I think if I could give a whole sermon in just six words it would be these: Socrates said many years ago, “Know thyself,” Cicero said, “Control thyself,” and the Savior said, “Give thyself.” Now will you write that down, young brethren; contemplate the meaning while I just share a thought concerning each one.
To know thyself is to come to know that you and I as priesthood bearers are literally the offspring of Deity; and that means, young men, that you and I were born to succeed; that in the preexistence you and I earned a right by our faithfulness and by our commitment to worthy principles to come into mortality in order that we might learn through the priesthood how to become like our Father.
That means, if I understand the gospel correctly, that there isn’t one single failure among us. The word can’t is false doctrine in the Mormon Church. When a young man says to me, “I can’t do it,” I become concerned because in a sense he is saying, “I don’t understand the gospel.” He may not be motivated; he may have discouragements; there may be barriers in his life; but you can succeed.
I promise you young priesthood bearers that if you really come to know who you are through the scriptures and through the revealed doctrine of this church, you can accomplish anything you want in this life.
I don’t mean to suggest by this that you won’t stumble a time or two. That is a part of the growing process. The lives of many great men will testify to you that ofttimes they have many failures, and there is no disgrace in falling down; the disgrace is lying there. To get up one more time than you fall is to be a winner. To stay down is to be a loser.
I don’t mean to suggest by this that you won’t stumble a time or two. That is a part of the growing process. The lives of many great men will testify to you that ofttimes they have many failures, and there is no disgrace in falling down; the disgrace is lying there. To get up one more time than you fall is to be a winner. To stay down is to be a loser.
His attitude of taking both good and bad in stride made him one of the game’s greatest heroes.
Why is it, when we read about great athletes or men in other professions, we are seldom told about their failures? For example, we now read of the amazing record of the immortal Babe Ruth, with his total of 714 home runs; but another unapproached world’s record of his is carefully buried, and that is that he struck out more times than any other player in history—1,330 times!
Someone has said that success consists not in never falling, but in rising every time you fall. Get up one more time than you go down, young people, and you will win. Stay down, and you lose.
My father used to say, “Paul, there are dozens of rules for success, but none of them work unless you do.”
Bob Feller at age sixteen had a problem. He lacked control. He was a great athlete. He had tremendous capacity. He was born to succeed. He knew himself, but he hadn’t disciplined his great talent of speed, so that it was questionable as to whether he would stick in the majors.
But Bob Feller became the great athlete he was because he listened to wise counsel. He had great coaches, and one of them took him aside one day and said, “Bob, it really doesn’t matter whether you throw 105 miles an hour or 95. If you will take a little speed off your pitch and put the ball where it belongs, you will succeed!”
You don’t know Jim Rusick, I think, unless you are related to him. I played ball with Jim. Jim Rusick was a sixteen-year-old boy on the Hollywood High School baseball team. He could throw a 9 1/2-inch baseball 105 miles an hour, but he wouldn’t listen to counsel. He didn’t learn to control the talent that he had, and Jim has never been heard of since.
It’s one thing to be born with ability to succeed; it’s another thing to harness it and to control it.
My young brethren, this is the purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to control that which we have been born with. That is the purpose of the Church and its programs. We need to learn how to control that which God has given us.
Finally, the Savior said, Take all that I have given you, harness it, discipline it, and then give it to the world. Give thyself.
And I learned as President Tanner has taught us. Don’t judge! “Within the oyster shell uncouth, the purest pearl may hide, but oft you’ll find a heart of truth within a rough outside.”
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