I ask you to reflect in the days ahead not only on the messages you have heard but also on the unique phenomenon that general conference itself is—what we as Latter-day Saints believe such conferences to be
Perhaps you already know (but if you don’t you should) that with rare exception, no man or woman who speaks here is assigned a topic. Each is to fast and pray, study and seek, start and stop and start again until he or she is confident that for this conference, at this time, his or hers is the topic the Lord wishes that speaker to present regardless of personal wishes or private preferences. Every man and woman you have heard during the past 10 hours of general conference has tried to be true to that prompting. Each has wept, worried, and earnestly sought the Lord’s direction to guide his or her thoughts and expression.
Consider the variety of the messages that you hear—all the more miraculous with no coordination except the direction of heaven. But why wouldn’t they be varied? Most of our congregation, seen or unseen, is made up of members of the Church. However, with marvelous new methods of communication, ever larger proportions of the audience for our conferences are not members of the Church—yet. So we must speak to those who know us very well and those who know us not at all. Within the Church alone we must speak to the children, the youth and young adults, the middle-aged, and the elderly. We must speak to families and parents and children at home even as we speak to those who are not married, without children, and perhaps very far from home In the wide variety of sermons given is the assumption that there will be something for everyone. In this regard, I guess President Harold B. Lee put it best years ago when he said that the gospel is “to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the [comfortable].”
If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you.
Five years ago I woke up in my hotel room in Ningbo China, at the conclusion of a 10 day trip to Asia. I didn’t feel well and thought to myself, “ I’m sure glad I’m on my way home today. “ We flew from Ningbo to Hong Kong and I began to feel even more ill. I thought that maybe I just needed to get some food to feel better, and thought about how nice it would be to be home and be able to eat food that I could easily identify.
The next leg of the flight was from Hong Kong to Taipei Taiwan. During this portion of my journey home, I got very nauseous. By the time the plane landed in Taipei, I was having trouble walking. Upon arriving at the gate for the flight to Los Angeles, my entire world was spinning. It was impossible for me to walk in a straight line, and in an effort stop the spinning and quell my nausea, I laid on the floor and closed my eyes. I was in a cold sweat, and could no longer keep any food down. Although it was very difficult to think coherently, I knew that I was very ill.
With the help of the person I was traveling with, I boarded the plane for what would be the longest flight of my life. Even the slightest motion in the plane would necessitate a trip to the restroom. I knew I had to do whatever it took to make it through immigration in order to get on the flight for home. I couldn’t open my eyes, and relied on my traveling companion to guide me to the right line, knowing that I would have to force myself to open my eyes and walk to the customs officer by myself. One foot in front of the other and all of the concentration I could muster and I made it through.
What a great relief it was to arrive home – I was diagnosed with vestibular neuritis, told that the nerve from my inner ear to my brain had been severely damaged by a virus and would no longer function. The doctors said that I should eventually be able to function close to normal. I have found that I now have a new normal. I am always dizzy – more so if the lighting is bad, or if I am very tired. I have received blessings, and my 9 year old daughter prays for me in every prayer that I won’t be so dizzy. I have tried to stay positive and upbeat, but confess that there have been time that I have complained to my wife that it sure would be nice to not be dizzy anymore. As I have prayed for relief, I found a great deal of comfort in the words of Elder Kent F. Richards talk from general conference entitled the atonement covers all pain. He said,
Sometimes in the depth of trials and pain, we are tempted to ask, “Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?” I testify the answer is yes, there is a physician. The Atonement of Jesus Christ covers all these conditions and purposes of mortality.
Elder Orson F. Whitney wrote: “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. … It is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire.”
President Henry B. Eyring taught: “It will comfort us when we must wait in distress for the Savior’s promised relief that He knows, from experience, how to heal and help us. … And faith in that power will give us patience as we pray and work and wait for help. He could have known how to succor us simply by revelation, but He chose to learn by His own personal experience.”
As Elder Dallin H. Oaks has taught: “Healing blessings come in many ways, each suited to our individual needs, as known to Him who loves us best. Sometimes a ‘healing’ cures our illness or lifts our burden. But sometimes we are ‘healed’ by being given strength or understanding or patience to bear the burdens placed upon us.” All that will come may be “clasped in the arms of Jesus.” All souls can be healed by His power. All pain can be soothed. In Him, we can “find rest unto [our] souls.” Our mortal circumstances may not immediately change, but our pain, worry, suffering, and fear can be swallowed up in His peace and healing balm.
This talk was a personal reminder to me, that the Savior loves me, knows who I am, and has experienced the same dizzy feeling that I live with, and he knows how to succor me.
I asked Melinda what she felt was a personal message to her in this past conference. She felt it was “Establishing a Christ Centered Home” by Elder Richard J. Maynes. As we continue to raise our 5 children, we have come to recognize that they are each unique individuals with their own strengths and challenges. We have also learned that we cannot take from them their agency to choose, and recognize that one of the best ways we can guide them and teach them is to work on sanctifying ourselves. I loved it when President Uchtdorf quoted St. Francis of Assisi this last conference – Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words!”
The principle of eternal families is an essential element in Heavenly Father’s great plan for His children. Fundamental to that plan is the understanding that we have a heavenly family as well as an earthly family. The Apostle Paul teaches us that Heavenly Father is the father of our spirits:
“That they should seek the Lord … and find him, …
“For in him we live, and move, and have our being; … For we are also his offspring.”
Being offspring of a loving Heavenly Father is such a basic principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ that even our children proclaim its truth as they sing the Primary song “I Am a Child of God.”
I am a child of God,
And he has sent me here,
Has given me an earthly home
With parents kind and dear.
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,
Help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do
To live with him someday.
Recognizing that we have a heavenly family helps us understand the eternal nature of our earthly families. The Doctrine and Covenants teaches us that the family is fundamental to the order of heaven: “And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory.”
Understanding the eternal nature of the family is a critical element in understanding Heavenly Father’s plan for His children. The adversary, on the other hand, wants to do everything in his power to destroy Heavenly Father’s plan.
Our eternal happiness is not one of Satan’s objectives. He knows that an essential key to making men and women miserable like himself is to deprive them of family relationships which have eternal potential. Because Satan understands that true happiness in this life and in the eternities is found in the form of family, he does everything in his power to destroy it.
The ancient prophet Alma calls God’s plan for His children “the great plan of happiness.” The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, whom we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators, have offered us this inspired counsel with regard to happiness and family life: “The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
This happiness spoken of by Alma and more recently by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will most surely be found in the home with family. It will be found in abundance if we do everything in our power to establish a Christ-centered home.
Many years ago we decided that our family motto would be harmony. Having harmony in our family was an important ideal for us to try to establish. The letters making up that word have become an important part of our attempt to establish a Christ centered home.
H=Home, A=Attitude, R=Respect, M=Maximize, O=Obedience, N=No guts no glory, Y=Yippee Yahoo, Yaba Daba Do!
Learning, teaching, and practicing the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our homes helps create a culture where the Spirit can dwell. Through establishing these celestial traditions in our homes, we will be able to overcome the false traditions of the world and learn to put the needs and concerns of others first.
The responsibility for establishing a Christ-centered home lies with both parents and children. Parents are responsible to teach their children in love and righteousness. Parents will be held accountable before the Lord in how they perform their sacred responsibilities. Parents teach their children with words and through example. This poem by C. C. Miller titled “The Echo” illustrates the importance and impact parents have as they influence their children:
’Twas a sheep not a lamb
That strayed away in the parable Jesus told,
A grown-up sheep that strayed away
From the ninety and nine in the fold.
And why for the sheep should we seek
And earnestly hope and pray?
Because there is danger when sheep go wrong:
They lead the lambs astray.
Lambs will follow the sheep, you know,
Wherever the sheep may stray.
When sheep go wrong,
It won’t take long till the lambs are as wrong as they.
And so with the sheep we earnestly plead
For the sake of the lambs today,
For when the sheep are lost
What a terrible cost
The lambs will have to pay.
The consequences to parents who lead their children astray are laid before us by the Lord in the Doctrine and Covenants: “And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion … that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, … the sin be upon the heads of the parents.”
When parents preside over the family in love and righteousness and teach their children the gospel of Jesus Christ by word and through example, and when children love and support their parents by learning and practicing the principles their parents teach, the result will be the establishment of a Christ-centered home.
“The Prophet Joseph Smith declared—and he never taught more comforting doctrine—that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father’s heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain.”
I am grateful for the opportunity we have every year to pay tribute to Fathers. While serving in a bishopric, I had the opportunity to attend primary on a monthly basis. One month the primary was learning a song titled “Fathers” I really liked the words to this song, so I went home and opened the Children’s Song Book to review the words. I was surprised to learn that the words and music were written by two dear Sisters that lived in Bountiful in the ward where I was a young man. Sisters Dawn Ballantyne and Joyce Jensen.
The words are as follows:
The father of our home
Leads our family.
With wisdom’s light in all that’s right;
My father’s good to me.
Fathers are so special
With a very special love.
They watch us and protect us.
They guide us and direct us
Back to our home above.
The father of our ward
Tends with loving care
Each member’s needs with kindly deeds;
Our Bishop’s always there.
And now we’ll sing great praise
And reverently recall
The Holy One who gave his Son,
The Father of us all.
Fathers are so special
With a very special love.
They watch us and protect us.
They guide us and direct us
Back to our home above.
My father passed away 5 years ago, and naturally at this time of year I think of him often.
In the scriptures when the Lord has something very important for us to learn, very often he will repeat the same thing several times. There is a particular scripture that speaks of fathers, that appears in 5 different places in the standard works. It reads:
Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood by the hand of Elijah the Prophet. . . . And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children will turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.
In July of 1948 when my Father was not quite 15 years old, he was diagnosed with an enlarged heart. For those of us who knew Dad well, it didn’t take the marvels of modern medicine to confirm what was very apparent to me – my Dad had a very big heart!
I believe that my Father is best be described by 2 parts of his body – his heart and his hands. It is said if you make a fist of your hand, the fist is about the size of your heart. My Dad’s hands were huge. When I reached the ripe old age of 4, Dad determined I was old enough to get up at 4:30 in the morning to heard cows in to be milked. I distinctly remember holding his finger as we walked to milking barn and being amazed that I could barely wrap my hand around his index finger.
The Scriptures are full of accounts of the importance of the hands and the heart - Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? – He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.
After we moved from the farm, my Dad taught auto mechanics. It seemed he could never get his hands clean, from the grease of the engines. But spiritually they were white as the snow. For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh upon the heart.
Dad’s hands were masters of multi-tasking. Those big hands held me as an infant to give me a name and a blessing. They were there beside mine as we milked cows, weeded gardens, mowed lawns, cleaned office buildings, cared for church grounds. They were placed lovingly on my head as I was ordained to the office of Deacon, Teacher, Priest , Elder and High Priest. One of the most significant things Dad’s hands participated in was taking Mom’s hand in the temple and being sealed for eternity as he gave his heart completely to her and to the Lord.
In his personal history, dad included a poem which expresses eloquently his feelings for Mom.
“The question is asked, “is there anything more beautiful in life than a boy and a girl clasping clean hands and pure hearts in the path of marriage? Can there be anything more beautiful than young love?” And the answer is given. “Yes, there is a more beautiful thing. It is the spectacle of an old man and an old woman finishing their journey together on that path. Their hands are gnarled, but still clasped; their faces are seamed, but still radiant; their hearts are physically bowed and tired, but still strong with love and devotion for one another. Yes, there is a more beautiful thing than young love. Old love.
Dad was always ready with a helping hand. He truly understood the experience of Peter at the gate Beautiful of the temple – Each day a man who had been lame from birth was carried to the temple gate that he might ask alms of all who entered. As Peter and John passed, the man petitioned them to which Peter replied, “ Look on us.” The lame man gave heed expecting to receive something from them. The words Peter next spoke have lifted the hearts of men from that time even to this day. I know Dad echoed these words, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. Frequently this story is concluded here, but I believe a most significant verse follows – “And he took him by the right hand & lifted him up. And he stood and walked and entered with them into the temple. Dad was always looking for ways to lift those of us around him.
The day my father passed away, I sat with my mother and brothers and sisters in his hospital room. We were enveloped in peace as he passed quietly and we all knew it was right.
Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood by the hand of Elijah the Prophet. . . . And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children will turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.
Dad made sure we always listened to or watched conference, and reviewed the talks in the Ensign. He started the tradition when I was 12 of going to dinner after the Priesthood session and discussing the talks we had heard. The tradition continues with my brothers and our sons. I’m sure that dad knew what Elder Holland taught -
If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you.
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