Let's always have bunnies in Conference

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week we are skipping forward in time to cover the General Conference that just happened, April 2021.

Hooray for General Conference! Wasn't it good? Every year I feel like I need it more. Here are my not-very-well-developed thoughts on some favorite messages and themes. 

• Sister Jones' talk was wonderful. (I'm sad she got released. Have I mentioned that for years I thought Sister Jones and Sister Cardon were the same person? They look just alike enough that they can fool someone who's not really paying attention. I felt like this person was turning up everywhere, even sometimes having multiple roles in the same meeting! Both women are great and I'm glad I now know there are two of them. :)) When she told the story about the drill instructor making those poor soldiers lie still for hours in the hot sun, I did NOT anticipate where she was going with it. I was amazed and moved when the moral turned out to be that such rigorous experiences were a necessary and merciful preparation for the tests that were to come! "Wouldn't we rather have our children sweat in the safe environment of home than bleed on the battlefield?" Wow.

• Several other speakers also mentioned the importance of using the "sacred time" before the age of accountability to teach children important gospel truths and let those truths take root deep in their souls. (Elder Eyring and Elder Newman are the ones I can remember, but there may have been more.) Of course I knew this principle, but I was struck more than usual by the urgency of doing this. Maybe I'm just learning for myself how quickly those early childhood years pass. I feel like I should have done more, should be doing more…there is so much confusion my children are going to face in the world. I can't let them face it unprepared! They must be able to recognize the spirit and feel its influence!

• I loved Elder Motombo's talk but also his happy, lively countenance. I couldn't stop smiling as I watched him. I thought it was funny that he started his talk with the experience of his wife asking him "Why are you smiling?"—because clearly he is ALWAYS smiling! I guess that's because he is always thinking about how "good will always triumph over evil." I love (and want!) faith like that.

• Elder Dube saying how Elder Holland's patting his cheeks made him feel "like a baby" (in a good way!) was one of my favorite moments.

• Likewise Elder Wong super-intensely doing the actions to "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man."

• A couple different people (Elder Walker, Elder Christofferson) mentioned "putting the law in our inward parts." That's something I want to focus on—doing what's right and serving others because I truly, deeply WANT to. And thinking about my love for the Savior as I intentionally act.

• Elder Uchtdorf said something like "Having hope through Jesus Christ changes the way we view our imperfections—we see them as hopeful instead of hopeless. Our failures refine us, like a musician rehearsing scales. If we repent, mistakes are actually part of our progress." I love that!

• Hearing President Oaks say "Today I will speak about the United States Constitution" is like hearing J.S. Bach say "Today I will demonstrate the art of the fugue." You can't help but straighten up in eager anticipation of hearing the master at work. We are learning about the American Revolution in our homeschool right now, so I was extra invested in hearing what President Oaks would say. You can bet we're going to go over his talk again in a couple weeks when we get to the Constitutional Convention! (As well as watching A More Perfect Union, the best BYU movie ever.)

• I loved Elder Rasband on miracles: "The magnitude of the miracles do not matter—only that they come from God." I have noticed lately that in some ways the smaller the miracle is, the more it assures me of God's love. I expect God to intervene in larger matters of nations and history, and even in things that affect lots of people, like the miracle Elder Rasband described in the face-to-face meeting where the power went out. But when He speaks to some small, insignificant sadness or concern in my own heart, I feel almost overcome that He would notice ME and care to intercede.

• And now let us take a moment to contemplate what may have been the best conference talk ever. Elder Stevenson talking about…bunnies?! Yes, there was adorable bunny footage that had us all squealing with cuteness. There was furriness. There were tiny ears and tiny paws and wiggling noses! BUT it was such a great message, too. It went deep into my heart because it spoke to so many of my desires. I want so much to be gentle and kind and loving "in deed and in thought"! I want so much to have a profound effect on my children, and everyone around me, because of the love and care they feel when I'm around. I want so much for my home to be the kind of place where people thrive and grow and flourish, perhaps in ways they can't even quantify, because it's a place of love and the spirit. I know it too often falls short of that! But a home full of happy, healthy, contented little bunnies is all I've ever wanted. :)

• My friend and I were comparing notes and both of us mentioned that we assumed President Nelson could never top his "Let God Prevail" talk from last conference. It was just too powerful and too influential! But then, somehow, this time he managed to give another talk just as powerful and (I anticipate) just as life-changing. I want to understand and use faith the way he said we can! I can't wait to study his talk further and try to put the principles into practice, but even before fully understanding what it all means, I could feel the power in President Nelson's words. Every time he speaks I know he is conveying the words of God.

• President Eyring, with his meekness and tender heart, always reminds me of my dad. (They were friends back in my dad's Harvard days, but they also just seem a lot alike.) I couldn't stop crying when he told the story of the angry, straying young man who had a flash of memory: sitting on his mother's lap, being encircled by her arms, and feeling safe and loved. I have a hard time believing my older children will ever remember such moments in their past. It sometimes feels to me like those moments (which I remember so well!) are lost forever, maybe as if they never happened, maybe even as if they didn't matter. It is hard to have faith that they will matter. But minutes before my dad died, I had a memory of such a moment between him and me. I was holding his hand, and I leaned over and told him the memory. He whispered, "You remembered" and he had tears in his eyes. I don't think I fully understood then why it was significant, but oh how I understand now! And I relate so much to the yearning and hope to hold onto those moments, and the relationships they encapsulate, for eternity. President Eyring's perceptive comment that "the only way to feel that way again is to be worthy of temple blessings" was powerful and echoed down into my heart as absolute truth. And the temple is just a taste of what eternal life will be with our Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother!

Other posts in this series:

General Conference Epilogue—by G.