Elder Thomas S. Monson, Part Two: Another Unknown Poet Sticking to It

  For Part One or Part Three, pick a link and click.

Coming back now to Elder Thomas S. Monson's talk in the April 1971 General Conference, called  "Finishers Wanted", he goes into a poem by an unknown author to illustrate the quality of perseverance:

 

The Quote

“Stick to your task ’til it sticks to you;

Beginners are many, but enders are few.

Honor, power, place and praise

Will always come to the one who stays.

“Stick to your task ’til it sticks to you;

Bend at it, sweat at it, smile at it, too;

For out of the bend and the sweat and the smile

Will come life’s victories after a while.”

—Author Unknown

 

This has floated around in the ether as long as I can remember, and it seems to be unknown since the first time it was ever said. It reminded me of a very very VERY old Disney movie called "So Dear to my Heart". That movie had a song called 'Stick-to-it-tivity". 

Now granted, Disney doesn't have the greatest track record in telling accurate history, so the facts of this song probably have to be taken with a small truckload of salt. But the song is cute, and runs along the same vein as the poem:

 

I can attest to the value of trying over and over again with overcoming weaknesses - it can take a very long time to get past some of them. Some challenges I've had have taken decades to make progress on, but since I know that life continues on past this life, the Lord has blessed me with a lot more patience with myself than I would have had otherwise.

There have been victories too - lots of them. If there's something I want, and it's important enough, I will move heaven and earth to get there, and the world doesn't get to decide what I can do and what I can't do. That's between me and the Lord - and so far, He's never told me to stop trying.

We're all a grand work in progress - never give up on the best in you. :-) 

Elder Thomas S. Monson, Part One - John Greenleaf Whittier's Maud Mueller, and Regret Turned to Joy

For Part Two or Part Three, pick a link and click.

Wait a minute, you say. Didn't we just talk about Elder Monson?

We did.

But that's the nature of Conference talks. You hear from some people every six months or so, and some people less often. Elder (and eventually President) Monson was always one of the regulars as long as I've been alive up until he passed away, and we get to reap the benefits of his clear love of literature along the way!

This first quote is from his classic talk, "Finishers Wanted":

 

The Quote

"Concerning those who fall short, 

John Greenleaf Whittier’s words seem particularly fitting:

“For of all sad words of tongue or pen,

The saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’”

 

In Elder Monson's talk, he referred to those who have chosen sin or wickedness when they could have chosen good.

In the original source material, the poem "Maud Mueller"...well, see for yourself:

 

Wikipedia

It's a story about a chance encounter, a choice made, and lifelong regrets that followed.

What I especially found interesting was the last couplet, where the couple's regrets expand out to all the world's regrets:

"Ah, well! for us all some sweet hope lies

Deeply buried from human eyes;

 

And, in the hereafter, angels may

Roll the stone from its grave away!

 

Jesus Christ made it possible for all of us to have new beginnings, with His sacrifice for everyone. That I do believe. He has turned my regrets to deep gratitude, and made a beauty from my life what I could never manage. He can do that for any of us.

A lovely poem with Christian themes is "Maud Mueller".