Desire

I was reading this book and something it was talking about totally got me thinking. The book is called The Infinite Atonement by Tad R. Callister. It's an amazing book. Anyway, he was talking about gifts of the Spirit and attaining them, and that in order to really attain them, the first thing you need is a strong desire. Well, what he was saying relates to all aspects of life: you can get and accomplish anything if you desire it enough. So he briefly told this story to illustrate his point:

"It reminds one of the students who had graduated number one in his class from a leading university. There were others with higher I.Q.'s, others with greater creative genius. Asked why he excelled them all, he replied, "As for the others I cannot say, I only know that I cared like blazes." Somewhere, sometime, that level of caring must surface. Pure obedience and silent endurance are not enough. There must be a burning desire, a reaching out, a seeking, in short, and exhaustive exercise of our combined spiritual, intellectual, and emotional energies, all focused on obtaining these divine gifts."

I just that was really impressive, and something I know I don't use enough: pure desire. If you want to achieve something, you have to put every energy you have towards achieving it: you have to care like the blazes. I think that's really good insight.