This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday Morning Session of the October 2002 Conference.
I love Elder Maxwell's talk from this session, Encircled in the Arms of His Love. There are a few sections of it that are personally meaningful to me and served as important revelation when I was trying to make a decision a few years ago. So I will always have a place in my heart for that talk (and you should read it!). But, today I want to quote from Sister Menlove's talk because it resonated with me and what I need right now.
Her talk is "A Voice of Gladness for our Children." It's funny because I almost never listen to the talks, I just read them. But I listened to this one, and she talks in the very sweetest of the sweet voices! That sweet "Relief Society voice" used to annoy me because I felt like it was "put on" for talks by women. (Sheri Dew's lower-pitched, no-nonsense delivery felt so different!) But now that I'm older and (hopefully!) less judgmental, I don't mind the voice because I can hear the strong, empowering message behind it! And the message here is amazing. It's about making sure our children learn from us about "the joy of the saints." Sister Menlove says:
[In the gospel] we can hear a voice of gladness that brings exclamations of hope and joy into our lives. The joy of our testimonies of the Savior can punctuate every aspect of our lives as we seek to come unto Christ.What about our children? Do they hear exclamations of joy and hope in the gospel?
A while ago I got a blessing that used the phrase "the joy of the saints" and I've been noticing that idea everywhere since then. I've been thinking about President Nelson's 2016 talk and Eliza R. Snow's quote "none but saints can be happy in every circumstance." In spite of my (many! uncountable! unignorable!) blessings, there are so many things to be worried and sad about these days. I get caught up in them. Of course, I believe, simultaneously, that the glad and hopeful tidings are real—certainly that they will be real. But I'm not sure my countenance and my attitudes and my actions actually make that belief plain. So Sister Menlove's point is well-taken—do my children see my hope and joy in the gospel? Do they FEEL it?
Sister Menlove goes on:
Yes, life can be fast-paced for parents and is becoming so for children. It would be easy to say there is not enough time to fit everything in. Looking back at a time that passed all too quickly, I can now see that each day was filled with precious little moments full of opportunity to help our children hear the “voice of gladness” in the gospel. Children are always learning from us. They are learning what is important by what we choose to do as well as what we choose not to do.
It made me want to recommit to being hopeful and positive in word and tone and focus. To looking always for the good. It echoes what I just read in Sister Cardon's most recent talk: "We live in a fallen world, with distractions coaxing our eyes and hearts downward instead of heavenward.…Look for Christ everywhere―I promise He is there! True joy rests on our willingness to come closer to Christ and witness for ourselves."
So I don't want to sigh so often, or cry so often—not that it's wrong, of course. Not that children can't learn from a mother's sadness as well. But I'd so much rather they see me more often counting my blessings. Noticing the good in others (and even in my own imperfect efforts!). And truly living as if the gospel has lightened my burdens and increased my joy—which it HAS! It really has! I want to show that joy to the world and to my Heavenly Father—for my children's sake as well as for my own!
Other posts in this series:
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