Daily Manna

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Priesthood session of the April 2002 conference.

I listened to all of the talks and thought how much this instruction is still needed. Because we are not perfect we need continuous encouragement and reminders to keep plugging along on our journey through mortality. It is helpful to hear of others successes and failures. It is good to hear fervent testimonies of truth. 

Listening to one General Conference talk each day is helpful to me to keep the spirit I want to feel throughout the week. I encourage you to do the same. It doesn't matter which conference, just choose one and listen to all of the talks, one per day; see what a difference it makes in your life.

Faith Obedience and Being Teachable

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday afternoon session of the April 2002 conference.

Two members of the Quorum of the Seventy spoke in this session whom I have no recollection of. However, I thought their talks were instructive.

Elder R. Conrad Schultz said, "Faith obedience is a matter of trust. The question is simple: Do we trust our Heavenly Father? Do we trust our prophets?" That is what I tried to get across to our children, that obedience is trust in me as their mother, that I have their safety and best interests in mind; and that we can trust Heavenly Father in the same way. He went on to explain, "Sometimes it is necessary to be obedient even when we do not understand the reason for the law. It takes faith to be obedient."

When our children were young, I think the oldest was about 12, they wanted to watch the movie Sixth Sense. We advised them that it would be better if they waited until they were older because it was a scary movie. No, they insisted they wouldn't be scared! My husband and I talked it over and decided that this would be a good teaching moment, so we let them watch it. Afterward, they were so nervous they couldn't go to sleep without priesthood blessings to calm them down. The next day we talked about how in the future they could trust us to know what we were talking about. For years it worked. Whenever they wanted to do something and we wouldn't let them we would remind them of the movie and that we knew what was best for them. 

At the beginning of the talk, Elder Schultz told a story of their family vacation fishing when a large "sneaker wave" swamped their boat and a cousin was washed overboard. Fortunately, they were all wearing life-jackets and no one was lost. He ended his talk with this poignant prayer, ". . . that we will continue to wear our life jackets of obedience in order to avoid the tragedy that will surely come if we are deceived and follow the enticings of the adversary." I thought of our beloved James, mired in bad choices, who succumbed to the whisperings of Satan that there was no hope for him. Obedience in his teens and early twenties would have changed the course of his life.

Elder Robert R. Steuer gave a great talk on being teachable. "When our desire to receive instructions is a greater force than our comfort in remaining as we are, we become teachable." He gave three conditions to being teachable. "First, we need to start with a willingness to be instructed." I used to call our children 'recalcitrant' when they were refusing to receive instruction. It's such a good, old-fashioned word. A child, student, or adult really does need to be humble and willing to be instructed before any learning can take place.

"Second, we need to put ourselves into a proper frame of mind and heart." I think this includes clearing our minds and hearts of preconceived notions, past experiences, excuses, and such, so we can be open to correction and new knowledge.

"Third, we must be obedient to the instruction we receive." It doesn't do us any good to ask for instruction if we aren't going to follow it. "Becoming teachable is a process of learning line upon line. In this process we convert thoughts and feelings into actions." I love that! And finally, ". . . we shall discover that the things we value and appreciate most are those that we personally learned from the Lord." Amen to that. What I've remembered the longest is what I learned while studying the scriptures myself.

"Follow Me"

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday morning session of the April 2002 conference.

I've often thought about what my reaction would have been to Jesus, or Joseph Smith. Would I have been looking for the Messiah and recognized Him? Would I have been looking for the true church and recognized it when I found it? I think I would have, I hope I would have. But I don't know. My patriarchal blessing has the odd phrase that ". . . as soon as you heard the Gospel, it rang true to you and you accepted it readily." I was born in the covenant and raised in a faithful LDS home. I've never not known the gospel of Jesus Christ. Which is why I wonder if I would have searched for it. 

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin asked, "Perhaps a more realistic question might be, 'If the Savior were to call you today, would you be just as willing to leave your nets and follow Him?'"

He talks about leaving our nets, as the early apostles were asked to, some of which are tools to make a living, that we may be required to sacrifice, and some are snares that entangle us in worldliness. "In short, a net can be anything that pulls us away from our relationship with our Heavenly Father or His restored Church." 

He said so many wise things in this talk. 

Sometimes, we feel that the busier we are, the more important we are--as though our busyness defines our worth. Brothers and sisters, we can spend a lifetime whirling about at a feverish pace, checking off list after list of things that in the end really don't matter.

That we do a lot may not be so important. That we focus the energy of our minds, our hearts, and our souls on those things of eternal significance--that is essential.

Elder Wirthlin also had such a great sense of humor. He tells of having too much to do in the available time so he decided to get up earlier. He says, "It wasn't easy. There were mornings when the alarm clock went off that I cracked open an eyelid and glared at it, daring it to keep ringing." I can totally relate!

But then he asks, "What should we be willing to give up for eternal life?" And, "How do we follow the Savior?" He answers, "By exercising faith. . . . by repenting of our sins--by experiencing sorrow because of them and forsaking them. . . . by obeying Him. He and our Heavenly Father have given us commandments--not to punish or torment us, but to help us come to a fulness of joy, both in this life and for the eternities to come, worlds without end."

Elder Wirthlin cautions that even though we choose to follow the Savior our lives will not be free from worry, pain, and fear. 

Yes, I do not suggest that the road will be easy. But I will give you my witness that those who, in faith, leave their nets and follow the Savior will experience happiness beyond their ability to comprehend. . . .

We have nets that must be tended and nets that must be mended. But when the Master of ocean, earth, and sky calls to us, 'Follow me,' we should leave the entangling, worldly nets behind and follow His footsteps. 

I testify to you this day that the time will come when every man, woman, and child will look into the Savior's loving eyes. On that day, we will know with a surety the worth of our decision to straightway follow Him. 

What a wonderful day that will be, when we will have a sure knowledge, and we can be at rest from the challenges of this mortal life. I look forward to that day!

Rozy and son, James in 2018

 

 

 

Are We Not All Mothers?

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the General Relief Society session of the October 2001 conference.

Once upon a time there was a little red-headed girl who wanted to have twelve children, and live on a farm when she grew up. She played with dolls, played pioneer, played school teacher, and loved being domestic.  Well, she grew up, had five children, homeschooled them, and lived everywhere but a farm.

Moral of the story: not all dreams come true, just the important elements. (That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.)

Sheri L. Dew spoke of motherhood in this session teaching true doctrine and giving lots of encouragement to stand strong in living and valuing the doctrine of motherhood. "It is a doctrine about which we must be clear if we hope to stand 'steadfast and immovable' regarding the issues that swirl around our gender."

. . . our Father has entrusted us as women with His children, and He has asked us to love them and help lead them safely past the dangers of mortality back home. . . . If we really want to make a difference, it will happen as we mother those we have borne and those we are willing to bear with. . . . For mother is the word that will define a righteous woman made perfect in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom, a woman who has qualified for eternal increase in posterity, wisdom, joy and influence.

I have learned more being a mother than I thought possible. More about myself, my Heavenly Father, the Savior, the world around me, and eternity. I can't imagine any other life. Motherhood, in the church, should be promoted more, even though there are some who can't or won't be mothers in this life. Motherhood is an eternal calling! It is the work of eternity. And most importantly, we will be judged and rewarded according to the desires of our hearts. 

 

Preparing for Heaven

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday afternoon session of the October 2001 conference.

Another great session; in fact, I've long believed that members who skip out of the Sunday afternoon session miss out on some of the best talks. This was no exception.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell gave some prophetic counsel:

Strange, in a time otherwise obsessed with entitlements, how little concern there is over our becoming entitled to the blessings of heaven.

One of the best ways we can put off the "natural man" is to starve him (Mosiah 3:19). Weakened, he is more easily dislodged. Otherwise, he insists on getting his ticket punched at every stop on the temptation train. 

Those who live "after the manner of happiness" (2 Ne. 5:27) also wisely develop protective, spiritual manners. These manners are reflected in their proper dress, language, humor, and music, thereby sending the signal of determined discipleship (see Prov. 23:7). 

We can see the value of this counsel today as we battle the degeneration all around us. I don't think it matters where we live, near church headquarters, or out in Babylon, evil is everywhere, blatant and loud.

Elder Maxwell spoke of the seventh commandment being a shield for us. He uses such poetic language too. "Likewise, husbands and wives can deliberately avoid drifting apart by refusing to relax their loyalties and by not being caught in the strong currents leading to waterfalls."

I know from personal experiences that Elder Maxwell was correct! The commandments are a blessing to us, keeping us safe from the consequences of giving up and giving in to temptation. The commandments help us learn what heaven is like and prepare us for life there.