It is Sunday afternoon and we just finished watching conference. What a glorious time we live in that we can be thousands of miles away from Salt Lake City and hear the words of the prophet(s) as they are spoken. And we have the option of hearing them in a multitude of languages. Because of that option, Spencer went to the church for all of the sessions, so that he could hear them in Spanish and I watched on the internet here at home. Actually, on Saturday afternoon about 10 minutes before the session was supposed to start, we lost our power. So I went to the church in hopes that the chapel had power. They didn’t have power either (it was an outage throughout the city), but they were working on getting a generator going. The electrical box was locked so they couldn’t get to a switch they needed for a long time. But finally, (the last 45 minutes) they were able to use the generator to channel electricity into the building. We had Spanish in the chapel and English in the RS room. When we returned home, we had our power back, so we were able to go onto the internet and watch the part of the session we missed. As I said, technology is amazing and a great blessing in our lives.
I was impressed with a couple of themes in conference.
I want to review the 2nd one first, because it touched my heart to the core. Temple worship. On Saturday afternoon, Elder Richard G. Scott was the first to focus on it. He counseled us to take advantage to having temples closer. Don’t take them for granted. Don’t let the small things interrupt your plan to attend. He performs an ordinance every week and makes up for the weeks when he is traveling and there isn’t a temple close by. He recommended we participate in all of the different ordinances. [I agree. It is in the initiatory and sealing ordinances that we receive the incredible promises. In the endowment we receive knowledge and make covenants. It is awesome to hear the blessings pronounced sometimes.] He suggested that when we are in the temple, we focus on what our relationship is with the Savior as compared to His relationship to the Father. I loved his suggestion that we be unhurried and remove our watch. He also suggested that we pray for the person whose name we have that they will recognize the truthfulness of the ordinances. I was touched by his visualization of the inverted cone going from the temple up to the heavens—representing spirits waiting for their work to be done. But I felt a personal connection as he talked about his wife’s death 14 years ago and how he has been allowed to feel her influence through the veil.
Sunday afternoon was my favorite session. I loved Elder David Bednar’s talk about temples. At the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, Joseph Smith prayed that the saints shall go forward with power from the temple. [When I leave the temple, so I stop to reflect of the power of the covenant and what it means in my life and how it can help me to better serve the Lord?] The part that I thought was the most important of his talk was when he talked about the temple presidents who learned about the protecting power of the temple—they understood it better than they had as General Authorities. [These made me reflect on the protecting power of wearing temple garments. We are serving in a very hot, humid place and it isn’t always comfortable to have lots of clothes on. But there is no way in the world that I would not wear my garments. When we were first washed and anointed we covenanted to wear them day and night. And when we renew our recommends, we assure the bishop and stake president that we are wearing them 24/7. Obviously we remove them at times—but those are essentially brief moments. If we have exercise clothes on, we should not stop at the store and shop, we need to go home and dress properly—starting with temple garments before we do anything else. I love my garments. I love what they symbolize and I love the protecting power that comes from wearing them. I love the fact that by wearing them, I am saying to the Lord, that I remember the instructions and covenants I made in the temple.]
Immediately following Elder Bednar’s talk, Elder Gary Stevenson picked up the same theme and continued. He shared a neat story—“You are never lost when you can see the temple.” Wow. Profound. Like King Benjamin said, our tents (homes, hearts, lives) should face the temple. But he went on to compare our homes to the temple. It should also be a sacred place. Evidence of how the temple touches our lives should be apparent in our homes—the art work on the walls, the spirit when you enter, the way we dress, the activities we have there [scriptures, FHE, etc.,
the way it would welcome the Lord if He came to visit]. Holy Temple and Home together describes the House of the Lord.
As President Monson closed conference, he stated that Satan is trying to snare us and lead us to destruction. Among other things, he counseled us, “Go often to the temple. You can find peace, strength and resolve to keep the commandments when you are there.” He reminded us that as we perform temple ordinances we become “Saviors on Mt. Zion”. [It is a blessing, a privilege and a responsibility to attend the temple.]
That was my favorite theme of conference. But there was definitely another theme throughout.
The first one was introduced by the very first speaker on Saturday morning, Elder Robert D. Hales. He talked about the economic adversity. He really hammered home differentiating between our wants and our needs [my words, not his, but that was the basic idea]. We must also stay focused on the spiritual law of paying tithing. I liked his idea of having the family involved in the budget so that there is a conscious decision made, “Do you want this (instant gratification) more than you want (future family goal—trip or whatever). [I didn’t do that perfectly, but I do remember having a discussion about the rides at the carnival part of the county fair and showing how much that money would go towards entrance into Disneyland and how much more we would get out of that later, bigger expenditure. Even the little kids could understand it. When kids were earning money, a lot of times we had two savings accounts—one for long term savings (college and missions) and one for short term savings (EFY, Disneyland, etc.]
President Henry B. Eyring also talked about dealing with adversity—it is part of being human. Adversity is an invitation to grow and is an example of how much Heavenly Father and the Savior trust us. But in all of this, we need to examine our lives to become worthy of the Lord’s help. We need to prepare our heart. Relief might come in inspiration to do something that is especially hard. Help others who have even less. Fight the good fight, keep the faith.
Saturday afternoon, Elder Pino also talked about adversity. The storms, rain and winds come to the houses built on both the sand and the rock. We don’t have promises of being protected from adversity. When tragedy strikes, it is the time to show that we rely on the Lord. Nothing can go permanently wrong when we rely on the Savior. The Savior understands our suffering.
Elder Nelson counseled us to pray for help while we try to live righteously and avoid temptation.
President Monson also mentioned this theme Sunday morning when he acknowledged that these are difficult economic times. But there is more to life than money. God gave us the spirit of love and faith, not fear. The gospel of Christ should be the center of our lives. Put your hand in the hand of God.
Sunday afternoon Elder Dallin H. Oaks touched on the same idea. The Savior said, “Deny yourselves and follow Him.” Greed and feelings of entitlement caused much of our economic crisis. Some set their standards [on what they need/want] based on the standards of the world, rather than service. Serving others brings happiness in this life and in eternity.
I was touched by Elder Oaks comments about parents. “Being a righteous parent is the greatest priority in life.” It is a sacrifice to be a parent. But we have made covenants to be willing to sacrifice. Powerful thought. Great reminder.
No comments:
Post a Comment