Elder Franklin D. Richards, Part One: What Words are Over Your Archway?

 For Part Two, click the link.

We move ahead to a talk by Elder Franklin D. Richards, when he was an assistant to the Council of the Twelve, entitled "The Purpose of Life: To Be Proved".

 

The Quote

"I am told 

that over the entrance 

to a great European university campus 

there is an inscription that says that 

“nothing worthwhile 

ever comes to a person 

except by the anguish of his soul 

and the sweat of his brow.”"

Where could this be? I searched, and ... nothing!

That is, there's nothing that exactly matches that description.

So what's really out there?

There's similar inscriptions. The one that seems most prevalent, and is engraved over many schools and universities is the Latin phrase, "Labor omnia vincit" or "Labor omnia vincit improbus", which roughly translates to "Steady work overcomes all things."

A great thing to post over a university, for sure, and not a bad thought to post over my home gym, when I'm trying to bust out that last rep.

Something that we more commonly say in our faith now is "The Lord loves effort", which was popularized by our last prophet, Russell M. Nelson, who recently passed away.

We don't have to try to be saved - Jesus Christ has already done that work for us. He does require us to do our best - to put in the work to be like Him to the best of our ability. In this video clip, President Nelson talks about this and makes some very good points about the importance of work and improving ourselves.

At the same time, the thought of an archway with a motto over it reminded me of the part in the Divine Comedy, where the traveler passes the gate into Hell. The archway there says, "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." Give up. Lay down. Stop working. Stop trying, because why bother?

I don't think any of us should abandon hope, ever. Not under any circumstances. We never know what we're capable of until we try. And we keep trying, even if only a little bit at a time. 

It all depends on our focus, which we can choose. 

"The Lord loves effort", or "Steady work overcomes all things" are not bad mottos for any of us to live our lives by. :-)