This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday Morning Session of the October 2012 Conference.
Elder Uchtdorf's talk in this session was really good. When I read it this time I saw I'd marked a paragraph from it nine years ago, the one that says:
Doesn’t it seem foolish to spoil sweet and joyful experiences because we are constantly anticipating the moment when they will end?
Yes! We all know I struggle with this, and his reminder to be grateful and embrace what's happening right now is as timely as it ever was. But this time I also noticed this paragraph:
Let us resolve to follow the Savior and work with diligence to become the person we were designed to become. Let us listen to and obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit. As we do so, Heavenly Father will reveal to us things we never knew about ourselves. He will illuminate the path ahead and open our eyes to see our unknown and perhaps unimagined talents.
There is nothing that remarkable about this; I think about it quite often in regards to my children. I want so much for them to become who Heavenly Father knows they can be! But it was strange this time to suddenly think it about myself! I tend to think of myself as just…already who I am. I have lots of things I'd like to improve at, and many parts of myself I hope I can change, of course—but on some basic level I've kind of assumed I already know what there is to know about myself. So it is surprising to suddenly think about "unknown and perhaps unimagined talents" I might have. It's strange to think I may still not have had some experience, or not held some calling, or not have learned some lesson, which is going to be definitive for me! Or to think that someday, I might be a quite different person because of what I've learned or how I've grown. I make confident statements about myself like "I've never been good at…" or "I've always been someone who…"— but I never really consider that I might be wrong about some of those things! It's astonishing to think that Heavenly Father could actually reveal me to, now, at my age, "things I never knew about myself." And it's kind of exciting, too. Because I really do want to become the person I was "designed to become"!
Other posts in this series:
I know that my redeemer lives!—by Rozy
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