Inspired to do better

Tonight while doing a little studying I came across a speech by Gordon B. Hinckley that just summed up everything good and right in the world. It's worth the read. Find it here. Here is one of my favorite quotes from the article, and the reason I found it because I think it really sums up the theme of our upcoming Relief Society Fair.

"I believe in myself. I do not mean to say this with egotism or arrogance. But I believe in my capacity and in your capacity to do good, to make some contribution to the society of which we are a part, to grow and develop, and to do things that we may now think are impossible.

I believe that I am a child of God, endowed with a divine birthright. I believe that there is something of divinity within me and within each of you. I believe that we have a godly inheritance and that it is our responsibility, our obligation, and our opportunity to cultivate and nurture the very best of these qualities within us.

I do not have to be a scrub. Though my work may be menial, though my contribution may be small, I can perform it with dignity and offer it with unselfishness. My talents may not be great, but I can use them to bless the lives of others. I can be one who does his work with pride in that which comes from hand and mind. I can be one who works with respect for associates, for their opinions, for their beliefs, with appreciation for their problems and with a desire to help them should they stumble. I believe in the principle that I can make a difference in this world. It may be ever so small, but it will count for the greater good. The goodness of the world in which we live is the accumulated goodness of many small and seemingly inconsequential acts.

I think of these great words written long ago by John Donne:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. [Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1624), no. 17]

I recall reading something of William Robert Anderson, who commanded a submarine during the Korean War and who later took the submarine Nautilus under the North Pole. He carries in his wallet a dog-eared card on which are written these words:

I believe I am always divinely guided. I believe I will always take the right road. I believe God will always make a way where there is no way."

What a better place the world would be if we could all have that knowledge of the divinity within us and the the conviction to live accordingly. I'm still looking for a speaker to share their thoughts on this topic in 3 weeks- any volunteers?