Be not weary

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday Morning Session of the April 1994 Conference.

This isn't the first time I've heard a story like this from Russell M. Nelson:

I was amused recently when one of our grown children confided that she had always thought that she was her daddy’s favorite daughter. She was surprised to discover later that each of her eight sisters harbored that same feeling. Only when they had become mothers themselves did they realize that parents hardly have favorites. (Incidentally, our only son never had to wonder who was our favorite son.)

Our Father in Heaven loves all of His children, too. Peter taught that “God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.”

He makes a good point about Heavenly Father, but I don't actually like this story very much because when I think my own children, I doubt ANY of them have this "I'm really my mom's favorite!" conviction (let alone ALL of them). In fact it's much more likely that each child feels like he or she is actually the MOST picked on, the most unfairly singled out, and the one who never got appreciated. That's what they seem to think now, anyway. *Sigh*

Well, luckily President Monson has words of encouragement for just such feelings:

Occasionally discouragement may darken our pathway; frustration may be a constant companion. In our ears there may sound the sophistry of Satan as he whispers, “You cannot save the world; your small efforts are meaningless. You haven’t time to be concerned for others.” Trusting in the Lord, let us turn our heads from such falsehoods and make certain our feet are firmly planted in the path of service and our hearts and souls dedicated to follow the example of the Lord. In moments when the light of resolution dims and when the heart grows faint, we can take comfort from His promise: “Be not weary in well-doing. … Out of small things proceedeth that which is great.

“Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind.”