We look upward, always beyond the mark! Not mediocrity, nor on a level with that which is common, but higher, much higher, above the base and unrestrained. Discipline is required, lest our tongue betray us. Language fit for the gutter defines the man. Come now, we are better than that! If our speech reeks of filth, what of the inner mind? He who would lift others, must first lift himself. He must strive to become “…not of the temporal but of the spiritual, not of the carnal mind but of God.” (1)
Great God, I ask for no meaner pelf
Than that I may not disappoint myself,
That in my action I may soar as high
As I can now discern with this clear eye.
And next in value, which thy kindness lends,
That I may greatly disappoint my friends,
Howe’er they think or hope that it may be,
They may not dream how thou’st distinguished me.
That my weak hand may equal my firm faith
And my life practice what my tongue saith
That my low conduct may not show
Nor my relenting lines
That I thy purpose did not know
Or overrated thy designs. (2)
(1) Alma 36:4
(2) “I ask Thee for no meaner pelf” (Henry David Thoreau)