By Danielle Ellis
Surround Yourself with Greatness.” This is the commitment a young Chad Lewis made to himself while he was half a world away from home, serving a mission in Taiwan. He read an old talk by Gordon B. Hinckley, “Caeser, Circus, or Christ,” (available at speeches.byu.edu; 1965) and resolved to himself that he could surround himself with great music, great books and great people, and this would help him to become the man he wanted to be.

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Joseph Fielding Smith, speaking of marriage, explained the beauty and importance of the covenant. “Marriage is a principle that, when entered into, presents more challenges and blessings than any other.… Nothing will prepare mankind for exaltation in the kingdom of God as readily as faithfulness to the marriage covenant. Through this covenant, perhaps more than any other, we accomplish the perfect degree of the divine will. If properly received, this covenant can be the means by which man gains his greatest happiness. The greatest honors in this life and in the life to come—honor, dominion, and power in perfect love—are blessings that flow from it. These blessings of eternal glory are held in reserve for those who are willing to abide in this and all other covenants of the gospel.”

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By Dave Ellis
My wife’s birthday was last month. I know, this is the first I’ve heard of it too. It’s not very fair to me when she tells me the day after and then acts all pouty about it. Of course I’m kidding. I was well aware of her birthday, I wore a string around my finger since January 2009 to remind me.
Nearly lost that finger over it, but it was worth it.

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By Julie Wright
I don’t think boys realize that girls make lists. Not just any lists: important lists. We make lists of our friends, music we like, and most importantly what qualities we expect our future husbands to have before we agree to marry them. I had a list of my own, brimming with the perfections I expected my husband to possess.

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By Ken Craig
Never, in all my youth, could I conjure up the image of the moment I would purchase an engagement ring. In my mind, the buying of the ring was The Final Step. And The Final Step to
The Final Commitment would be intimidating to most, would it not?

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By Stephanie McMillan
Grammy and G.G., as my great-grandparents were affectionately known, married in the year 1929 and homesteaded a sheep ranch in the wilds of Montana. Their ranch on Big Sheep Creek was miles away from any other civilization. It was this picturesque but lonely mountain that served as welcome for my great-grandmother, Afton, a new young bride. She was eighteen when she married Lewis, a handsome young man who had stolen her heart.

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By Katie Parker
There was something about the phrase “marriage for time and all eternity” that sounded incredibly blissful to me when I was a starry-eyed teenager. Surely when the magical day of my temple marriage arrived, my husband and I would be whisked into a peaceful future in our little cottage in the clouds. What else could marriage for time and all eternity involve?

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By Lu Ann Staheli
Think the word bride. What image comes to mind? A girl, probably mid-twenties, thin body, a perfect complexion, and unlimited resources to give her the wedding she’s dreamed about her entire—short—life.

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by Krista Ralston Oakes
The term “sacred cow” is figurative, but it originates from the Hindu tradition of protecting the cow as a sacred animal.

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By Nettie H. Francis
On February 8, 2010, the Boy Scouts of America will celebrate its 100th birthday. Founded in England by Lord Robert Baden Powell, a military hero, in 1907, the Scouting movement was brought to the United States by American journalist William Boyce, who became acquainted with the organization when a young Boy Scout helped him through the thick London fog. Boyce was so impressed with the helpful boy who wouldn’t accept a tip, that he made an appointment to see Lord Baden Powell and learn more of the Scouting movement. He eventually founded the Boy Scouts of America based on the ideals and activities designed by Baden Powell.

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By Alison Palmer
Scripture:Matthew 22:37-38
Song:“Love One Another,” Children’s Songbook, 136

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By S. Amanda Dickson
Day 1 – We’re sitting in the Celestial room at the temple. Today we’ll be sealed for time and eternity. A worker has just come by to tell us that we are waiting on my soon-to-be father-in-law, and his mother. The worker tells us that they will arrive shortly, and my father-in-law doesn’t want us to know that it is him we are waiting on.

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By Wendy Watson Nelson
Change Your Questions, Change Your Life is a must-read for anyone serious about making this their New Year. Complete with color pictures, graphs and illustrations to help readers visualize and personalize the important concepts, this book can help you find new solutions to old problems.

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By Stephanie McMillan
The room was filled with laughing kids, shushing each other with pointed looks and fingers pressed to lips. Trying desperately to listen, we were often diverted in our best efforts by a more interesting eight-year-old neighbor and the treasures he hid in his scripture bag. Sister Huffaker bravely stood at the front of this melee each and every Sunday, singing out and sharing her love of music with our rowdy crowd.

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President Hinckley once gave a great allegory of life. Quoting an old newspaper article, he said: “Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride” (“A Conversation with Single Adults,” Ensign, March 1997, 58).

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