Why is Work an Important Gospel Principle?

If you (young women) could list all the MOST important, ideal traits of your husband, what would they be?  Here are a few I think my Laurels will list:
-A return missionary (not just one that didn't get sent home, one that dove in and grew from boy to man) who is is worthy and HAPPY to take them to the temple.
-A man who is truly grateful for, respects and honors the priesthood
-Either an eager student or someone who has completed their education and has marketable skills
-Someone who is smart, funny, kind, athletic, interesting, patient, easy going, wise, humble, self-reliant, happy, loves kids, etc.
-This attractive man must also be able to provide for a family, hopefully handsomely

(I'm going to have my dad come in at this point.  He'll tell his story about a super, super rich guy who had everything you could dream of...yet his fiance' left him because he had no depth of character.  He was just rich)

These are all fantastic traits.  They are.  But I'd like to point out two things.  First, the kind of man who has successfully acquired ALL these traits will be looking for someone who also has the SAME (or similar) traits.  Thus, it's important that we become the kind of person we are hoping to marry.  Otherwise, when you find "the" guy for you, you won't be "the" girl for him.  Second, let's think about this for a moment.  HOW are we ever supposed to become all those things?  Are we always happy and easy going?  Are we wise in making our choices?  Do we have a good sense of humor?  Are we kind?  What about interesting and self-reliant? 
I don't know one person who would admit to being all those things, though I can think of people who come dang close.  That being said, I don't know any young person who has mastered these traits. 
Naturally, some people just come easy going, patient or funny. Likewise, some of us are more inclined to be kind and thoughtful than others.  There are those that are super athletic or love nature.  We all have our God-given talents.  But it is up to us to develop those to the fullest of our abilities AS WELL AS learn new ones.  And here is the answer to the HOW.  We learn...and WORK, WORK, WORK.

All of these 16-18 year old girls have crazy, awesome talents.  From soccer to dance to horseback riding, these girls are up to some pretty fantastic things.  So I'm going to pick on them :)  What are their talents?  What does it take to get these talents?  What motivates them to put forth all that effort?

“Work is the miracle by which talent is brought to the surface and dreams become reality.” -President Gordon B. Hinckley

In order to become decent at anything, be it a fantastic BFF, bishop or brick layer, we must work at it.   It's actually a commandment.  The Lord expected and commanded Adam (Genesis 3:19, Moses 4:25) to work, and we are no different.  Lucky for us, this commandment is just like every other commandment in the sense that there are infinite blessing that result in keeping it!  "As with any other commandment, there is joy in its keeping. To work—honestly and productively—brings contentment and a sense of self-worth. Having done all we can to be self-reliant, to provide for our own needs and those of our family, we can turn to the Lord in confidence to ask for what we might yet lack." (Bishop Burton)  Who doesn't want confidence when they turn to the Lord!?!

Let's go back to our list of adjectives.  Looking at it, it's kind of a vision right?  It's a vision, or, dream of what we'd like to see kneeling across the alter.  And since those kind of people are attracted to others with similar qualities, it's a vision of the person we'd also like to be.  It's a lovely vision.  I'd be thrilled to have accomplished all those things.  But what is this vision, without work?  President Hinckley hadsomething to say on the matter:
"Work without vision is drudgery. Vision without work is dreaming. Work plus vision-this is destiny."  We must A) find our vision/goal and B) get to work.  That will be where we find success.  This goes for things of temporal matters as well as spiritual and eternal matters.  

Work doesn't have to be drudgery

What kind of work/vision do you have on your plate right now?  What goals are you tackling?  How will those change in the next couple of years?  Will you go to school?  Will you get a job?  Will you serve a mission?  These kinds of things are only a few years away.  They WILL BE work, they will.  There is no getting around it.  However, you can make work easier, and more enjoyable if you are wise and learn from President Eyring:

Heavenly Father has given us all talents and gifts that can help us provide for ourselves and our families. Learning to recognize our talents and gifts—and interests—is an important first step in career preparation. President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency, learned from his father, Henry Eyring, to choose a career that complemented his interests.

Because of his love for science, Professor Henry Eyring encouraged his sons to major in physics as preparation for a career in science. While President Eyring was studying physics at the University of Utah, he had an exchange with his father that changed his career direction. He asked his father for help with a complex mathematical problem. “My father was at a blackboard we kept in the basement,” President Eyring recalls. “Suddenly he stopped. ‘Hal,’ he said, ‘we were working this same kind of problem a week ago. You don’t seem to understand it any better now than you did then. Haven’t you been working on it?’”

A little chagrined, President Eyring admitted he had not. President Eyring recalls his father’s response: “When I told him no, my father paused. It was really a very tender and poignant moment, because I knew how much he loved me and how much he wanted me to be a scientist. Then he said, ‘Hal, I think you’d better get out of physics. You ought to find something that you love so much that when you don’t have to think about anything, that’s what you think about.’” ²    

Personal Story: James and medicine...two cross country moves, 18 months of med school, 4 years of undergrad...misery.  What then?  Where is he now?
Personal Story: Dad fell into police work because he was good at it and it entertained him.  25 years later he found he'd rather be doing art than serving a search warrant (surprised the heck out of him).  That's when he started to create an exit plan from the force-He found something just like Henry Eyring described.  Fast forward a few years and he's "retired" and back at school honing his skills and perfecting his talent.  Career #2

The Blessings of Work

Proverbs 14:23 begins "In all labour there is profit..." What do you think this means?  Basically, we benefit from our work.  Can you think of all the ways we benefit from our work?  There are the more obvious ones we've already talked about (financial gain/temporal self reliance etc.) but how else do we benefit from work?
-builds character
-we learn to be more appreciative of what we have
-keeps us busy enough that we forget about what plagues us "It wasn't easy, but the work kept us from dwelling too much on the difficulties of our circumstances.  Although our situation didn't change overnight, it did change.  That's the thing about work.  If we simply keep at it--steady and constant--things certainly will improve"-President Uchtdorf talking about his childhood as a refugee.
 -"Work is an antidote for anxiety, an ointment for sorrow, and a doorway to possibility."- President Uchtdorf
-gives us a sense of accomplishment "...to work--honestly and productively--brings contentment and a sense of self-worth." Bishop H. David Burton
-inevitably, it teaches us to serve others
-helps our bodies physically (story of President Uchtdorf working as a child and healing his lungs without him even knowing it-from Bishop Burton's Talk)
-enables us to become like our Father in Heaven
-brings blessing to the lives of those you love

We just need to keep in mind that"Work can be ennobling and fulfilling, but remember Jacob's warning not to 'spend...your labor for that which cannot satisfy'".

"Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift, that power to work is a blessing, that love of work is success." President David O. McKay


Resources:
-Two Principles for Any Economy, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf
-The Blessing of Work, Bishop H. David Burton
-Lesson 30: The Blessings of Work