At Parting

This entry is part of my general conference application series.

At Parting, by Thomas S. Monson
President, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints


I love general conference! Apparently I'm not alone; earlier in the week my five-yr-old daughter asked, "What day is it?" After I told her that it was Tuesday, she smiled and said, "I'm excited for the weekend because we get to watch general conference!"

I'm cutting it close this time. Tomorrow is the first day of general conference, and I'm just now finishing my review of last conference. (How embarrassing for me!)

As is our family tradition, we're going to watch conference together with our proverbial tent towards the temple. To keep it exciting for the little ones, we'll play the word listening game we love, where the children choose a word at the start, listen for that word, and receive a piece of candy each time they notice the word is said. I don't remember each of the words they chose for this last conference, but they did listen for "church" and "prayer" in two of the sessions.

As part of another tradition, here is a word cloud of the top 100 words said in the conference talks. Do you see "church" or "prayer" in the cluster?


I wonder which words the children will choose this time... Regardless of their choice, I hope they come away from conference knowing that, as President Monson taught:

We face many challenges in the world today, but I assure you that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us. He loves each of us and will bless us as we seek Him through prayer and strive to keep His commandments.

I'm excited for another great conference weekend with my family!

C'mon conference!

An Ensign to the Nations

This entry is part of my general conference application series.

An Ensign to the Nations, by Jeffrey R. Holland
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles


As I mowed the lawn last Saturday, I had an interesting chain of thoughts. I saw a little utilities marking flag on the border of our property and was reminded of seeing similar flags on the hillside at BYU marking sprinkler head locations (or something). I thought it was great that a simple little plastic flag had the BYU Y on it. My thoughts then wandered to the idea of either erecting a flagpole or affixing a flag holder to the side of our house. With such, we could raise a national flag on patriotic holidays, as well as a BYU flag on game days!


As I thought about these flags, I actually pictured a flag waving on a hill, similar to the ensign to the nations described by Elder Holland in his talk. I wondered if others seeing flags on our house would be stirred in any way—either with national pride or BYU appreciation. But then I wondered if my life is serving as a sort of flag—or ensign—letting others know what I believe by my actions.

Am I an ensign?

Speaking of general conference, Elder Holland said:

We testify to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people that God not only lives but also that He speaks, that for our time and in our day the counsel you have heard is, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, “the will of the Lord, … the word of the Lord, … the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation.”

I still haven't decided if we'll do anything to display flags at our house, but I have decided that I want my life to serve as an ensign to the nations. Yesterday I told my wife that it's my personal mission to change the culture of South Florida's customer service industry—cashier's aren't usually visibly happy here. I told her that each time I check out, I'm going to go out of my way to be happy, friendly, and nice to try to brighten their day and see if it spreads. Similarly, I want my life to stand as a witness of what I believe and know.

At all times. Not just at the checkout stand.

The Miracle of the Atonement

This entry is part of my general conference application series.

The Miracle of the Atonement, by C. Scott Grow
Of the Seventy


Doubtless, there are many ways that the Atonement is not like Walmart, but as I reviewed Elder Grow's talk, I couldn't help compare the Atonement to Walmart in one specific way.

We recently bought a membership to COSTCO. We're still wondering if 1.) we'll save enough over the year to justify the membership expense, and 2.) if our pantry is big enough to hold the enormously-sized containers sold there. When we checked the hours of operation, I was a little surprised that the doors weren't open for more hours in the day.

My schedule has become one of early to bed, early to rise. I awake so early during the week that if I were to need supplies (for lunch or something similar), all the stores would be closed. All the stores except for Walmart.


I actually slept in until 5am this morning. As I got out of bed, I actually wondered if things would be busier on my ride to work, given it was a couple of hours later than I've been going in. Specifically, I wondered if any stores would be open. As I knelt to pray, I thought of some mistakes I had made the previous day and was in the process of repenting when Walmart popped into my mind. My earlier thought process infiltrated my repentance, as if part of my mind had just awakened and said, "Walmart is the only store that is open now!" After scolding myself for not focusing on my prayer as I probably should have, I returned to praying.

As I read Elder Grow's account of his brother's path away from the Lord and then back again, something he said (twice) stuck in my mind:

The Atonement is available to everyone all the time, no matter how large or small the sin, "on conditions of repentance." . . .

The healing and redemptive power of the Atonement is available to each of us—always.

While much of the world around me may still be sleeping when I start my day, the Atonement is always available. I can pray for repentance and change even in the earliest hours of the morning (or latest hours of the night)—always!

The two Walmart stores between my home and work are out of the way enough so that I rarely go before work. They may be open, but they aren't convenient. The Atonement, on the other hand, is likewise "open" or available, but it is unlike Walmart in that it is always convenient.


Always.

Called to Be Saints

This entry is part of my general conference application series.

Called to Be Saints, by Benjamín De Hoyos
Of the Seventy


I recently listened to a radio interview with Trey Parker and Matt Stone (link to interview). These two are the creators of the South Park cartoon as well as collaborators on The Book of Mormon Musical. I enjoyed listening to the interview and hearing that while the story line does, indeed, poke fun at members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), the writers wanted to be sure that their admiration and respect for the same members was known.


Part of the interview featured a portion of one of the play's songs. This song, "Two By Two," features missionaries learning of where they are assigned to teach (link to song). Part of the song cleverly (in my opinion) points out the awkwardness of the loooong name of the Church: "We are the army of The Church of Jesus Christ... of Latter-day Saints."


As was discussed in the interview—and sung about in the song—the Church has a long name that doesn't really doesn't roll off the tongue. No wonder we're called Mormons, LDS, etc. by others.

Interestingly, the interview also discussed the official Church response to the musical. Parker actually said that it "is a great response," and Stone added, "which we completely agree with." They even said the response is a sort of QED showing the musical's audiences how "cool" the Church is.

Here's the response, by the way:

The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ.

In his talk, Elder De Hoyos recounted another radio show interview, this time ne that he and a companion gave on Mexican radio. One of the questions asked was, "Why does the Church have such a long name? Why don't you use a shorter or more commercial name?" After explaining that the name came by revelation from the Lord (see D&C 115:4), the questioner replied, "We will thus repeat it with great pleasure."

I don't recall how old I was when I had those same questions, but I do remember how the very name of the Church helps to clarify what the Church is: it is Jesus Christ's church in the latter-days, distinguished only in time from the Church He established in the Meridian of Time!

Now, I don't know exactly how the Book of Mormon Musical portrays Latter-day Saints, but I do know that there is great joy found in being, as Paul said, "fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God."

What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?

This entry is part of my general conference application series.

What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?, by Lynn G. Robbins
Of the Seventy


My children are amazing. I think they are wonderful and do amazing things. But there are times when the things they do require guidance and correction. I've noticed that I'm much more patient and understanding earlier in the day, but when night approaches and I'm increasingly tired, my parenting skills fade like the daylight outside.

In these times when correction is required, I will sometimes fail by saying something similar to, "Why are you this way?"

Each time I do this, I instantly remember that the children themselves aren't bad, they just made a poor decision. Reading Elder Robbins words was a great reminder to me of the difference between be and do. I enjoyed the quote he shared:

Never let failure progress from an action to an identity.

In addition to great counsel on proper parenting (both being good parents and doing good parenting things) was an interesting illustration regarding a To Do list. I often use lists to help me remember things that need to be done, as well as to track progress. I liked his view on lists in this application:

Many of us create to do lists to remind us of things we want to accomplish. But people rarely have to be lists. Why? To do’s are activities or events that can be checked off the list when done. To be, however, is never done. You can’t earn checkmarks with to be’s. I can take my wife out for a lovely evening this Friday, which is a to do. But being a good husband is not an event; it needs to be part of my nature—my character, or who I am.

I need to remind my children more often that they are amazing and not focus so much on mistakes they make. (I may benefit from applying this to myself, too.) I don't want them to wrongly think that if they do something wrong, then they are bad. Instead, I want them to know that I love them and that I will be there to lovingly help them when they make mistakes.

And that I love them when I make mistakes, too. (Especially when it's getting late in the day.)