sacred present" is packed with possibilities which are slipping by us, which are going away from us each moment.

Correct conduct under stress is more likely when one has correct expectations about life.

To err by having naive expectations concerning the purposes of life is to err everlastingly. Life is neither a pleasure palace through whose narrow portals we pass briefly, laughingly, and heedlessly before extinction, nor is life a cruel predicament in an immense and sad wasteland. It is the middle (but briefest) estate of the three estates in man's carefully constructed continuum of experience.

For the serious disciple, the cardinal attributes exemplified by Jesus are not optional. These developmental milestones take the form of traits, traits that mark the trail to be traveled. After all, should not Latter-day Saints have a special interest in what is required to become a Saint, virtue by virtue and quality by quality? Hear the words of King Benjamin:

And becometh a saint . . . submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him. [Mosiah 3:19]

These attributes are eternal and portable! Being portable, to the degree developed, they will go with us through the veil of death, and still later they will rise with us in the Resurrection when all else stays behind. Meanwhile, so much of our time is ironically devoted to learning and marketing perishable skills that will soon become obsolete. It isn't just the morticians who will have a vocational crisis in the next world, brother and sisters.

We should not be dismayed either if, in the winding-up scenes, the enemies of God attack the very foundation of the church. Their assaults will include derision of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and the reality of continuing revelation. These efforts will surely fail, but not before damaging some unsteady members-those who have unnecessary difficulty following the Brethren.

Basically, however any supposed issue will do for those who seek a grievance with the church, for detractors are very flexible.

Those of little faith can always find a cause or make a man "an offender for a word." (2 Nephi 27:32)