Not Even Once!

I read this recently and just could not resist sharing it! It is an excerpt of a talk given by Sister Wendy Watson Nelson at the World Congress of Families V in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Aug. 12, 2009. To read the talk in its entirety, click here.

Spiritually strong families are in every nation of this world. Yet, we need so many more of them! Henry B. Eyring said: "As the forces around us increase in intensity, whatever spiritual strength was once sufficient, won't be enough."¹

That warning impresses me more every time I read it. I repeat:

"As the forces around us increase in intensity, whatever spiritual strength was once sufficient, won't be enough."

Let us think about what that really means:

• Whatever spiritual strength was once sufficient, to keep our nations prospering--will not be enough now.

• Whatever spiritual strength was sufficient to build a strong family in the twentieth century won't be enough in the twenty-first.

• Whatever spiritual strength was once sufficient to protect our families and our nations will not be enough now. Not now that the forces attacking our families are increasing exponentially.

We've all heard the motto: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Well, we've been trying. Sociologists, psychologists, criminologists, politicians, physicians, educators, therapists and so many others have been trying---and trying again.

Isn't it time to try something different? I believe it is time to counter the insidious and relentless attack on our families and nations by dramatically increasing their spiritual strength!

How can we do that?

One answer may be in the words I saw as I was driving along a remote country road. Three words on a large sloping barn roof caught my attention. I believe those words could spiritually strengthen our families and our nations, if properly applied.

The three words on the big sloping roof of that old barn were:

Not Even Once!

Those three words in English may translate into a different number of words in other languages, but the concept has power! Think of what could happen if we each determined that from this moment on, there were certain things we would never do, or never do again -- NOT EVEN ONCE!

For example, imagine the strength to our nations that would flow if just 10 families in each village, each town, and each city around the world made and kept a commitment to NOT EVEN ONCE abuse a child or a woman–in any way

NOT EVEN ONCE to lie, or cheat, steal. Not even once!

NOT EVEN ONCE:

• to take illegal drugs

• to look at anything pornographic

• to be sexually impure! Not even once!

Does this sound impossible? With the help of God, it is not!

(Illustration credit)

Scripture of the Day: 1 Corinthians 10:13