Conferencing.

Conference = my favorite weekend of the year. Isn't it great that it happens twice??

Just some favorite thoughts from this past weekend...

SATURDAY MORNING
Pres. Eyring's talk on trials. Sometimes it's easy to get worried about the future...okay, ALL the time it's easy to get worried about the future. But Pres. Eyring reminded me that if I'm living in God's way, I have no reason to worry. He also mentioned how it can be easy to fret about temporal sustenance. Yeah, remember how the economy's going to pieces right when I'm graduating from college? But he said that if we are paying a full tithing we have no need to worry about it all. I'm grateful my parents taught me to pay a full tithing....they sat us down one day in our living room and told us how it important it is. And I've never forgotten that. Thanks, momsie and popsicle!

SATURDAY AFTERNOON
Elder Scott's talk about the Temple. Turns out there would be even more talks about the Temple on Sunday, and I drank it all up. This was also a reminder to quit worrying about things....Elder Scott taught that when we live righteously and attend the Temple, all else will fall into place. I believe that. In reference to the Temple, he said something I love: "It has changed my life profoundly." I believe this too. The Temple has changed MY life profoundly, and I expect it to continue to do so. Beautiful.

SUNDAY MORNING
This was my favorite session of the whole weekend, so I've got a couple favorite talks...

Pres. Uchtdorf's talk about discipleship and coming to Christ. He touched on so many great things...patience, work, trust, faith, service, etc. As he put it, it is ALWAYS the right thing and ALWAYS the right time to follow in Christ's footsteps. "Now is the time," he said.

Elder Holland's talk about loneliness and the Atonement. Holy cow. This seems to have hit home with more than one person I've talked to. We all have times when we feel alone and far away from home....but Christ knows that better than anyone else out there. Elder Holland told how even Christ's closest friends betrayed him toward the end...but that it had to be that way. He said, "Of divine necessity, the supporting circle around Jesus gets smaller and smaller..." Jesus never spoke ill of anyone or even came close to touching any unclean thing....so logically, He didn't deserve to suffer the way He did. BUT....He did it because He loves us. He had to know what it felt like to be alone because He knew we would each feel that way someday. And He knew He was doing it for us...because even when the suffering was excruciating, He didn't give up. As Elder Holland put it, "Jesus held on." This simple statement reminded me how much I need to remember to hold on to Him, too.

The closing hymn for this session was also super powerful...We thank thee oh God for a prophet. With a slideshow of Pres. Monson. So excellent!

SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Elder Oaks' talk about selfless service. I love that he touched on parenthood....even among the LDS culture, even at BYU, I hear it all the time...ALL the time...that children can wait until degrees and jobs and world travel and etc are taken care of. I respect everyone's right to make this decision for themself, but I personally do NOT agree with this viewpoint. And...I'm glad Elder Oaks agrees with me, too. We can get wrapped up in wanting to recycle, wanting to "go green," wanting to donate money, wanting to save small countries....but parenthood TRULY is the highest form of selfless service. I firmly believe this, and my education in the field of family science has only solidified that belief. I am grateful that I know where I stand on an issue that the world is so good at discoloring and disguising.


Well....that's it for now. As Pres. Monson said, "The future is as bright as your faith." And conference always makes the future look a little brighter to me. The person who gave the first opening prayer on Saturday referred to conference as an opportunity to rededicate our lives to the Lord. How TRUE that is.

Stay tuned in 6 months :)