Bishop Burton - CES Fireside

On Sunday I went to a CES fireside with Bishop Burton (Presiding Bishop) in the Marriot Center. It was great! The talk was centered on a story about himself as a young man, where someone he worked with asked him, "Will you ever make something of yourself?" He talked about how Jesus, in essence, asked the same question in 3 Nephi 27:27, "What manner of men ought ye to be?"

So, if we're going to consider the type of people we're going to be, we need to focus on Christlike attributes, such as caring for the one, and so on. Bishop Burton contrasted President Monson's private and public ministry. I loved this contrast! One's public ministry would consist of serving in one's calling, while one's private ministry goes beyond that and involved reaching out to and blessing individual's lives, comforting, being concerned, and so on. This reminded me of what I was trying to get the Young Women leaders in the Cape Town, South Africa Stake to consider - their private ministry among their young women. I had just used other words. Bishop Burton said that what we do in anonymity is just as important as what we do in public.

He said that the manner of men and women we will be will be determined by how much we listen to the Spirit. He continued to say that it will also be determined by how well we handle the storms of life.

Two things he said that stuck out to me: (1) "Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment"; and (2) "Intelligence without ambition is like a bird without wings" - Salvadore Dali.

Finally, he ended by declaring that focus is essential is achieving our goals. He said, focus on the right things in order to become what we are meant to be.