This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday Afternoon Session of the October 2000 Conference.
There were a few different threads that connected for me through this Conference session. Elder Busche said this:
Freedom for most people of the world means “freedom from” the absence of malice or pain or suppression. But the freedom that God means when He deals with us goes one step further. He means “freedom to”—the freedom to act in the dignity of our own choice.
Then, as I was thinking about choice and the power of choices, I read this from Elder Eyring:
I have had prayers answered. Those answers were most clear when what I wanted was silenced by an overpowering need to know what God wanted. It is then that the answer from a loving Heavenly Father can be spoken to the mind by the still, small voice and can be written on the heart.
The concepts lead to each other—God allowing us to choose and giving us freedom to act—and then giving us loving guidance about what to choose and how to act. On the surface it seems like, "Is that real choice if He's going to turn around and tell us what we're supposed to choose?" But in reality it is so good! And so merciful! Among all the many choices before us, and their confusing tumble of consequences, and the lies that Satan tells—Heavenly Father can speak with clarity and show us which will bring real happiness, real power. And on top of that, we can then use that power (which came from choosing what He would have us choose) to actually draw those we love toward God and happiness as well. Isn't that the power every parent longs for?
Of course Elder Eyring brings it right home (like he always does):
Some parents are listening with this question: “But how can I soften the heart of my child now grown older and convinced he or she doesn’t need God? How can I soften a heart enough to allow God to write His will upon it?” …
At first I thought he wasn't going to answer, because he starts to talk about how feeling the weight of our own sins leads us to need God—and obviously that's something only the person himself can do, not something a parent can do to help. But then he gets to this:
Alma knew what we can know: that testifying of Jesus Christ and Him crucified had the greatest possibility of his son coming to sense his need for the help only God could give.
I love that. He also gave this advice:
I can’t remember a sermon from my mother or my father about prayer. They prayed when times were hard and when they were good. And they reported in matter-of-fact ways how kind God was, how powerful and how close.
Those aren't hard things—testifying frequently of Jesus Christ, and reporting on Heavenly Father's goodness. So it's encouraging to think that those small actions can bring the power of God into our lives and the lives of our children.
Other posts in this series:
Comforting Voices—by Rozy
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