Tag: spiritual discipline

MIT8 – “Let Virtue Garnish Thy Thoughts Unceasingly”
(President Gordon B. Hinckley, April 2007 General Conference)
Read the full talk →

Oquirrh Mountain Temple under the waxing gibbous moon — November, 2025. I waited patiently until light met stillness.

Excerpt:
President Hinckley’s counsel reaches across time: “Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God.” The promise that follows is profound—“The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion.” These are not poetic lines; they are spiritual laws. Virtue invites confidence, and confidence invites the Spirit.

When I listened to this talk again—over fifty times between last night and this morning—the Spirit emphasized one word: virtue.

What is virtue?
Virtue means to fill your mind with morally clean, righteous, and excellent thoughts until goodness becomes your reflex. To garnish is to equip or arm your thoughts, so when fear, doubt, or temptation step onto the stage of your mind, they find no audience. We control the stage. We choose which act plays. As I sat inside the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, I realized: darkness never conquers light that is armed with virtue.

President Hinckley connected virtue to a simple, practical four-point program—a pattern that turns righteousness into rhythm:
1. Pray.
  Prayer is the bridge to our Heavenly Father. “Speak with Him,” President Hinckley said. “Express the gratitude of your heart.” Prayer is not repetition—it is relationship. It invites light to dwell where confusion once lived.
2. Study.
  “Resolve now that you will get all the education you can.” The glory of God is intelligence. I remember my own pursuit—working full-time in IT while carrying a full course load at LACC and DeVry. It was exhausting, but education was revelation in motion. To study is to worship with the mind.
3. Pay Tithing.
  “Glorious is the promise of the Lord concerning those who pay their tithes.” Temporal faith builds spiritual independence. Each tithe is a declaration that God’s economy governs my heart more than the world’s uncertainty.
4. Attend Your Meetings.
  There is no substitute for partaking of the sacrament. Sunday worship keeps us anchored when weekday storms rise. It renews the covenant that allows virtue to flow back into thought and action.
President Hinckley’s bridge between virtue and the four-point program is clear once you live it: each step disciplines the mind and purifies the heart.
Prayer keeps thoughts upward.
Study keeps them expanding.
Tithing keeps them consecrated.
Worship keeps them renewed.
Together, they garnish the mind with virtue—unceasingly.

He promised, “Each of you is a creature of Divinity. You are literally a daughter or son of the Almighty. There is no limit to your potential. If you will take control of your lives, the future is filled with opportunity and gladness.”

As I waited outside the Oquirrh Temple for the waxing gibbous moon to rise above the spire, I thought of those words. The moon appeared quietly, reflecting light it does not create—just as we reflect heaven’s virtue when we live this four-point pattern.

Final Reflection:
Virtue is not perfection—it is direction. It is the steady alignment of thought toward holiness until confidence replaces fear. In that light, President Hinckley’s four steps are not separate commandments; they are one continuous motion toward the presence of God.

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November 10, 2025

“Elder Maxwell taught that spiritual reflexes…”)

*Morning light at the Orem Utah Temple—where discipline becomes devotion and reflex turns into righteousness.*

(October 20, 2025 — Guideline #8 from Elder Neal A. Maxwell’s “21 Guidelines for Righteous Living”)

Excerpt

In moments of pressure, there’s no time for debate. What we practice daily determines what we choose instinctively.

Intro

Elder Neal A. Maxwell’s Guideline #8 teaches that discipleship is not just knowing what’s right but becoming the kind of person who does what’s right automatically. Just as an athlete relies on muscle memory, disciples rely on spiritual reflexes—responses trained by repeated obedience.

In my world of IT, when systems crash, there’s no time to analyze from scratch. I act on instinct built from years of disciplined practice. Spiritual life requires the same readiness—decisions born not of panic but of principle.

Perspective

The Quarterback Analogy
Elder Maxwell used the example of a great quarterback to explain righteous reflexes.

Element	Description	Spiritual Parallel
The Quarterback	A great quarterback doesn’t pause mid-play to analyze how to hold the football.	The individual in life’s fast-moving moments.
The Action	Proper technique is internalized—it’s all reflex.	Righteousness must be practiced until it becomes instinct.
The Reason	Life offers too many temptations and sudden tests to always stop and reason through them.	We need habits of holiness, not hesitation.
The Goal	The quarterback throws correctly without thinking.	The disciple chooses correctly without delay—spiritual safety through reflex.

Elder Maxwell reminded us that we cannot afford slow moral decisions: “Do the right thing out of reflex and not agonize over a temptation to which you then might succumb.”

Practice (today, not someday)

Righteous reflexes aren’t built overnight—they’re shaped through disciplined repetition. My daily rhythm keeps both body and spirit tuned to respond to life’s pressures with steadiness and faith.

Every night, I review tomorrow’s priorities, focusing on what’s urgent and important. I close my day with scripture study, prayer, and meditation. At 4 a.m., I start again—prayer first, then stretching, followed by 120 straight push-ups to keep my body strong and my mind awake.

Breakfast is clean and balanced before I shower and prepare for work. If I’m early, I swing by either the Oquirrh or Taylorsville Temple to photograph the morning light—my quiet offering before the day begins. By 6:30 a.m., I’m at my desk, handling the priorities of the day.

Saturday is for temple worship. Sunday is for renewing my covenants. Then Monday begins again. These patterns are not habits of routine—they are habits of devotion. They’ve become my spiritual reflexes: instinctive, practiced, and constant.

Closer Reflection

Elder Maxwell’s “righteous reflexes” remind me of Bruce Lee’s legendary speed—so fast that 1970s cameras could barely record it. Lee trained until motion became instinct; every move came from memory, not hesitation.

Spiritual reflexes are the same. They come from daily, disciplined practice until obedience is automatic. Bruce Lee said, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

In IT, the same principle applies. After years of handling systems under pressure, I’ve learned to respond instinctively—knowing where to look, how to act, and when to stay calm. It’s muscle memory built through faith and repetition.

Whether in martial arts, spirituality, or technology, true mastery comes when preparation and reflex move as one—when right choices and right actions flow as easily as recognizing the palm of your own hand.

Pocket I’m Keeping

When pressure comes, I don’t have to think twice. I’ve already decided to do what’s right.

What I Hear Now

“Keep practicing righteousness until it becomes your reflex.”

Link to the Talk

“21 Guidelines for Righteous Living” — Elder Neal A. Maxwell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4bVYkkNeWE&t=300s

Behind the Shot (BTS)

Captured outside the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple under a moonlit sky—a quiet reminder that repetition builds readiness. Every photo, every prayer, every early start is practice for spiritual precision.

October 24, 2025