Virtue and the Abundant Life

A while ago there was a small competition at work and I won a copy of Virtue and the Abundant Life. Each chapter is an essay written by a different author that explores some aspect of Virtue, but usually looking at it in a different context. The book was edited by Lloyd D. Newell, Terrance D. Olson, Emily M. Reynolds, and Richard N. Williams. I want to highlight just a couple favorite parts.

Camille S. Williams talks about the virtue of womanhood and motherhood. She recalls the story of the woman who anoints the Savior's feet with expensive ointment, which leads some of the disciples to murmur about the act, thinking the ointment could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Williams says that people today do the same thing as those disciples; the reduce women to economic value, thinking they waste their education and talents to be mothers, rather than seeing the bigger picture of what these women are accomplishing. The truth is, the world desperately needs the healthy, loving relationships that women have the disposition to create and sustain. This womanly intuition is a critical virtue.

I also enjoyed an essay by K. Newell Dayley, who teaches that "the arts" (theater, music, paintings, writing, etc.) are a tool meant to be used to promote virtue. Have we not all come away from some experience with the arts feeling inspired and enlightened? And yet, too often, people use the arts to promote vice instead of virtue. Dayley talks about how virtue in the arts led him to write the songs "I Feel My Savior's Love" and "Faith in Every Footstep." I thought it was cool that he originally wrote "I Feel My Savior's Love" to be the perspective of a Nephite child being blessed by the Savior.

The whole book is great with inspiring points and great stories (such as Daniel K. Judd's story of Skeletor being baptized). The authors do an excellent job of discussing virtue from nearly every angle and also discussing truth. Absolute truth does not change from person to person, no matter what their opinions or beliefs are. Our duty is to seek out the truth and hold fast to it. Only by clinging to virtue will we ever find the abundant life promised by the Savior.