WEBVTT

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Paisley: Hey everybody, it's me
again, Paisley imperfect. We've

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been talking about stillness so
far this month. But I wanted to

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pivot today's message and talk
about building our foundation

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instead, kind of going off of
what we talked about with elder

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Bednarz talk on Tuesday. That
Talk got me thinking about my

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own foundation and what it might
be missing. Excuse me.

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So, first, I wanted to point out
that our foundation is a

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lifelong endeavor. It's not
something that we will be able

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to build overnight, it's not
something that's going to happen

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in a week, or even a decade.
Really. Think about it this way

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we are building at least this is
this is how I think about it

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now. We are building the
foundation for our eternal

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mansions right, our mansion in
heaven. That's what we're

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building the foundation for. So
when we're talking about

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building our foundation and
building our foundation upon

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Jesus Christ, yes, I think we're
talking about building a

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foundation that we can stand on
and be steadfast and immovable

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on in this life. But I also
think that we're kind of

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building the foundation for our
eternity for our, our mansion in

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heaven, if you will.

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So knowing that our knowing that
our foundation is a lifelong

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pursuit, actually gives me a
little bit of hope, if they

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weren't lifelong, and you could
just start from where you are,

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where would that leave you. So
today, I'm going to pull from a

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lot of different articles and
different talks and things and

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try to put together a good
strong list of things that we

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can do to help strengthen our
foundations. I, I still have a

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lot to learn on how to use chat
GPT or copilot, and whatever,

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all those AI programs out there,
I wanted to try and create

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something that I could like, put
pieces into and kind of build

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like a CGI foundation for a
house. But there was a

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malfunction between my brain and
what chat TPT and and copilot

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were were understanding. And it
did not work. So just please be

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patient and use your imagination
as we kind of go through this.

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So the first step in building a
house, or any other building

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right is to decide to do it. You
want to build a house. So you

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buy the land, you decide where
you're going to put your house

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on the land, you decide what
kind of floor plan that you're

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going to have. And once you have
decided where it's going to go

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when it's going to look like you
start digging.

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And building a personal
spiritual foundation is the

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same. First thing you do is you
decide to do it. The second

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thing you do is you find space.
We have to find space in our

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lives to be able to build the
foundation, especially when we

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start getting into some of the
tools that I found. So a quote

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this comes from Alia Hona
article in April of 2016, called

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Jesus Christ, our firm
foundation by Donald L.

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Hallstrom. He says, quote, today
can be a pivotal home. Let me

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start that over. Today can be a
pivotal, even historic day in

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our life, it can be the day we
decide to take disciplined

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efforts to build or to reinforce
our foundation. It's worth any

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price. Indeed, it is the essence
of our life's work. He also says

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For you who are really trying we
sincerely commend you, if you

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have never had the foundation we
speak of, or through neglect of

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let it crack or crumble. It is
not too late to put on a hard

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hat and go to work.

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Or, in the words of Dr. Seuss.
And one of my favorite Dr. Seuss

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books. Today is your day Your
mountain is waiting, so get on

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your way. In this case, its
foundation. So today is your day

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your foundation is waiting, so
get on your way. Once we've

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decided that we're going to
build a foundation, and we've

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committed space for it in our
lives, there are a lot of

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different things that we can use
as tools to help us build that

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foundation.

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And I found a few different
talks three, actually, that

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we're going to talk about. One
of them is the one that we've

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already talked about with that
I've already mentioned by Donald

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l Hallstrom. In the Liahona of
April 2016. And in that article,

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he lists six tools that have
been given to given to us to

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help us and I'm paraphrasing
them a bit, but number one is

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quality prayer. Number two is
daily scripture study. Number

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three is partaking of the
sacrament each week. Number four

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is continual self service.
Number five is diligent covenant

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keeping and number six is
following the Council of living

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prophets. And I'll put those on
one of the Instagram, one of the

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Instagram little card things. So
you don't have to write them

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down or memorize them or
anything. Not that you would

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that's kind of assumptive
anyway. So quality prayer,

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prayer, scripture study, taking
the sacrament, selfless service,

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covenant keeping and following
the council's living prophets.

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In a different article, this one
was in October of 2001. And it

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was in the new era. And it was
actually kind of a, it was an

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adaptation from something that
Neil l Anderson had done at

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Ensign college a few years
before that. But it's called

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storm warning. There's actually
a really cool story in there

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about a tornado and how this
woman's mobile home gets picked

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up in a tornado and just kind of
set on top of her neighbor's

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mobile home. It's kind of a kind
of a humorous story, also a

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little terrifying. Anyway, he
gives us four tools in this

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article, and you'll notice that
they overlap. Number one is

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prayer. The other number one was
also prayer. Number two is

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scripture study. The other one
was also scripture study. Number

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three, he says Worship,
partaking of the sacrament each

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week, and number four is service
number four was service. So we

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have those four.

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And then I found another talk.
This one was a general

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conference talk from April,
April 2013, called a shear

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foundation by Dean M Davies. And
it gives us five tools. So this

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one, we have five and the five
are prayer, reading the

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scriptures, partaking of the
sacrament, receiving essential

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priesthood ordinances and
participating in temple

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ordinances. So there's some
overlap there, a new one.

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And so if I take all three of
those talks together, I come up

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with seven total essential tools
to help us build an unfailing

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Foundation. And those seven
tools are quality and sincere

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prayer, daily scripture reading
or study. Sometimes all we can

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do is read, that's fine. weekly
worship that includes partaking

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of the sacrament, selflessly
serving others, receiving

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essential priesthood ordinances,
that's number five. Number six,

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participating in temple
ordinances and diligently

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keeping those covenants. And
number seven is following the

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Council of living prophets.

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So then I will echo the
questions that Hallstrom asks,

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In his article, he asks, Does
this describe who you are? Or

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does it at least describe who
you are working to become? If

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those are the seven things that
we need in order to build a

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strong foundation, then those
are the seven things that we

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should be working on and trying
to become the the people that we

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want to become.

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He goes on to say the effort of
building and maintaining a

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spiritual foundation is not
easy. The construction process

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is a significant undertaking.
And maintenance is a lifetime

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effort. So don't think of this
as like a one and done, this is

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something that we work on
forever, which is actually good

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news, because that means we
don't have a deadline. I mean,

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we kind of do, but you know what
I mean? Like we don't, we don't

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have a deadline, our entire
lives are an opportunity to to

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sharpen those tools and to build
and strengthen our foundation.

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So each of the talks goes a
little bit deeper into the tools

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that they share. But I want to
talk about that last one, number

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seven for just a second
following the Council of living

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prophets, that tool that we have
in our belt. And I have a little

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story, and it's kind of a cheesy
little story, but it's my story.

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And so when I was in my early
20s, the prophet then was

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President Hinckley. And I
remember I was at a young adult

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fireside, and he was a fireside
or broadcast or something. And I

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remember he started talking
about tattoos and ear piercings.

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He said something to the effect
of sisters, if you feel the need

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to have your ears pierced. One
is enough. I had to, I had to in

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each year, when I was 14, I had
saved up all my babysitting

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money and talked my mom into
taking me to the mall so I can

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get that second hole in my ear.
And I didn't do it because I

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thought everybody else would
think I was cool. I did it

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because I liked the way that it
looked. And I I wanted to do it.

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So I wasn't doing it for anybody
else. I was only doing it for

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me. So I remember when he said
that. I was sitting there just

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kind of at the stake center
watching the broadcast, you

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know, and All these girls in
this room these other young

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women started like going like
this.

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And I was like, What are they
doing? And then I realized they

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were taking out their second
earring. And I was like, Okay,

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well, that's good for them. It
doesn't apply to me. It doesn't

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apply to me because I didn't do
it for them. They must have put

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that second hole in their ear so
that other people would think

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they were cool. I just put that
second hole in my ear because I

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thought it was cool.

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So Hallstrom actually quotes
President iring. In his talk, he

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says, quote, looking for the
path to safety in the Council of

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Prophets, makes sense to those
with strong faith. When a

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prophet speaks, those with
little faith may think that they

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hear only a wise man giving good
advice, then if his counsel

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seems comfortable and reasonable
squaring with what they want to

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do. They take it. If it does
not, they consider it either

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faulty advice, or they see their
circumstances as justifying

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their being an exception to the
counsel. That was me. I was the

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exception to the council. But
then, Irene says another fallacy

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is to believe that the choice to
accept or not accept the Council

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of profits is no more than
deciding whether to accept good

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Anyway, so as I start to kind of
close out this episode, I want

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to bring this all back into
elder Bednarz talk from her last

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episode. So you may remember
that he was teaching us that

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advice and gain its benefits, or
to stay where we are. But the

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being still means that we have a
solid foundation, that solid

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foundation is what keeps us from
moving. He quoted Hillman 512,

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and how the winds won't be able
to move us because that

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choice not to take prophetic
counsel changes the very ground

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foundation is strong. And
hopefully you'll remember this

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quote, he said, as the
foundation of our lives is built

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upon which we stand, it becomes
dangerous. So we could go on and

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upon the Savior, we are blessed
to be still to have a spiritual

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assurance that God is our
Heavenly Father, we are His

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children. And Jesus Christ is
our Savior.

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Hallstrom builds a little bit
more on it and says, our

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on and on about listening to the
Prophet and acting on its

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identity then becomes first,
that of an eternal being a son

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or daughter of God, and of a
grateful receiver of the

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blessings of the Atonement of
Jesus Christ, we can then

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counsel. Yeah, I eventually took
that second earring out. And

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securely build other righteous
identities upon that foundation,

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because we will know which are
eternal, and which are temporary

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and how to prioritize them. We
will even choose to discard

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maybe that will become a story
for another day, why I

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other identities and their
accompanying practices, some

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highly valued by the world.

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So both of these talks, with the
other articles and things that

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eventually took it out. Suffice
it to say, for now, it just had

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we've pulled together, in my
opinion, it all comes together

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in this, to be still is to know
who we are. As sons and

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to do with obedience. But the
point is that the profit is what

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daughters of a loving Heavenly
Father. Knowing who we really

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are, is what provides the
stillness that we seek. It's

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what helps us stand steadfast on
that foundation. So someone once

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makes the that foundation
concrete. The prophet is what

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said to me, and I honestly,
don't know who to attribute it

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to. So if it sounds familiar,
and you know where to, you know,

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makes that solid, and hard, and
steadfast. The prophet is what

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who originally said it, by all
means, please tell me. But they

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said something to the effect of
you are a daughter of God and to

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links all of those things, our
prayers, and our scripture

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act like anything contrary, is
to act like someone other than

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yourself. Please be yourself. So
I'm going to say the same thing

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study, and our service and our
temple worship and our sacrament

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to you. You are a child of God,
and He loves you to act like

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anything contrary is to deny who
you really are. So be yourself.

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taking, he links all of those
things together in a way that

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Also, I want to say thank you
again for being here. There are

00:14:53.014 --> 00:14:56.199
100 Other things that you could
be choosing to do right now. I

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know this and I really
appreciate that you have chosen

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nothing else can.

00:14:59.076 --> 00:15:01.799
this thing. So thank you for
being here with me today