One of my favorite quotes was said by Elder Jeffery R. Holland at a BYU devotional.
He said, "I hope no one stayed home that day. Perhaps there was a ball game on, or the gardening needed to be done, or some very legitimate work in the basement. But if anybody stayed home from the general conference that is just concluding in 3 Nephi 17, I can promise you that he must have surely missed what has to be, for me, one of the greatest moments ever recorded in scripture anywhere. What would it have been like to hear the Savior pray?...What did they see? I don't know. It cannot be written. No one has ever been able to record what this group both saw and heard Jesus speak unto the Father. Surely no basement, no garden, no ball game was worth missing that. I don't know any more about it than what I read here, but I am confident it was glorious to those in attendance."
In the weeks leading up to conference I always get so excited. It's like I started running out of "spiritual gas" after about 5 months of no conference and I just get so excited to here what the Prophet and Apostles have prepared for us. I get so anxious to see what the topics are that they pick, it seems every conference has a "theme" that they are all inspired to address, hoping we will listen. I can't wait for this weekend.
October tends to be my favorite conference because of the Relief Society General Broadcast. We get to here our leaders address just us women, it's amazing. This year we were lucky enough to have President Utchdorf address us. His talk was perfect for me. He gave 5 things not to ever forget and related them to the 5 petals of a forget-me-not. I would just like to write down a little what stuck out to me. If you would like to read the whole talk go here.
1) Forget not to be patient with yourself.
When we compare ourselves to others, we are usually comparing our weakness to their strengths. This creates unrealistic expectations for ourselves! We are all given strengths and weaknesses it is not fair to us to take a weakness that we have been given to work on and compare it to someone who was given that a strength. "Remember to be compassionate and patient with yourself".
2) Forget not the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice.
Ask yourself, "Am I committing my time and energies to the things that matter most?"
3) Forget not to be happy NOW!
The parable of the chocolate bar. We've all heard the story of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Wonka hides golden tickets in his candy bars for 5 lucky people to win a tour of his factory and a lifetime supply of chocolate! These people got so caught up in finding their "golden ticket" they stopped enjoying the chocolate bar that they used to love. He counsels us not to wait for our "golden ticket" to be happy. To find joy in the small daily things. If we spend our days looking for the roses, we will miss the tiny forget-me-nots.
4) Forget not the "WHY" of the gospel
We get so caught up in the "what" and the "how" of the gospel that we forget the "why". We turn the gospel into a list of "To-Dos" instead of focusing on why we live the gospel. He focused mostly on the gospel perspective but I think we do this in all aspects of our life. For me, Why am I a wife? Why am I (going to be) a mother? He said,
"The what and how of obedience marks the way, yes, it keeps us on the right path. But the why of obedience sanctifies our actions transforming the mundane into the majestic."
5) Forget not that the Lord loves you.
This sums itself up. You are not forgotten, allow His divine love in your life.
I am so excited to hear from more spiritual giants like President Utchdorf for 2 whole days this weekend.
I hope you are all able to tune in with me.
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