David B. Haight on personal effort and progress

Elder David B. Haight (1906-2004) was sustained as a member of the Quorum of Twelve in 1976. He passed away at age 97, four days after attending the funeral of his colleague Neal A. Maxwell.  He was the oldest person to have served as an apostle in this dispensation.

"The Lord wants and needs all of you to be strong, to be believers, to be examples of goodness to all the world. You can become mighty rivers, flowing with truth. Mediocrity and weaklings come with little effort. The world has an abundance of them.

"I would urge you to use your time wisely. Don't waste it on frivolous pursuits. As Ted Koppel, a national newscaster, told the graduates of Duke University last spring:

"'[We] can partake of [TV's] daily banquet without drawing on any intellectual resources; without either physical or moral discipline....

"'...In the place of Truth we have discovered facts; for moral absolutes we have substituted moral ambiguity. We now communicate with everyone... and say absolutely nothing.' [Commencement speech given by Ted Koppel at Duke University on Sunday, 10 May 1987, pp. 5-6]

"I admonish you to live so you can ask for the personal revelation you are entitled to. Someone has written, "Souls are not saved in bundles—they are saved individually."

- David B. Haight, "The Streams of Your Life," BYU Devotional, November 24, 1987
Click here to read the full talk

According to Elder Haight, the Lord wants us to "become mighty rivers, flowing with truth." A key element contributing to achieving that level of goodness comes from wise use of time. So much of today's easily-accessible media glut provides little benefit and little challenge to encourage growth.

This is wise and challenging counsel: "I admonish you to live so you can ask for the personal revelation you are entitled to."