Inspired Texts

If you would like to receive Inspired Texts to your phone, send a text or WhatsApp message with the word underlined below to 1-801-845-9382.

Topics include:

  • DECLARE - Preach My Gospel
  • CFM - Come Follow Me
  • FSY - For the Strength of Youth
  • HOPE - Message that inspire HOPE!
  • FAM - Prophetic quotes on family & parenting 

Texts will be sent from 801-Ugly-Duck, (801-845-9382)

🗣: Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf used the analogy of the ugly duckling to explain that we all can find great purpose in knowing who they are.

The Reflection in the Water (Nov’09) Dieter F. Uchtdorf
CES fireside for young adults at Brigham Young University.

"One of the most beloved storytellers of all time was the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen. In one of his stories, “The Ugly Duckling,” a mother duck discovers that one of her newly hatched chicks is unusually large and very ugly. At first the mother wonders if she has hatched a turkey egg, but the ugly child can swim as well as her other children. And so she comes to the conclusion that the poor thing is simply abnormal and disfigured.

The other ducklings, however, cannot leave the ugly child alone. They punish him mercilessly, pecking at him and teasing him and making him miserable. Finally, the ugly duckling decides it would be better for everyone if he left his family, and he runs away. During the bitter cold of his first winter on his own, the poor duckling nearly freezes to death, but somehow he survives. In spite of his privations, he feels himself getting stronger, and he loves spreading his wings and taking flight even though he’s alone.

Then one day he sees flying overhead a flock of majestic birds, white as snow, graceful in their movements, with beautiful long necks and wide, elegant wings. Oh, what glorious and happy creatures! The ugly duckling longs to fly with them. He is afraid that they might kill him because he is so ugly. But then he decides that would be better than being pecked at by the other animals forever or freezing to death in the winter. And so he takes flight and follows them to a beautiful lake where they settle onto the water.

As he lands, the ugly duckling looks into the water and sees the reflection of a magnificent swan. Gradually, unable to believe it at first, the ugly duckling realizes that the reflection is his own! To his surprise the other swans welcome him, and they even agree that he is the most beautiful, most majestic of all the swans. At last he has discovered who he really is."