Throughout his life, the Prophet Joseph Smith encouraged the Latter-day Saints to get to know the nature of God, to understand what it means to have a personal relationship with divinity, to shrug off the ravages of mortality and to acquaint themselves with things of the Spirit. In essence, he asked his followers to lay aside the trivial and to focus on things of eternity.

This was not an easy task then. And even today, it remains a difficult challenge to strive to live the commandments, serve others and do what we can to be closer to the Father and His Son while striving to make a living and dealing with the challenges of mortality.

It may be easy to look back on the life of Joseph Smith and think he gained his insight all at once. But in this, the bicentennial year of his birth, the more we learn of his life by examining his teachings, the more we realize this process was a long, difficult struggle. He endured much, but throughout his trials, the Prophet Joseph kept an unwavering faith in the mission he was asked to perform and he remained true to the teachings of his Father in heaven and Jesus Christ.

Joseph Smith's insights into the nature of God, the divine mission of the Savior, the Restoration of the gospel and the keys of the holy priesthood are legion. Through his teachings, he tried to convey some of that understanding to others and, now, today, to each of us as we read the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants and study the Prophet's teachings in his lectures and sermons.

One can only marvel at the depth of his understanding, and yet believe his testimony that we, too, can reach those same depths as we apply his teachings to ourselves.

President Marion G. Romney, a former counselor in the First Presidency, observed, "Some people have said that Joseph Smith was an unlearned man. He was unlearned man in the things of the world, but the day he came out of the grove, following the First Vision, he was the most learned person in the world in the things that count. When he came out of that grove, he knew more than all the world put together about the great question of the resurrection, which had been argued from the time man began to think seriously, because he had seen before him the resurrected Christ. When he came out of that grove, he knew more about the nature of God than all the world. . . when God took Joseph in hand to teach him, He cut through all material things and taught Joseph the truth about these and many other important things" (Conference Report, April 1946, p. 37).

Those who knew the Prophet personally testified: "His teachers and instructors were angels — apostles who had dwelt in the flesh in the day of Jesus. He was in a condition where he received testimonies and teaching from men that the world did not receive; and he had power to organize the Church in a manner that all the Christian world combined could not do" (President Wilford Woodruff, at stake conference in Logan, Utah, Nov. 1, 1891).

Today, the Prophet Joseph's inspiring words and legacy live on in the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their willingness to pick up the Prophet's charge to move the kingdom of God forward is an inspiration to us, and if we also do our part, we can help lighten their incredible load as we move forward together.

President Gordon B. Hinckley reminds us, "Anyone who has any doubt about Joseph Smith's powers of leadership need only look at the men who were attracted to him. They did not come for wealth. They did not come for political power. They were not drawn by dreams of military conquest. His offering to them was none of these; rather, it concerned only salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. It involved persecution with its pains and losses, long and lonely missions, separation from family and friends and, in many cases, death itself" (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, p.501).

Shortly after he assumed the leadership of the Church, President Hinckley counseled, "The time has come for us to stand a little taller, to lift our eyes and stretch our minds to a greater comprehension and understanding of the grand millennial mission of the Church. . . . This is the season to be strong. It is a time to move forward without hesitation, knowing well the meaning, the breadth and importance of our mission. It is a time to do what is right regardless of the consequences that might follow. It is time to be found keeping the commandments. It is a season to reach out with kindness and love to those who are wandering in darkness and pain. It is time to be considerate and good, decent and courteous toward one another in all of our relationships. In other words to become more Christlike" (Ibid, p. 135).

Certainly, the Prophet Joseph's legacy continues today in the lives of the Latter-day Saints.