Sunday Notes: Work

In our Sunday School class today something in Moses 4:23 was pointed out that I had not seen before. In the verse God is explaining to Adam the new consequences of his fallen state and says:

"cursed shall be the ground for thy sake"

When I see the words "for thy sake" I realize that this was for Adam and for my benefit. The fact that he and all of us have to toil and labor and work is a good thing. In this past conference President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said the following:

Work is an antidote for anxiety, an ointment for sorrow, and a doorway to possibility. Whatever our circumstances in life, my dear brethren, let us do the best we can and cultivate a reputation for excellence in all that we do. Let us set our minds and bodies to the glorious opportunity for work that each new day presents.

When our wagon gets stuck in the mud, God is much more likely to assist the man who gets out to push than the man who merely raises his voice in prayer—no matter how eloquent the oration. President Thomas S. Monson put it this way: “It is not enough to want to make the effort and to say we’ll make the effort. … It’s in the doing, not just the thinking, that we accomplish our goals. If we constantly put our goals off, we will never see them fulfilled.”

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Two Principles for Any Economy,” Ensign, Nov 2009, 55–58