"Try a little harder to be a little better."

President Gordon B. Hinckley returned to his heavenly home on Sunday, January 27th 2008. I am grateful for his loving leadership as the Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and for the Christlike love he shared with all the world. Whenever I have felt discouraged about my own shortcomings or have been overwhelmed by all the bad news in the world, I would instantly be comforted when I heard Pres. Hinckley speak. Just looking at him and seeing the sparkle in his eyes gave me hope. He was full of goodness, and I knew that of all people on this earth, he was the closest to the Savior. He was an example of optimism to me.

President Hinckley had a way of encouraging people to do more without making us feel like failures. His was always a message of looking ahead and changing for the better in small but significant ways. At the conclusion of General Conference in April of 1995, he admonished listeners to "try a little harder to be a little better." I thought, "Hey, I CAN do that!" He didn't ask us to be perfect but to simply try harder. He concluded the same address speaking for the leadership of the Church. He said, "We bless you that the Lord may smile with favor upon you, that there may be happiness and peace in your homes and in your lives, that an atmosphere of love and respect and appreciation may be felt among husbands and wives, children and parents. May you “look to God and live” (Alma 37:47) with happiness, with security, with peace, with faith."



I have always been impressed by how tenderly Pres. Hinckley spoke of his wife. Marjorie Pay Hinckley passed away on April 6, 2004. At her funeral one of Pres. Hinckley's sons read part of a letter that his father had written to his mother after nearly 60 years of marriage. The letter said, “My darling, … I have known you for a long time … and it has turned out as I had hoped it would. … Now we have grown old together. … And when in some future day the hand of death gently touches one or the other of us, there will be tears, yes, but there will also be a quiet and certain assurance of reunion and eternal companionship.” All who loved President Hinckley will miss him dearly. But we are comforted to know that Pres. Hinckley is now reunited with his sweetheart. We rejoice in the knowledge that families are eternal.


I am thankful for the Savior, Jesus Christ, who overcame sin and death for us. Hope comes through repentance. And just as Christ rose from the grave on the third day after his burial, we too will rise one day and live again with our Heavenly Father and with our families. I am grateful for prophets of old and latter-day prophets who have lived their lives as a testimony of these things. I will be forever grateful for the life and influence of President Gordon B. Hinckley.