An Adored Prophet

I had to speak in church on Sunday. The Bishopric let me choose my own topic so I chose to speak about General Conference. Even though we all know talks are not the most fun thing to do, I really considered this one a blessing. It helped me to pay closer attention to conference and review all the talks that were given (they're already available on the internet). My sweetest and most tender moment of the conference came Saturday morning. When I woke up I quickly turned to the BYU channel. I was anxious to see who was going to take President Faust's spot in the First Presidency and who would be called to the Quorum of the Twelve. After the choir sang, President Hinckley read the sustaining of church officers. As I watched him read the names including his own, my heart was filled with so much love for him. The Lord has truly given the Church a tender mercy by prolonging President Hinckley's life here upon the earth. He is 97 years old and has so much life, vigor, and love. Although he desperately misses his dear wife who died three years ago, he presses on. He is so humble and has such a sense of humor. We have been truly blessed as he has served as our prophet these past twelve years. What a precious moment it was for me last Saturday morning as I watched our sweet prophet. I know without a doubt he is a modern-day prophet and a mouthpiece for the Lord. I know he truly loves and prays for us daily.

In my talk I also highlighted some of the messages given at conference. I specifically enjoyed Elder Dallin H. Oak's talk entitled, "Good, Better, Best." In his talk he says. "Most of us have more things expected of us than we can possibly do...We should begin by recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it. The number of good thins we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should commend priority attention in our lives." He goes on to recount the story of Mary and Martha found in the Bible. I often have to ask myself am I a Mary or a Martha? President Oaks really emphasizes spending quality time together as a family. We should not let work, sports, TV, video games, and even church activities take away the precious time we can use to study the gospel and be with our family. For Family Home Evening, we made a chart of all the activities we do and we divided them up into categories of "Good," "Better" and "Best." We put this chart on our fridge to serve as a reminder of how we can best spend our time. I highly recommend this talk!

I also liked what Sister Beck had to say about mothers doing less. She explains that mothers choose very carefully how they spend their time and don't try to do it all. There we go! We all have permission not to be super Moms.

Well, I did not intend for this post to be so long, but I wanted to share just a few thoughts from conference. I hope the inspired words of our dear leaders will be something we cherish.