Just got finished spending the last two days watching and listening to General Conference. Our church holds this twice a year to let the leadership teach the membership. To say its inspiring and uplifting doesn't begin to do it justice. If you're interested, and missed it, and even just want to spend ten minutes listening to any one talk, it can be found at www.lds.org.
Every year I say it was the best one. Every year I feel that many of the talks were speaking just to me.
This year is no different.
I was grateful for the messages about women and to women. I'm grateful to belong to a church that not only values women but encourages the men to value women more. I'm grateful to belong to a church that teaches that things work best in a marriage when husband and wife are partners and in the capacity of the church, that women are just as contributing as the men. I'm grateful to hear that the role of being a stay at home mother is still valued and appreciated. It is a lot of work, most of it without a lot of recognition, so when you hear it, it feels good even though we'd still do it without any acknowledgment.
I'm also grateful to belong to a church that values men. So many men today on television are ridiculed and I am grateful for the examples of good husbands and fathers to the men of the world, where the values of loving and being patient and forgiving and working hard and being unselfish and making time for your family are taught as the standards and lived by the leadership. I'm grateful for the emphasis and appreciation on morality and living a clean life. We hear examples of righteous men and women. We hear of making mistakes and making changes, of lessons learned and trials endured. Everyone in the church is not perfect - not even close. Nor in the leadership. I know that for a fact. However, these are good people trying to follow the Savior and bless their families and I'm grateful to be unified with them as we all strive to do the best we can.
I also appreciated the love and compassion I felt as I listened. Life is hard in so many different ways and everyone's trials are different but when you listen to Conference, you come away feeling that with the Savior's help you can get through this. We are reminded that part of the point of the plan of happiness of this life means that we have to come to realize our great Need for the Savior. There is no lasting happiness without Him, but with Him there is more than enough of his Spirit enabling us to endure, to grow, and to carry on, when its hard. There was compassion for those who suffer from mental illness. Elder Holland moved me to tears as he showed a great understanding for the reality of the suffering. He didn't gloss over anything, but spoke to the potential for hope in the eternal life to come and the ability to endure in spite of the pain and the fears this challenge brings as we face it in mortality. To hear a Priesthood leader speak so eloquently (as he always does) about a subject I have not heard from that pulpit before in such detail spoke volumes to me about the Savior's love for each of us, no matter the affliction or challenge.
There were wonderful talks on the power of the promises we make with the Lord, in the power of His redemption and saving graces and in the blessings of the commandments He has given to us. There is a great Spirit that witnesses to the truth of the messages and brings peace, hope and empowerment to want to try harder to reach the best that is within us. To hear the Prophet of God talk about the pain of losing his beloved companion of over 64 years and then in the very next sentence talk about the joy of knowing exactly where she is, and his joy over being able to be reunited with her again gives us perspective. To be reminded that the only life that is taken too early is the one where one is not prepared to return to the Savior again gives all of us hope for children taken when they are young and reassurance for those around us who do love the Lord with all their hearts.
It is good to hear of others all over the world who share our faith and make sacrifices to live their covenants just as we do. As a people we make a lot of sacrifices and the world shakes their fingers and laughs at so much of what we believe, yet at Conference, coming together in the unity of the faith reminds us why we are the peculiar people that we are - because we love Jesus Christ more than we love the philosophies of men. We send our missionaries to share this message because it is the one thing that cannot be taken away when everything else in the world can be. The prophet reminded us all to share this message, so this is how I am sharing today. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth today to teach us how to return to our loving Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ after we die. Their plan to be reunited with us is indeed a great plan of happiness, and I am grateful for the scriptures and Conference that teaches me these great truths. In following the commandments there is safety from spiritual death and peace in this life and the world to come. I look forward to re-reading these talks in the future and re-feeling these powerful feelings again.
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