Never miss a chance

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday Afternoon Session of the April 1999 Conference.

Sometimes I think President Eyring can read my mind. Except…not my mind when he was first speaking, but my mind NOW, re-reading him. Oooh! Spooky. I think he did, in fact, anticipate every question or objection I had while reading this talk.

And what a talk. I don't know how to say what I felt about it. I "liked" it—if "like" means being riveted by it and feeling the spirit testify of its truth while simultaneously feeling like an utter failure at following its advice. Well. What is Conference for, I suppose, but to inspire us to aim higher and do better! And this talk did make me want to do that.

He starts out dramatically enough:

There has been a war between light and darkness, between good and evil, since before the world was created. The battle still rages, and the casualties seem to be increasing. All of us have family members we love who are being buffeted by the forces of the destroyer, who would make all God’s children miserable. For many of us, there have been sleepless nights. We have tried to add every force for good we can to the powers swirling around the people who are at risk. We have loved them. We have set the best example we could. We have pled in prayer for them. A wise prophet long ago gave us counsel about another force which we may at times underestimate and thus use too little.

The force he's talking about is teaching the word of Christ. And he goes on to show just how powerful that force can be:

Doctrine gains its power as the Holy Ghost confirms that it is true. We prepare those we teach, as best we can, to receive the quiet promptings of the still, small voice. That takes at least some faith in Jesus Christ. It takes at least some humility, some willingness to surrender to the Savior’s will for us. The person you would help may have little of either, but you can urge that they desire to believe. More than that, you can take confidence from another of the powers of doctrine. Truth can prepare its own way. Simply hearing the words of doctrine can plant the seed of faith in the heart. And even a tiny seed of faith in Jesus Christ invites the Spirit.

I love what he says about "truth can prepare its own way." It gives me hope that even when my children don't seem to have anything close to the necessary willingness and humility, still, my words (if I manage to speak with the spirit) may be having some effect. 

Next, Elder Eyring says:

We have the greatest opportunity with the young. The best time to teach is early, while children are still immune to the temptations of their mortal enemy, and long before the words of truth may be harder for them to hear in the noise of their personal struggles.

A wise parent would never miss a chance to gather children together to learn of the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Such moments are so rare in comparison with the efforts of the enemy. For every hour the power of doctrine is introduced into a child’s life, there may be hundreds of hours of messages and images denying or ignoring the saving truths.

I've realized (to my dismay) how right he is about the rarity of doctrinal moments with our children. It seemed, at the beginning, like childhood would last forever. Like I would never run out of time to teach and guide. Like there was an eternity of chances ahead. I just didn't know how fast it would all go! And how the children's wish to listen would wane as they got older! I have so often not been "a wise parent." And I have missed chances. Even now, having a better idea of how fast it all goes, I miss them because I'm too tired or too worn down by discouragement or too overwhelmed by the enormity of it all. "Is it really true"—I thought, reading this talk—"that teaching doctrine will always be worth it? What if the children resist? I'm so tired of that. It's so much easier sometimes just to have fun together." Then I read the next paragraph—

The question should not be whether we are too tired to prepare to teach doctrine or whether it wouldn’t be better to draw a child closer by just having fun or whether the child isn’t beginning to think that we preach too much. The question must be, “With so little time and so few opportunities, what words of doctrine from me will fortify them against the attacks on their faith which are sure to come?” The words you speak today may be the ones they remember. And today will soon be gone.

Well! You can't get much clearer than that. And he's right, of course. I do need to teach while I have the chance! And he also gives these words of hope and comfort:

Two doubts may creep into your mind. You may wonder if you know the doctrine well enough to teach it. And if you have already tried to teach it, you may wonder why you can’t see much of the good effects.…

The years pass, we teach the doctrine the best we can, and yet some still do not respond. There is sorrow in that. But there is hope in the scriptural record of families. Think of Alma the Younger and Enos. In their moments of crisis, they remembered the words of their fathers, words of the doctrine of Jesus Christ. It saved them. Your teaching of that sacred doctrine will be remembered.…

Your descendants will teach doctrine to each other because you taught it. Doctrine can more than open minds to spiritual things and hearts to the love of God. When that doctrine brings joy and peace, it also has the power to open mouths. Like those women in Berlin, your descendants will not be able to keep the good news to themselves.

I love President Eyring! I'm so glad for his talks. So many of them speak to me so personally, but not just in a pleasant, affirmative sort of way—in a call to action sort of way. I came out of this talk with a new resolve to use the power of God's word, to "talk of Christ, rejoice in Christ, preach of Christ" in my family and with my children—every moment that I possibly can.