With General Conference approaching, I though I would share
some remarks from the October 2006 General Conference that touched me recently. We are truly blessed and loved to have a
Heavenly Father who blesses us with counsel that pertains to our day and to our
lives.
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| Salt Lake Temple |
To each of us our Savior gives this loving invitation:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest.
“Take my yoke up one you, and learn or me; for I am meek and
lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
…At times we may despair that our burdens are too
great. When it seems that the tempest is
raging in our lives, we may feel abandoned and cry out like the disciples in
the storm, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” (Mark 4:38). At such times we should remember His reply:
“Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye
have no faith?” (v. 40)
The healing power of the Lord Jesus Christ—whether it
removes our burdens or strengthens us to endure and live with them like the
Apostle Paul—is available for every affliction in mortality.
…The Atonement also gives us the strength to endure “pains
and afflictions and temptations of every kind, because our Savior also took
upon Him “the pains and the sicknesses of his people” (Alma 7:11). Brothers and sisters, if your faith and
prayers and the power of the priesthood do not heal you from an affliction, the
power of the Atonement will surely give you the strength to bear the burden.
In the lonely hours I have spent a great deal of time
thinking about eternal things. I have
contemplated the comforting doctrines of eternal life.
To become worthy, we make choices that will enable us to
return to our Heavnenly Father’s presence.
We do those things which will qualify us to claim all the blessings that
He has in store for us. This is the
reason we are here on earth—“to see if [we] will do all things whatsoever the
Lord…shall command.” It is through our
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that we can resist temptation. Our faith will enable us to shun evil. It will be repulsive to us because “light
cleaveth unto light” and “virtue loveth virtue.”
To become unspotted from the world requires not only faith
but repentance and obedience. We must
live the standards and do those things which will entitle us to the constant
companionship and guidance of the Holy Ghost—for the Spirit cannot dwell in
unholy temples.
Thirty-eight years ago my husband and I were married in the
Salt Lake Temple by President Gordon B. Hinckley. The counsel and direction he gave us that day
have become a beacon for our lives…[He] counseled us to remain worthy. He said, “Always live in such a way that when
you need the Lord’s blessings, you can call upon Him and receive them because
you are worthy.” He said: “There will
come times in your life when you will need immediate blessings. You will need to live in such a way that they
will be granted—not out of mercy but because you are worthy.”
We who hold the priesthood of God cannot afford to
drift. We have work to do. We must arise from the dust of
self-indulgence and be men! It is a
wonderful aspiration for a boy to become a man—strong and capable; someone who
can build and create things, run things; someone who makes a difference in the
world. It is a wonderful aspiration for
those of us who are older to make the vision of true manhood a reality in our
lives and be models for those who look to us for an example.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, speaking in this meeting in
April 1998, gave specific counsel for young men:
“The girl you marry will take a terrible chance on you…[You]
will largely determine the remainder of her life…
“Work for an education.
Get all the training that you can.
The world will largely pay you what it thinks you are worth. Paul did not mince words when he wrote to
Timothy, ‘But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his
own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel’ (1 Tim. 5:8)
Good men sometimes make mistakes. A man of integrity will honestly face and
correct his mistakes, and that is an example we can respect. Sometimes men try but fail. Not all worthy objectives are realized
despite one’s honest and best efforts.
True manhood is not always measured by the fruits of one’s labors by the
labors themselves—by one’s striving.
Though he will make some sacrifices and deny himself some
pleasures in the course of honoring his commitments, the true man leads a
rewarding life. He gives much, but
receives more, and he lives content in the approval of his Heavenly
Father. The life of true manhood is the
good life.
Circumstances change, but our message does not change. We bear testimony to the world that the
heavens have been opened, that God, our Eternal Father, and His Son, the risen
Lord, have appeared and spoken. We offer
our solemn witness that the priesthood has been restored with the keys and
authority of eternal blessings.
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