What may be required

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday Morning Session of the October 2002 Conference.

It was strange to read Elder Christofferson's talk from 2002, "That They May Be One in Us," because I had just been reading his talk called "One in Christ" from April 2023! At first I thought maybe I'd gotten mixed up and was reading the same talk again. He quotes several of the same scriptures (maybe he actually just adapted his old talk! Is me noticing this his worst nightmare? Was he up all night before conference worrying about it, with his wife reassuring him, "No one will ever notice, dear"? Haha!). You can tell his thinking has expanded and deepened over the years, though, and he's incorporated more recent revelation from President Nelson into his thinking. It's cool to think that he's been studying this principle of unity for (over) twenty years now and still finds new insights worth speaking about! And I like it when apostles have long-running themes.

The part that struck me most from his talk (this was from the old one) was this:

Surely we will not be one with God and Christ until we make Their will and interest our greatest desire. Such submissiveness is not reached in a day, but through the Holy Spirit, the Lord will tutor us if we are willing until, in process of time, it may accurately be said that He is in us as the Father is in Him. At times I tremble to consider what may be required, but I know that it is only in this perfect union that a fulness of joy can be found. I am grateful beyond expression that I am invited to be one with those holy beings I revere and worship as my Heavenly Father and Redeemer.

I was just thinking about what has been required of him. He was a member of the Seventy at the time of the first talk. Now he's an apostle and will die in God's service. Who knows what has happened in the twenty years between now and then—what trials his children have had, what challenges he's faced and overcome. Heartaches maybe no one else knows about. I'm willing to bet there are a lot of them. And yet, here he is, still striving for unity with Jesus and the Father—still desiring that above all. 

I "tremble to consider" the cost of discipleship sometimes too. But I really do want to be tutored in that submissiveness "in process of time," as Elder Christofferson says. I hope I can weather trials and keep progressing in my faith and knowledge as he has!

Other posts in this series:

A Woman of Faith—by Rozy