Harry Emerson Fosdick once wrote: “Some Christians carry their religion on their backs. It is a packet of beliefs and practices which they must bear. At times it grows heavy and they would willingly lay it down, but that would mean a break with old traditions, so they shoulder it again. But real Christians do not carry their religion, their religion carries them. It is not weight; it is wings. It lifts them up, it sees them over hard places, it makes the universe seem friendly, life purposeful, hope real, sacrifice worthwhile. It sets them free from fear, futility, discouragement, and sin—the great enslavers of men’s souls. You can know a real Christian, when you see him, by his buoyancy” (Twelve Tests of Character [1923], 87–88).
I hope it is clearly evident when the world looks at us that we are known for our buoyancy—that we live, believe, and practice real Christian ideas and doctrine.
Elder L Tom Perry, Oct 1999 Conf, A Year of Jubilee
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