April 1974 Friday morning session
I loved listening to the Women’s session of conference the other night because they spoke with such boldness. Our leaders are speaking to us boldly, more and more, it seems, well … so I thought. I’m learning, as I read earlier conference addresses, that our leaders have always spoken boldly to us. The idea that we never knew, or realized it, or have forgotten, makes me a little nervous. It is definitely time to wake up and taste the true sweetness of the everlasting covenant.
Paul H. Dunn quoted the newly sustained prophet, Spencer W. Kimball, from a talk that was given at BYU. (Sadly, the entire talk isn’t found on the Internet.)
“Sunday night, April 7, the great Tabernacle was closed, the lights turned out, and the record machines stopped, the door locked, and another historical conference became history. It will have been lost motion–a waste of time, energy, and money–if its messages are not heeded. In the seven two-hour sessions and in the several satellite meetings, truths were taught, doctrines expounded, exhortations given, enough to save the whole world from all its ills–and I mean from all its ills. …” (Spencer W. Kimball, “In the World But Not of It,” Speeches of the Year, Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1968, pp. 2-3.)
This remains so today, and we will know it next week as we listen once again to a historic conference. But it is up to us to wake up, heed the warnings, and accept the reminders to turn to the Lord and be healed.
Pres. Spencer W. Kimball opened the session by saying, “We are interested in numbers only incidentally. We are obsessed first to see that all men obtain eternal life.” Our church leaders are obsessed with helping us live better lives so we can feel happiness, not just in the life to come, but today; here, and now. Maybe we don’t fully understand that because too many of us are still fighting against the commandments, or arguing what constitutes real doctrine or not. And some still seem to just not care enough.
I think deep down we all recognize that God loves us, but maybe we wonder how He could, or why He would. Sometimes, I think we get ourselves so caught up in the world that we think we need to become someone–quick–before we die. We don’t realize that we are already someone special–an eternal being that God is waiting to pour out blessing after blessing upon.
His blessings will surely come if we but do a few very simple things. First, and foremost, we need to recognize that Satan wants us only to foil God’s plan. He lets us believe we are nothing because we are nothing to him. We need to wake up and stop being lulled into carnal security, where our souls are led carefully down to hell (see 2 Ne. 28:21).
Another simple thing is as we live worthy of Heavenly Father’s covenants all His promises will remain in full force, which leads to great happiness (see D&C 132:19). These covenants are evidence that God loves us and has much happiness in store for us. I love how Howard W. Hunter called the Sacrament a “new covenant of safety.”
Gordon B. Hinckley spoke about marriage during this conference. He told of a fictitious couple that might say to one another:
Johnny: “Mary, I love you. I want you for my wife and the mother of our children. But I don’t want you or them forever. Just for a season and then goodbye.”
Mary: “OK.”
People in the world say this to one another all the time and are okay with it. But we know that God wants us to love each other more–and longer– than that, because He loves us more–and longer–than that.
In contrast, Elder Hinckley shared the story of a New Zealand family who sold everything they owned–except their car, their furniture, and their dishes–in order to save money to go to the temple. But even after doing all that, they realized they still wouldn’t have enough money. “We cannot afford to go.” Looking into the disappointed faces of his wife and children, he said with new resolve, “We cannot afford not to go. If the Lord will give me strength, I can work and earn enough for another car and furniture and dishes, but if I should lose these my loved ones, I would be poor indeed in both life and in eternity.”
This conference session stated emphatically that God is with us when we make those hard choices to follow Him in reciprocated love. It is His priesthood that gives us the covenants that bind us to one another, and to Him, in eternal joy and happiness. How can the world and any counterfeit devised by Satan ever equal that?
Motherhood was also addressed during this conference. There are women who don’t have any desire to have children and women who put career first and later discover they can’t have children when they finally want them. Then, of course, there are governments who demand that a woman can only have one child or create laws that allow the destruction of excess children.
President Kimball said:
“Motherhood thus becomes a holy calling, a sacred dedication for carrying out the Lord’s plans. … This divine service of motherhood can be rendered only by mothers. … Motherhood is near to Divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels. To you mothers in Israel we say, God bless and protect you, and give you the strength and courage, the faith and knowledge, the holy love and consecration to duty, that shall enable you to fill to the fullest measure the sacred calling which is yours.”
Such beautiful words about woman’s role in the everlasting plan of God’s most precious everlasting covenant–eternal families.
Why are we blessed so much? Why is so much offered to us? Why are we permitted to help in the building of this precious kingdom? Why do we have conference, commandments, and covenants?
This is why–Howard W. Hunter spoke on the Savior’s final hours; how He foiled every ploy and illusion against Him. His sacrifice is the Sacrament which we partake week after week to remind us, renew us, and reawaken us to our divine destiny. When we feel the love that comes from His sacrifice, we immediately feel love toward one another. We then can become obsessed with eternal life for our loved ones. We will know the right sacrifices to make in our own lives. We will recognize our important duties to fulfill in the Plan of our Father. We will be able to overcome the evil that circles around us; and our covenants will keep us safe, as we continually taste the true sweetness of His everlasting covenants. We will willingly do all of this because we have tasted the sweetness and joy of Jesus Christ and His glorious sacrifice.
Additional General Conference Odyssey posts:
Our Unwearying Savior Daniel Ortner
Prayerful watching Marilyn Nielson
Thank you for doing this work