Readily recognized and never failing

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Priesthood Session of the October 2000 Conference.

Here's a quote to strike fear into your heart. It's by C.S. Lewis via Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (a winning combination if there ever was one):

Recently I read an author who said: “Our leisure, even our play, is a matter of serious concern. [That is because] there is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.” I believe that to be absolutely true, and no such claiming and counterclaiming anywhere is more crucial and conspicuous than that being waged for the minds and morals, the personal purity of the young.

It isn't meant to strike fear into our hearts, of course! More to stiffen our spines, I suppose. Just to realize how much each small thing matters, and what is at stake as we seek to follow Jesus Christ. So now, here is a quote to make you feel better, from President Thomas S. Monson:

Anxiously some may ask, “Is there a way to safety?” “Can someone guide me?” “Is there an escape from threatened destruction?” The answer, brethren, is a resounding “Yes!” Look to the lighthouse of the Lord. There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost but what its beacon light can rescue. It beckons through the storms of life. The lighthouse of the Lord sends forth signals readily recognized and never failing.

I'm looking for those revelatory signals right now—this moment. And I hope I'll find some bright ones this week when we hear the prophets speak at General Conference!

0

It cannot be forgotten

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday Afternoon Session of the October 2000 Conference.

I found two quotes from this session that have stuck with me throughout this week. First, Elder Douglas L. Callister quoting Joseph Fielding Smith:

The Spirit of God speaking to the spirit of man has power to impart truth. … Through the Holy Ghost the truth is woven into the very fibre and sinews of the body so that it cannot be forgotten.

And Elder Oaks, in his great talk "The Challenge to Become":

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the plan by which we can become what children of God are supposed to become. This spotless and perfected state will result from a steady succession of covenants, ordinances, and actions, an accumulation of right choices, and from continuing repentance. “This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God.”

Now is the time for each of us to work toward our personal conversion, toward becoming what our Heavenly Father desires us to become. As we do so, we should remember that our family relationships—even more than our Church callings—are the setting in which the most important part of that development can occur.

To me, the unifying thread between these two quotes is the idea that family relationships matter. What we do as parents matters. Our own growth, and the growth of our children—the people we ultimately become—is nurtured through the influence of the Holy Ghost as we invite Him into our lives and homes. I want to find ways to do that better.

Other posts in this series:

Righteous Traditions—by Rozy

0

Nourish and Nurture

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday Morning Session of the October 2000 Conference.

How can I not choose to write about one of my favorite talks ever? I liked this talk back then and I like it even more now. Sister Margaret D. Nadauld expounds on one of my favorite themes, the divine role of women. When I was younger, it was so empowering to hear that I had divine gifts I could develop for…lots of things I didn't feel particularly good at. And now when I hear talks like this, I always think about my daughters and hope I am teaching them to cultivate those same gifts! Sister Nadauld says,

Grateful daughters of God learn truths from their mothers and grandmothers and aunts. They teach their daughters the joyful art of creating a home. They seek fine educations for their children and have a thirst for knowledge themselves. They help their children develop skills that they can use in serving others. They know that the way they have chosen is not the easy way, but they know it is absolutely worth their finest efforts.…

Daughters of God know that it is the nurturing nature of women that can bring everlasting blessings, and they live to cultivate this divine attribute.

Then there's this famous quote, which I love: 

Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.

But this is the part that caught my attention most this time:

May mothers and fathers understand the great potential for good their daughters inherited from their heavenly home. We must nourish their gentleness, their nurturing nature, their innate spirituality and sensitivity, and their bright minds. Celebrate the fact that girls are different from boys. Be thankful for the position they have in God’s grand plan.

I love that: the potential for good we inherited from our "heavenly home." When I read that I think it surely must mean from Heavenly Mother! I'm sure our Heavenly Parents both taught us in the pre-earth life, but if we're really supposed to "celebrate the fact that girls are different from boys," it follows that our specific gifts were specifically given and nourished and nurtured in spirit daughters by our Heavenly Mother herself. I love to think about that. What nourishment did she give me that I still have within me? What nurturing qualities did she teach me that I can now use to bless others?

Other posts in this series:

What kind of women do we need?—by Rozy

1

Our Divine Role as Caregivers

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Young Women's Session of the April 2000 Conference.

When I was a young woman, I always liked hearing about the things young ladies used to be able to do in the "old days." My friend Rachael and I used to always laugh about one Personal Progress goal we heard of that was "chew your food 100 times before swallowing." President Faust listed a few more good ones:

In 1916 every female over age 14 was a Beehive girl until she entered Relief Society.…A Beehive girl had a possible 374 requirements to earn her individual award. Some of them were:

“Care successfully for a hive of bees for one season [and] know their habits.” …
“Cover 25 miles on snowshoes on any six days.” …
“During two weeks keep the house free from flies, or destroy at least 25 flies daily.”…
“Without help or advice care for and harness a team at least five times [and] drive 50 miles during one season.” …
“Clear sage-brush, etc., off of one-half acre of land.”

Those girls at that time must have been amazing! Elder Faust then says, and I love this:

In 1916 the challenges of life involved an entirely different focus, such as killing flies, clearing sagebrush, and learning to harness horses. Today such physical needs are met much more easily: flipping on a switch to control the light, adjusting the thermostat for heat and for cold. Modern conveniences grant us more free time to focus on spiritual needs and devote more time to personal service. But the basic element which should never change in the lives of righteous young women is giving service to others. Their divine role as caregivers helps noble womanhood gain “the highest place of honor in human life.” Serving others can begin at almost any age. Often the greatest service to others is one-on-one. It need not be on a grand scale, and it is noblest within the family.

I loved the description of women as "caregivers." There are many ways to interpret that, but most things I do as a wife and mother can be summed up as "caring" for someone in some way! I also loved this: 

One of your unique, precious, and sublime gifts is your femininity, with its natural grace, goodness, and divinity. Femininity is not just lipstick, stylish hairdos, and trendy clothes. It is the divine adornment of humanity. It finds expression in your qualities of your capacity to love, your spirituality, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength. It is manifest differently in each girl or woman, but each of you possesses it.

I feel so sad for girls and women who don't feel they have these gifts. I think all women have them in some latent form or other—manifest differently in each of us, as President Faust says—and the main challenge is developing them as we progress! I see so many older women who have this "graciousness, gentleness, and quiet strength." I can see how their trials have refined them, and I just hope that mine will refine me in the same way!

And then this was funny:

We wonder what the Young Women requirements for Personal Progress awards will be like in the year 2016. Hopefully the values and standards of Young Women will be increasingly focused on spirituality and service to others. In the future, as in the past, women will find happiness and fulfillment as they respond to the deepest feelings of their souls.

It's still true now, seven years after that distant future day of 2016—women find happiness and fulfillment in developing our divine gifts. As my girls work on their goals for the youth program, I hope I can help them see that they will find their best selves in caring for and serving other people!

0