Part IV | Select Quotes from Church Leaders
Category E | Perspectives
Topic 29 | Macro and micro
Some practical problems can be solved by focusing on specific micro issues even when there is strong disagreement on the bigger picture. Conversely, sometimes agreement can be forged on the macro level even if there are significant differences on particular issues. Both strategies can be used to find common ground, but which strategy is appropriate will vary based on circumstances.
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President Russell M. Nelson: A shift from a myopic view to an eternal view can help us stop, think, and heal.
“Not long ago, the wife of one of our grandsons was struggling spiritually. I will call her ‘Jill.’ Despite fasting, prayer, and priesthood blessings, Jill’s father was dying. She was gripped with fear that she would lose both her dad and her testimony.
Late one evening, my wife, Sister Wendy Nelson, told me of Jill’s situation. The next morning Wendy felt impressed to share with Jill that my response to her spiritual wrestle was one word! The word was myopic.
Jill later admitted to Wendy that initially she was devastated by my response. She said, ‘I was hoping for Grandfather to promise me a miracle for my dad. I kept wondering why the word myopic was the one he felt compelled to say.’
After Jill’s father passed on, the word myopic kept coming to her mind. She opened her heart to understand even more deeply that myopic meant ‘nearsighted.’ And her thinking began to shift. Jill then said, ‘Myopic caused me to stop, think, and heal. That word now fills me with peace. It reminds me to expand my perspective and seek the eternal. It reminds me that there is a divine plan and that my dad still lives and loves and looks out for me. Myopic has led me to God.’
- Russell M. Nelson, Let God Prevail, General Conference Address, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Oct. 2020), https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2020/10/46nelson?lang=eng.
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President Dallin H. Oaks: Finding micro-level practical solutions does not require compromise of macro-level core principles.
“What I have described as necessary to going forward—namely seeking harmony by finding practical solutions to our differences, with love and respect for all people—does not require any compromise of core principles.”
- Dallin H. Oakes, Going Forward with Religious Freedom and Nondiscrimination, Joseph Smith Lecture, University of Virginia (Nov. 12, 2021), https://www.religiousfreedomlibrary.org/documents/going-forward-with-religious-freedom-nondiscrimination.