Elder Ulisses Soares on realizing our divine potential

Elder Ulisses Soares (born October 2, 1958 in Brazil) has served as a Seventy since April 2005, and as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy since January 2013. He was sustained to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles on April 1, 2018.

"Each of us was born with the potential to become like our Heavenly Father. Through our experiences and by properly using our agency, we can turn our lives in the direction of God and become like Him. Or we can be distracted by the world and fail to achieve our potential as it was promised to us. Figuratively, we all have the potential to become beautiful works of art in the Lord’s hands. In this sense, He is the sculptor and He uses a hammer and chisel to mold us through our experiences day by day. If we allow the Lord to shape us, the result will be wonderful.

"But without question, this world offers many distractions that can pull our focus away from the primary reason we are living here on this earth. These distractions can turn into detours in our lives that prevent us from being transformed into works of art."

- Ulisses Soares, "Becoming a Work of Art," BYU devotional, Nov. 5, 2013
Click here to read or listen to the full talk

We believe in a Father in Heaven who is literally our Father; we believe He knows us, loves us, and wants to help us in this life. Elder Soares, in this message given while he was serving as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, reminds us that we need to remember Him and "turn our lives in [His] direction" in order to avoid being distracted by the world.

The image of a sculptor working a block of marble is so appropriate. God will "mold us through our experiences day by day" as we allow Him to shape us, trusting in His wisdom even when we don't fully understand the process. The key, Elder Soares warns us, is not to allow ourselves to become distracted from our focus on God.

(Compilation and commentary by David Kenison, Orem, Utah, 2018)