As I said on Monday, Cooper wasn't the only person in our family to give a talk on Sunday. I was the concluding speaker for Sacrament Meeting. My assigned topic was A Year in Review - Challenges and Promises from President Nelson. This was a tricky subject, mostly because it felt like I was giving a book report. But I think I was able to bring enough of a personal connection that it worked. And it was helpful for me to review the words of the Prophet.
This isn't the exact version that I gave. I knew the talk was about a minute too long, but I wasn't sure how the meeting would run, so I left it as it was. Then, while sitting on the stand and watching the clock, I edited. Then, as I was delivering the talk, I did some more editing. That was kind of exciting. Thankfully, Bryan said he couldn't tell I was cutting stuff on the fly.
A Year in Review
It’s that wonderful time of year when we’ve opened all the Christmas gifts, we’ve spent time with family, we may not know what day it is because we’ve been wearing pajamas all week, we’ve reflected back on the last twelve months, and now we have the chance to look forward to a new year and new possibilities.
While pondering my own upcoming goals, I looked back at my New Year’s resolutions for the last ten years and I found some common themes. I often decide to make sleep a greater priority. This is a consistent failure. I also resolve each year to journal each weekday by writing on our family blog. This is a consistent success. I include goals about reading lots of books and improving my personal Gospel study and being physically active. Some years I add in a goal to help me as a parent such as in 2011 when I wanted to “Smil(e) at my children more than I scowl at them” and 2016 when I wanted to “Speak kindly to my children, even when their behavior makes me feel like my head is going to explode.”
Have you thought about what you want to accomplish in 2020?
Over the course of 2019, President Russell M. Nelson gave several addresses to the members of the church. In these talks he challenged us to do specific things, and promised wonderful blessings in return. In preparation to speak today I reviewed seven of these talks. I’ll share five of them with you. I was struck by how often he repeated himself to each group, emphasizing those common themes and directives.
During the April 2019 General Conference, President Nelson spoke to the men and young men of the church. This was a rousing call to repentance titled We Can Do Better and Be Better. He exhorted the men of the church to repent daily. He said, “Whether you are diligently moving along the covenant path, have slipped or stepped from the covenant path, or can’t even see the path from where you are now, I plead with you to repent. Experience the strengthening power of daily repentance —of doing and being a little better each day.” In the same talk he said, “Brethren, prayerfully seek to understand what stands in the way of your repentance. Identify what stops you from repenting. And then, change! Repent! All of us can do better and be better than ever before.”
In addition to preaching repentance, he admonished the men of the church to examine how they treat the women in their lives. He said, “Take an inventory of how you spend your time and where you devote your energy. That will tell you where your heart is. Pray to have your heart attuned to your wife’s heart. Seek to bring her joy. Seek her counsel, and listen...If you have a need to repent because of the way you have treated the women closest to you, begin now… Never be the reason that a woman is unable to receive her temple blessings.”
Throughout the course of this talk he kept repeating this challenge: repent, repent, repent, because it is so important. But he included a profound promise. He said, “The Lord needs selfless men who put the welfare of others ahead of their own. He needs men who intentionally work to hear the voice of the Spirit with clarity. He needs men of the covenant who keep their covenants with integrity. He needs...worthy men who can be called upon at a moment’s notice to give blessings with pure hearts, clean minds, and willing hands. The Lord needs men eager to repent —men with a zeal to serve and be part of the Lord’s battalion of worthy priesthood bearers.” Here’s the promise: “I bless you to become those men. I bless you with the courage to repent daily and learn how to exercise full priesthood power. I bless you to communicate the love of the Savior to your wife and children and to all who know you. I bless you to do better and be better. And I bless you that as you make these efforts, you will experience miracles in your life.”
At the October 2019 General Conference, President Nelson turned his attention to the women and young women of the church and spoke about the Priesthood in his talk Spiritual Treasures. While his talk to the men had been replete with admonishments, his talk to the women was full of blessings. He encouraged us to learn about our own personal and divine connection to the Priesthood. He taught, “Every woman and every man who makes covenants with God and keeps those covenants, and who participates worthily in priesthood ordinances, has direct access to the power of God… Those who are endowed in the house of the Lord receive a gift of God’s priesthood power by virtue of their covenant, along with a gift of knowledge to know how to draw upon that power… Sisters, you have the right to draw liberally upon the Savior’s power to help your family and others you love.”
He gave us specific things to study saying, “I invite you to study prayerfully section 25 of the Doctrine and Covenants and discover what the Holy Ghost will teach you.” And then later, “I entreat you to study prayerfully all the truths you can find about priesthood power. You might begin with Doctrine and Covenants sections 84 and 107.” Our Prophet has told us that we need to learn about the Priesthood! I love this!
He also asked the women to do something that he had asked the men to do. To the women, he said, “Part of this endeavor will require you to put aside many things of this world.” I’ll repeat his similar injunction to the men. He said, “Take an inventory of how you spend your time and where you devote your energy.” We all need to look at how we’re using our time and make adjustments so our focus is where it should be. He promises: “As you do so, the Holy Ghost will prompt you about what is no longer needful, what is no longer worthy of your time and energy.”
He closed with beautiful promises to the sisters of the church, “As your understanding increases and as you exercise faith in the Lord and His priesthood power, your ability to draw upon this spiritual treasure that the Lord has made available will increase. As you do so, you will find yourselves better able to help create eternal families that are united, sealed in the temple of the Lord, and full of love for our Heavenly Father and for Jesus Christ.”
In September President Nelson gave a devotional address at Brigham Young University in Provo titled The Love and Laws of God. He spoke of five truths. These truths are
You are sons and daughters of God.
Truth is truth.
God loves every one of us with perfect love.
The Lord Jesus Christ, whose Church this is, appoints prophets and apostles to communicate His love and teach His laws.
You may know for yourself what is true and what is not by learning to discern the whisperings of the Spirit.
Here, right at the end of a wonderful discourse on truth, came the challenge. He said, “My dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to seek earnestly a confirmation from the Spirit that what I have told you is true and is from the Lord. He has declared that we may seek knowledge from heaven and expect to receive it: “If thou shalt ask,” the Lord promised, “thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge.”...Ask your Heavenly Father if we truly are the Lord’s apostles and prophets. Ask if we have received revelation on this and other matters. Ask if these five truths are, in fact, true.”
This is very similar to what he asked us to do at the conclusion of his April General Conference talk, Come Follow Me. In speaking to those that have chosen not to make covenants with God, he said, ““Pour out your heart to God. Ask Him if these things are true. Make time to study His words. Really study! If you truly love your family and if you desire to be exalted with them throughout eternity, pay the price now —through serious study and fervent prayer —to know these eternal truths and then to abide by them... If you are not sure you even believe in God, start there. Understand that in the absence of experiences with God, one can doubt the existence of God. So, put yourself in a position to begin having experiences with Him. Humble yourself. Pray to have eyes to see God’s hand in your life and in the world around you. Ask Him to tell you if He is really there —if He knows you. Ask Him how He feels about you. And then listen.” These words, the challenges and promises so beautifully intertwined, are for all of us.
In his Closing Remarks of the October General Conference, President Nelson told us to teach those around us about the Temple, about what is required to enter these sacred buildings. He asked us to be worthy to enter the Temple, adults and youth alike. He said, “Individual worthiness to enter the Lord’s house requires much individual spiritual preparation. But with the Lord’s help, nothing is impossible... Individual worthiness requires a total conversion of mind and heart to be more like the Lord, to be an honest citizen, to be a better example, and to be a holier person.” He taught that this hard work to achieving worthiness comes with blessings. He said, “ I testify that such preparatory work brings innumerable blessings in this life and inconceivable blessings for the life to come, including the perpetuation of your family unit throughout all eternity “in a state of never-ending happiness.”
Finally, after a year of asking us to do better, to be better, to put aside the things of the world, to study, and pray, and gain our own knowledge and witness of the truths of the Gospel, he asked us to prepare for next April. He said, “General conference next April will be different from any previous conference. In the next six months, I hope that every member and every family will prepare for a unique conference that will commemorate the very foundations of the restored gospel. You may wish to begin your preparation by reading afresh Joseph Smith’s account of the First Vision as recorded in the Pearl of Great Price... You may wish to ponder important questions such as, “How would my life be different if my knowledge gained from the Book of Mormon were suddenly taken away?” or “How have the events that followed the First Vision made a difference for me and my loved ones?” Select your own questions. Design your own plan. Immerse yourself in the glorious light of the Restoration. As you do, general conference next April will be not only memorable; it will be unforgettable.”
His final promises to us as we undertake these many challenges? “Now in closing, I leave with you my love and my blessing that each of you may become happier and holier with each passing day. Meanwhile, please be assured that revelation continues in the Church and will continue under the Lord’s direction until “the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.””
Our Prophet wants us to become the best versions of ourselves we can possibly be, and he wants us to help prepare for the Second Coming of the Savior. Go back and review for yourselves what he has taught us this past year, then look to the future and make goals that will help you to do better, to be better.
One thing that every talk had in common? He always ends with a firm and steadfast testimony of the Savior. And so should we. I bear my testimony that Jesus Christ lives. He loves us. He has felt our pain, He makes it possible for us to return to live with our Heavenly Father. I love them both. And I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
