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What does it mean to have a \u201cwilling mind\u201d? My first thought is that it is somehow about our attitude, how we confront or approach problems. But despite the prevalence of \u2018positive mental attitude\u2019 sayings and motivational posters, most people act as if their emotional state is something beyond their control. We act like we believe that outside circumstances determine whether we are happy or sad. But, while we act that way, the scriptures suggest we do something different, because \u201cThe Lord Requireth the Heart and a Willing Mind.\u201d Thinking about it, that seems really difficult.<\/p>\n
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In addition, for most of us, there is something in attitude that is paradoxical. Positive attitude leads to actions our society doesn\u2019t necessarily associate with success. We are supposed to respond with love to anger or hate. We are taught to have faith even when we can\u2019t see the possible positive result. And we are supposed to forgive when wronged, even when there\u2019s not apology or repentance. I\u2019m sure you can think of other, similar paradoxes.<\/p>\n
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Forgiveness is one of these paradoxes\u2014because we often see it as about change in the person we are forgiving instead of about change in ourselves. Forgiveness is more about eliminating the rancor inside us, to avoid damaging our souls.<\/p>\n
It feels like we already know this poet, perhaps because his name gives us a very specific mental image. If that isn\u2019t enough connection to the 1960s, he was also born in Blackburn, Lancashire, known to Beatles fans for the non-existent holes. Bond\u2019s poetry mostly appears in the Millennial Star during his return to the U.K. for a 5 1\/2 year long mission from 1853 to 1859. In this poem he praises what forgiveness does for us, in addition to any benefit to the one forgiven.<\/p>\n
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by James Bond<\/p>\n
1854<\/p>\n
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What is the attitude needed to build Zion? How do members learn to have the attitude needed? For the church during the middle of the 20th century this was a common concern. In fact, the message of this poem might seem familiar, maybe similar to the hymn \u201cCarry On,\u201d also by Ruth May Fox, most often remembered today as the 3rd President of the YLMIA, now the Young Women.<\/p>\n
by Ruth May Fox<\/p>\n
1936<\/p>\n
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I think an answer to some of the paradoxes we see is resolved through preparation. If we want to control our attitudes instead of letting our attitudes simply be reactions to circumstances, that takes preparation. Being ready to forgive others requires preparation. If we want to build spirituality, we have to prepare spiritually.<\/p>\n
This poem goes beyond \u201cdid you think to pray\u201d to \u201cdid you think before you prayed,\u201d putting even more emphasis on preparation. I like the idea\u2014while improvising has it\u2019s place, so does taking a thoughtful approach considering not only what are our concerns but also how the Lord might respond to our needs.<\/p>\n
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by Andrew S. Hyrup<\/p>\n
1911<\/p>\n
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I suppose following \u201can ensign unto the people\u201d across a few thousand kilometers requires a different kind of willingness and mental preparation. In addition, one-time acts, while significant, are different from the life-long changes that followed the pioneer\u2019s months-long feat of endurance.<\/p>\n
Zion\u2019s poetess, Eliza R. Snow, praises this endurance and the attitude required to compete the trek.<\/p>\n
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by Eliza R. Snow<\/p>\n
1851<\/p>\n
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As long as the trek was, the endurance of this life and, for that matter, the eternities make the difficulties of the journey from Nauvoo to Nibley seem trivial. So if the trek required preparation, how much more is required for the Kingdom of God?<\/p>\n
One of our lesser-known early poets, Mary Page looks at the difficulties to be endured for the Kingdom in this poem.<\/p>\n
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by Mary Page<\/p>\n
1841<\/p>\n
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Which comes first? Does our attitude control our thoughts? Or are our attitudes influenced by our thoughts? More likely, in my view, our attitudes and thoughts influence each other, along with outside influences, many of which are also outside of our control. Of course God knows all this and, I think, gives us grace for that we can\u2019t control, and that we don\u2019t understand we should control, and often for that we do and later regret.<\/p>\n
One of the most tragic of LDS poets, Sarah Carmichael, explores these regrets in the following poem, interlacing the \u2018book of hours\u2019 as if it were a book of our lives with the events of our lives and our very hearts and minds. Carmichael\u2019s poetry flashed brilliantly in the late 1850s and 1860s, but by the end of the latter decade she succumbed to a mental illness and stopped writing, although she lived for another 30 years.<\/p>\n
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by Sarah E. Carmichael<\/p>\n
1864<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What does it mean to have a \u201cwilling mind\u201d? My first thought is that it is somehow about our attitude, how we confront or approach problems. But despite the prevalence of \u2018positive mental attitude\u2019 sayings and motivational posters, most people act as if their emotional state is something beyond their control. We act like we believe that outside circumstances determine whether we are happy or sad. But, while we act that way, the scriptures suggest we do something different, because \u201cThe Lord Requireth the Heart and a Willing Mind.\u201d Thinking about it, that seems really difficult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":50376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2895,2904,53,2462,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-come-follow-me-currculum","category-doctrine-and-covenants","category-latter-day-saint-thought","category-poetry-arts","category-sunday-school-lesson-doctrine-and-covenants"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_2577.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50329"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50383,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50329\/revisions\/50383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}