This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday Morning Session of the April 2011 Conference.
Elder Eyring has a way of making things sound so simple and elegant. I love how he introduced the topic of his talk:
[The Lord] loves His children in need and also those who want to help. And He has created ways to bless both those who need help and those who will give it.
It's the whole purpose of life in two sentences! I love the efficiency of God's plan, which provides for every situation. When things are hard, He puts people and systems in place to help us. When things are good, He gives us responsibilities to help us learn humility and compassion. And of course those two situations cross over and combine throughout our lives. But I love that God's hand is always there with what we need.
I also liked this:
The Lord regularly sends wake-up calls to all of us. Sometimes it may be a sudden feeling of sympathy for someone in need. A father may have felt it when he saw a child fall and scrape a knee. A mother may have felt it when she heard the frightened cry of her child in the night. A son or a daughter may have felt sympathy for someone who seemed sad or afraid at school.
All of us have been touched with feelings of sympathy for others we don’t even know. For instance, as you heard reports of the waves rushing across the Pacific after the earthquake in Japan, you felt concern for those who might be hurt.Feelings of sympathy came to thousands of you who learned of the flooding in Queensland, Australia. The news reports were mainly estimates of numbers of those in need. But many of you felt the pain of the people. The wake-up call was answered by 1,500 or more Church member volunteers in Australia who came to help and to comfort.
They turned their feelings of sympathy into a decision to act on their covenants. I have seen the blessings that come to the person in need who receives help and to the person who seizes the opportunity to give it.
I had never thought of all these feelings of sympathy he describes as being "wake-up calls" to help us remember to act on our covenants. But they are. They are invitations to act! I guess sometimes it can happen the other way too—an action of service can stir feelings of love and sympathy—but either way, it's nice to think that Heavenly Father gave us the innate ability to notice and empathize with others so that we could then learn to help each other. Of course, we can choose to ignore those feelings, but if we choose to listen to them, so many miracles can happen!
…You have seen that miracle of sympathy turned to unselfish action.…It is a manifestation of the Lord’s way to help those in great need become self-reliant. We feel compassion, and we know how to act in the Lord’s way to help.
Other posts in this series:
The atonement covers all pain—by Rozy
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