"Peaceable Things"

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday afternoon session of the October 1996 conference.

This past Sunday I spoke in Sacrament Meeting about prophets and the importance of listening to and following their instructions. In this session of conference Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said:

A general conference of this church is a remarkable occasion indeed--it is an institutional declaration that the heavens are open, that divine guidance is as real today as it was for the ancient house of Israel, that God our Heavenly Father loves us and speaks His will through a living prophet.

He talked about how "peace and good tidings . . . are among the ultimate blessings that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings a troubled world."

Has there ever been a time when the world wasn't troubled? Perhaps brief moments in small isolated places, such as Enoch's city, and the Nephite/Lamanite nation after the visitation of the Savior. But otherwise, mortal life has been troubled.

In relating the blessings of the gospel Elder Holland talked about repentance and said:

Closely related to our own obligation to repent is the generosity of letting others do the same--we are to forgive even as we are forgiven. . . We don't want God to remember our sins, so there is something fundamentally wrong in our relentlessly trying to remember those of others.

He finished with this beautiful thought:

The better angels of our nature. That is what much of what the Church and general conference and the gospel of Jesus Christ are about. The appeal today and tomorrow and forever to be better, to be cleaner, to be kinder, to be holier; to seek peace and always be believing. 

We need the messages of general conference everyday! They help us face the realities of mortal life with greater courage and strength. I know I couldn't make it without the guidance, light and truth of the words of prophets, apostles and other inspired leaders.

Marilyn at Light in Leaves has more General Conference Odyssey.