As I recognized the beauty of the earth, I knew that my Heavenly Father loved me.

As Latter-day Saints, we need not look like the world. We need not entertain like the world. Our personal habits should be different. Our recreation should be different. Our concern for family will be different. As we establish this distinctiveness firmly in our life's pattern, the blessings of heaven await to assist us.

Whenever we choose to come unto Christ, take His name upon us, and follow His servants, we progress along the path to eternal life. In our mortal journey, it is helpful to remember that the opposite is also true: when we don't keep the commandments or follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost, our opportunities are reduced; our abilities to act and progress are diminished.

I want to help you "fly right" in the gathering storms of the last days. You are the pilots. You are responsible to think about the consequences of every choice you make. Your righteous choices will keep you from getting off course.

We learn to endure to the end by learning to finish our current responsibilities, and we simply continue doing it all of our lives. We cannot expect to learn endurance in our later years if we have developed the habit of quitting when things get difficult now.

To hope and trust in the Lord requires faith, patience, humility, meekness, long-suffering, keeping the commandments and enduring to the end.

We are learning, day by day, about the gift of agency that allows us to experience the consequences, good and bad, of our own choices.