Author Detail for M. Russell Ballard (29 Quotes)

  Author Category Subject Content
1 M. Russell Ballard Lds Marriage I'm wondering if many of you parents, you couples, have lost that essential moment of kneeling together at the end of the day, just the two of you, holding hands and saying your prayers. If that has slipped away from your daily routine, may I suggest you put it back - beginning tonight!
2 M. Russell Ballard Lds Marriage Couples unhappy in their marriages tend not to give appropriate gospel instruction in the home. They are less likely to be committed to gospel principles in their own lives.
3 M. Russell Ballard Lds Fatherhood We know that a father's role does not end with presiding, providing, and protecting family members. On a day-to-day basis, fathers can and should help with the essential nurturing and bonding associated with feeding, playing, storytelling, loving, and all the rest of the activities that make up family life.
4 M. Russell Ballard Lds Motherhood A mother's nurturing love arouses in children, from their earliest days on earth, an awakening of the memories of love and goodness they experienced in their premortal existence.
5 M. Russell Ballard Lds Motherhood Because our mothers love us, we learn, or more accurately remember, that God also loves us.
6 M. Russell Ballard Lds Wealth As husbands, wives, and children recognize the difference between basic necessities and material wants, they lessen family financial burdens and contribute to helping mothers be at home.
7 M. Russell Ballard Lds Parenthood Parents should work to create loving, eternal connections with their children. Reproof or correction will sometimes be required. But it must be done sensitively, persuasively, with an increase of love thereafter lest the child esteem the parent to be an enemy (see D&C 121:43).
8 M. Russell Ballard Lds Parenthood It can be equally destructive when parents are too permissive and overindulge their children, allowing children to do as they please. Parents need to set limits in accordance with the importance of the matter involved and the child's disposition and maturity.
9 M. Russell Ballard Lds Parenthood Help children understand the reasons for the rules, and always follow through with appropriate discipline when rules are broken. It is important as well to praise appropriate behavior.
10 M. Russell Ballard Lds Parenthood Parents need to give children choices and should be prepared to appropriately adjust some rules, thus preparing children for real-world situations.
11 M. Russell Ballard Lds Contention If any of you are struggling with contention in your homes, you can change this. Talk with your family. Ask for their help. Tell them you don't want a contentious spirit in the home anymore and discuss what each family member can do to prevent it.
12 M. Russell Ballard Lds Family The family is the basic unit of society; it is the basic unit of eternity. Thus, when forces threaten the family, Church leaders must respond.
13 M. Russell Ballard Lds Media Because of its sheer size, media today presents vast and sharply contrasting options. Opposite from its harmful and permissive side, media offers much that is positive and productive. Television offers histroy channels, discovery channels, education channels. One can still find movies and TV comedies and dramas that entertain and uplift and accurately depict the consequences of right and wrong. The Internet can be a fabulous tool of information and communication, and there is an unlimited supply of good music in the world. Thus our biggest challenge is to choose wisely what we listen to and what we watch.
14 M. Russell Ballard Lds Media The choices we make in media can be symbolic of the choices we make in life. Choosing the trendy, the titillating, the tawdry in the TV programs or movies we watch can cause us to end up, if we're not careful, choosing the same things in the lives we live.
15 M. Russell Ballard Lds Media Often the media's most devistating attacks on family are not direct or frontal or openly immoral. Intelligent evil is too cunning for that, knowing that most people still profess belief in family and in traditional values. Rather the attacks are subtle and amoral - issues of right and wrong don't even come up.
16 M. Russell Ballard Lds Media Besides making our voices heard, let me conclude with seven things that every parent can do to minimize the negative effect media can have on our families: (1) We need to hold family councils and decide what our media standards are going to be. (2) We need to spend enough quality time with our children that we are consistently the main influence in their lives, not the media or any peer group. (3) We need to make good media choices ourselves and set good examples for our children. (4) We need to limit the amount of time our children watch TV or play video games or use the internet each day. Virtual reality must not become their reality. (5) We need to use Internet filters and TV programming locks to prevent our children from "chancing upon" things they should not see. (6) We need to have TVs and computers in a much-used common room in the home, not in a bedroom or a private place. (7) We need to take time to watch appropriate media with our children and discuss with them how to make choices that will uplift and build rather than degrade and destroy.
17 M. Russell Ballard Lds Media We should strive to change the corrupt and immoral tendencies in television and in society by keeping things that offend and debase out of our homes. In spite of all the wickedness in the world, and in spite of all the opposition to good that we find on every hand, we should not try to take ourselves or our children out of the world. Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven," or yeast. (Matt. 13:33.) We are to lift the world and help all to rise above the wickedness that surrounds us.
18 M. Russell Ballard Lds Example The Lord does not need a society that hides and isolates itself from the world. Rather, he needs stalwart individuals and families who live exemplary lives in the world and demonstrate that the joy and fulfillment come not of the world but through the spirit and the doctrine of Jesus Christ.
19 M. Russell Ballard Lds Reflection Find some quiet time regularly to think deeply about where you are going and what you will need to do to get there. Jesus, our exemplar, often 'withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed' (Luke 5:16). We need to do the same thing occasionally to rejuvinate ourselves spritually as the Savior did.
20 M. Russell Ballard Lds Media I believe that the desensitizing effect of such media abuses on the hearts and souls of those who are exposed to them results in a partial fulfillment of the Savior's statement that 'because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.'
21 M. Russell Ballard Lds Motherhood There is no role in life more essential and more eternal than that of motherhood.
22 M. Russell Ballard Lds Motherhood "...I know something of a mother's emotions that accompany her commitment to be at home with young children. There are moments of great joy and incredible fulfillment, but there are also moments of a sense of inadequacy, monotony, and frustration. Mothers may feel they recieve little or no appreciation for the choice they have made. Sometimes even husbands seem to have no idea of the demands upon their wives.
23 M. Russell Ballard Lds Motherhood Recognize the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction.
24 M. Russell Ballard Lds Parenthood Water cannot be drawn from an empty well, and if you are not setting aside a little time for what replenishes you, you will have less and less to give others, even to your children.
25 M. Russell Ballard Lds Parenthood Parents can offer a unique and wonderful kind of prayer because they are praying to the Eternal Parent of us all. There is great power in a prayer that essentially says, "We are steward-parents over Thy children, Father; please help us to raise them as Thou wouldst want them raised."
26 M. Russell Ballard Lds Fatherhood Come home from work and take an active role with your family. Don't put work, friends, or sports ahead of listening to, playing with, and teaching your children.
27 M. Russell Ballard Lds Family I suggest that the bishopric and the ward council members be especially watchful and considerate of the time and resource demands on young mothers and their families. Know them and be wise in what you ask them to do at this time in their lives.
28 M. Russell Ballard Lds Intervention It is the parents' duty to intervene when they see wrong choices being made. That doesn't mean parents take from children the precious gift of agency. Because agency is a God-given gift, ultimately the choice of what they will do, how they will behave, and what they will believe will always be theirs. But as parents we need to make sure they understand appropriate behavior and the consequences to them if they pursue their wrongful course. Remember, there is no such thing as unlawful censorship in the home. Movies, magazines, television, videos, the Internet, and other media are there as guests and should only be welcomed when they are appropriate for family enjoyment. Make your home a haven of peace and righteousness. Don't allow evil influences to contaminate your own special spiritual environment...The same principle applies to you bishops, teachers, and other leaders in the Church as you work to assist families. You don't have to stand idly by as those over whom you have stewardship make poor moral choices. When one of our youth stands at a moral crossroad in life, almost always there is someone - a parent, a leader, a teacher--who could make a difference by intervening with love and kindness.
29 M. Russell Ballard General Goals I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the technique of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When you learn to master the principle of setting a goal, you will then be able to make a great difference in the results you attain in this life…If you want to have success in the goal-setting process, you learn to write your goals down. I would even put them in a prominent place…Spend your energies doing those things that will make a difference.