Alma 37:36-37

Alma 37:36-37
Yea, and cry unto God for all the support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all that thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

I feel the need to stay close to the Lord as my heart is turned to the social issues confronting our nation today. I want to be sure my heart and my motives are pure and based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I want to live those principles in all I do. I want my life to be appropriate for a disciple of Jesus Christ.

If there is one principle of the restored gospel that motivates me the most (aside from Jesus' role as our Savior which is central to all I believe) it is the fact that I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father and we are all His children - every - single - one- of - us.

Therefore I have a responsibility to speak out for justice and equality for my brothers and sisters in all circumstances. I will follow the words of Mosiah 18:9 “to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in, even until death.”

President Russell M. Nelson's message on the 1st of June 2020 is a call to action for me.

We join with many throughout this nation and around the world who are deeply saddened at recent evidences of racism and a blatant disregard for human life. We abhor the reality that some would deny others respect and the most basic of freedoms because of the color of his or her skin.

We are also saddened when these assaults on human dignity lead to escalating violence and unrest.

The Creator of us all calls on each of us to abandon attitudes of prejudice against any group of God’s children. Any of us who has prejudice toward another race needs to repent!

During the Savior’s earthly mission, He constantly ministered to those who were excluded, marginalized, judged, overlooked, abused, and discounted. As His followers, can we do anything less? The answer is no! We believe in freedom, kindness, and fairness for all of God’s children!

Let us be clear. We are brothers and sisters, each of us the child of a loving Father in Heaven. His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, invites all to come unto Him—“black and white, bond and free, male and female,” (2 Nephi 26:33). It behooves each of us to do whatever we can in our spheres of influence to preserve the dignity and respect every son and daughter of God deserves.

Any nation can only be as great as its people. That requires citizens to cultivate a moral compass that helps them distinguish between right and wrong.

Illegal acts such as looting, defacing, or destroying public or private property cannot be tolerated. Never has one wrong been corrected by a second wrong. Evil has never been resolved by more evil.

We need to foster our faith in the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.

We need to foster a fundamental respect for the human dignity of every human soul, regardless of their color, creed, or cause.

And we need to work tirelessly to build bridges of understanding rather than creating walls of segregation.

I plead with us to work together for peace, for mutual respect, and for an outpouring of love for all of God’s children.