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This is my semi-annual post in which I turn President
Monson’s conference address inside out, upside down, looking at it forwards,
backwards, sideways, and obliquely, analyzing it within an inch of its life to
get as much insight and counsel from it as possible! Woo-hoo! Here goes!
(jumps in with a splash)
My beloved brothers and sisters, this conference
marks 49 years since I was sustained, on October 4, 1963, as a member of
the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Forty-nine years is a long time. In many
ways, however, the time seems very short since I stood at the pulpit in the
Tabernacle and gave my very first general conference address.
Much has changed since October 4, 1963. We
live in a unique time in the world’s history. We are blessed with so very much.
And yet it is sometimes difficult to view the problems and permissiveness
around us and not become discouraged. I have found that, rather than dwelling
on the negative, if we will take a step back and consider the
blessings in our lives, including seemingly small, sometimes overlooked
blessings, we can find greater happiness.
President Monson does not brush away the difficulties of our
age; he acknowledges that it is
sometimes difficult to keep from getting discouraged. What he shares with us is what he’s found helps him to find
greater happiness. I notice that
he recommends instead of dwelling on the negatives around us (society in
decline, moral standards dropping, etc..), we consider the blessings in our
lives. I don’t think this is about
burying our heads in the sand, but rather choosing our focus. Certainly what we choose to focus on is
going to make a difference. And
while we don’t have control over the whole of society (as others retain their
agency), we do retain control over our own lives and our own focus.
I also notice that he recommends that we also consider
“seemingly small, sometimes overlooked blessings” in order to find greater
happiness. I think this is very wise. So many times I expect my happiness to
come from big dramatic events and I forget to notice the little triumphs and
blessings, like simple satisfaction from a job well done, finding exactly what
I need at the store when I really need it, small prayer requests answered,
determination renewed from the encouragement of good people, and so much
more.
As I have reviewed the past 49 years, I have
made some discoveries.
There is no way that President Monson could have remembered
what happened over 49 years with any extra detail unless he had been carefully
and consistently writing in his journal.
(Hello! This is another bit of counsel we get, though it isn’t
explicitly mentioned—to write in our
journals.) After consistent
writing and recording details for years, President Monson was able to examine
his life and see patterns that he wouldn’t have recognized otherwise, or to
remind himself of things that he forgot.
One is that countless experiences I have had
were not necessarily those one would consider extraordinary. In fact, at the
time they transpired, they often seemed unremarkable and even ordinary. And
yet, in retrospect, they enriched and blessed lives—not the least of which was
my own.
I’ve seen this happen too in my life. Often I don’t think an experience is
unusual when I’m having it, but pondering it over a few days shows me it is
worth recording, so I do. (Looking
back, I think it is the Holy Ghost that helps me feel those experiences are
worth recording.) And often when I
go back over my journal in future years I am so thankful that I wrote those
experiences down because there is no way I would have remembered them. They weren’t dramatically huge, but
they were still special enough to bring me satisfaction and happiness.
Also, there are blessings that we may be receiving that
don’t strike us as special, but if we really think about them and how our lives
would be without them, we can see how special they really are.
I would recommend this same exercise to
you—namely, that you take an inventory of your life and look
specifically for the blessings, large and small, you have received.
Take life inventory,
looking for large and small blessings. The more we write in our journal, the more there will be to
take inventory of, and the bigger the project may be, but the greater the
blessings of it can be too. So far
I have seventeen volumes of journal I can read through, and each journal
probably takes me four or five hours each, so I may spend up to 85 hours over
the course of the next six months reading and thinking about the blessings in
my life. I know just from having
perused one journal and thinking about blessings from it that my level of
gratitude and happiness increased much more than I thought.
I’m the music leader in my ward’s primary and I did a
singing time activity a few weeks ago in which we sang a number of primary
songs and then looked for as many things named in those songs that we could be
thankful for and we wrote those things on the board. Junior primary found 40 things to be thankful for and senior
primary found 59 things to be thankful for. One child shared the word “again” from “When I am Baptized”
and I realized that, yes, it was such a blessing to be able to do things again because that means you can
experience multiple times the things you love. (How’s that for a small blessing that pays big dividends?) Think
what life would be like if you couldn’t listen to a beautiful song any more
than once.. Children can be really
creative about finding things to be thankful for when they are challenged to
look, and I bet the rest of us can be just as good at it if we put our minds to
it.
Reinforced constantly during my own review of
the years has been my knowledge that our prayers are heard and answered. We are
familiar with the truth found in 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon: “Men are, that they might have
joy.”1 I testify that much of that joy comes as
we recognize that we can communicate with our Heavenly Father through prayer
and that those prayers will be heard and answered—perhaps not how and when we
expected they would be answered, but they will be answered and by a Heavenly
Father who knows and loves us perfectly and who desires our happiness. Hasn’t
He promised us, “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the
hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers”?2
Another bit of counsel—pray and be humble.
I remember when I heard that much joy can come from praying
and finding our prayers are heard and answered, I kind of thought, “Eh,
whatever.” But I’ve been trying to
be better with my prayers (again) and I have seen the President Monson is
right! I’ve felt so much joy from
seeing my prayers answered! And it
is one thing to remember prayers of our past that were answered, and it is
quite another to have experience today
that answers prayers. Current
experiences renew our testimony and increase our confidence in the Lord.
For the next few minutes allotted to me, I would
like to share with you just a tiny sampling of the experiences I have had
wherein prayers were heard and answered and which, in retrospect, brought
blessings into my life as well as the lives of others.
President Monson notes the experiences he will share blessed
his life as well as others, so this was something that I looked for as I
studied the rest of his talk. I
asked myself, “How did this experience bless President Monson and how did it bless
others?”
My daily journal, kept over all these years, has
helped provide some specifics which I most likely would not otherwise be able
to recount.
Another plug for keeping a journal!
Sometimes it feels like we don’t have time to put all the details in when we are writing in our journals,
but the details can be what remind us of how involved the blessing was.
The interesting thing I noticed is the five stories he
shares feature times when it wasn’t necessarily his prayers being answered, but prayers of others. I think he had plenty of stories about
his own prayers that he could have shared, but I also think he chose to share
others’ experiences to remind that God is no respecter of persons and that He
answers not just the prayers of the prophets but ours as well.
Story #1
In early 1965, I was assigned to attend stake
conferences and to hold other meetings throughout the South Pacific area. This
was my first visit to that part of the world, and it was a time never to be
forgotten. Much that was spiritual in nature occurred during this assignment as
I met with leaders, members, and missionaries.
On the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, February
20 and 21, we were in Brisbane, Australia, to hold regular conference sessions
of the Brisbane Stake. During meetings on Saturday, I was introduced to the
district president from an adjoining area. As I shook his hand, I had a strong
impression that I needed to speak with him and to provide counsel, and so I
asked him if he would accompany me to the Sunday morning session the following
day so that this could be accomplished.
Following the Sunday session, we had an
opportunity to visit together. We talked of his many responsibilities as
district president. As we did so, I felt impressed to offer him specific
suggestions concerning missionary work and how he and his members could
help the full-time missionaries in their labors in his area. I later learned
that this man had been praying for guidance in this regard. To him our visit
was a special witness that his prayers were heard and answered. This was a
seemingly unremarkable meeting but one which I am convinced was guided by the
Spirit and which made a difference in that district president’s life and
administration, in the lives of his members, and in the success of the
missionaries there.
My brothers and sisters, the Lord’s purposes are
often accomplished as we pay heed to the guidance of the Spirit. I believe that
the more we act upon the inspiration and impressions which come to us, the more
the Lord will entrust to us His errands.
So what was it about this experience that blessed President
Monson’s life?
·
He felt satisfied he had acted on the impressions he got.
·
He felt satisfied he helped someone with his problems and
questions without knowing he was doing so.
·
He knew had been led by the Spirit. (It’s a wonderful thing to feel useful
to the Lord.)
What about this experience blessed the life of the district
president who received the counsel?
·
He saw that the Lord answered his prayers.
·
He received personal time with an apostle (!), who expressed
interest in him and wanted to have a conversation about how he was doing with
his responsibilities.
·
He got the direction he needed, with specific suggestions.
I have to wonder if President Monson’s meeting with the
district president was going the extra mile, since the man was from an adjoining area. Does that mean the district president
was trying to get a double dose?
Would his district have gotten a visit from President Monson
anyway? I don’t know.
President Monson tells us that his meeting with the district
president was “seemingly unremarkable,” probably in the context of all the
other meetings and interviews that he did. There were many
spiritual experiences throughout that trip, and all of it good. The extra blessing from it, however,
seems to be that President Monson later learned how he had made a difference
for the district president.
Somehow the district president got a message to President Monson about how
his prayers had been answered by President Monson’s suggestions.
I have to point out here that I noticed that in all of the
stories President Monson shares in this talk, besides the commonality of
focusing on how prayers are answered, they all have something that shows President
Monson later learned the rest of the
story. The significance of his
experience did not present it self immediately; he had to learn about it
later. It wasn’t immediately
obvious how he was being of service as he was following a prompting from the
Spirit. He really had to have
faith.
When I noticed this, I also thought to myself, “But
President Monson has all these people who want to tell him the story of how
what he did really made a difference in their lives! He’s special because he’s a prophet! But then I thought, “Wait a second;
this is something we should be doing for each other too!” I realized that when someone in my ward
shares a message that perfectly meets my spiritual needs, I need to tell them
about it. And when someone in my
ward serves me in a way that profoundly blesses my life, I need to make sure
they know how much I appreciate it.
We bless each other without knowing that we are doing it because the
Spirit leads us, but it is learning how we have helped that makes our service a
double blessing to us.
President Monson points out how if we act more on the
inspiration we receive, the Lord will entrust us with more errands. This is something I have to work on
because I tend to be somewhat impulsive, and I have had some spiritual things
I’ve tried to do on impulse blow up in my face (i.e. offend people). That’s made me cautious. But I trust that I will learn.
Story #2
I have learned, as I have mentioned in previous
messages, never to postpone a prompting. On one occasion many years ago, I was
swimming laps at the old Deseret Gym in Salt Lake City when I felt the
inspiration to go to the University Hospital to visit a good friend of mine who
had lost the use of his lower limbs because of a malignancy and the surgery
which followed. I immediately left the pool, dressed, and was soon on my way to
see this good man.
I find it interesting that President Monson was in the
middle of swimming (exercise) when this prompting came. He could have said to himself that he
would do it when he was done with his swim, but instead, he acted immediately.
When I arrived at his room, I found that it was
empty. Upon inquiry I learned I would probably find him in the swimming pool
area of the hospital, an area which was used for physical therapy.
It is neat that President Monson didn’t give up when he
found his friend’s room empty. He
inquired after him and tracked him down.
That tells you how much faith he put in the inspiration he received that
it was important to find his friend.
Such turned out to be the case. He had guided
himself there in his wheelchair and was the only occupant of the room. He was
on the far side of the pool, near the deep end. I called to him, and he
maneuvered his wheelchair over to greet me. We had an enjoyable visit, and I
accompanied him back to his hospital room, where I gave him a blessing.
I learned later…
President Monson had no idea at the time that his friend’s
life was at stake, and his friend didn’t say anything at the time to indicate
his despondency. If this friend
hadn’t ever said anything afterward,
this visit would have seemed ordinary, except for the inspiration for the
visit. It was learning the
backstory later that made this experience special.
I learned later from my friend that he had been
utterly despondent that day and had been contemplating taking his own life. He
had prayed for relief but began to feel that his prayers had gone unanswered.
He went to the pool with the thought that this would be a way to end his misery—by
guiding his wheelchair into the deep end of the pool. I had arrived at a
critical moment, in response to what I know was inspiration from on high.
My friend was able to live many more years—years
filled with happiness and gratitude. How pleased I am to have been an
instrument in the Lord’s hands on that critical day at the swimming pool.
This story is very difficult for me for several
reasons. First, I have mentioned
troubles with impulsiveness. Sometimes
I have troubles finishing things because I get ideas of something else to do
instead. I have to work hard to
finish what I start. So, I worry
that I might feel obligated to interrupt myself all the time, while thinking
that if I don’t do what my impulse is, it might lead to someone committing
suicide! Perhaps that sounds
absurd, but somehow that’s what I worry about.
I suppose the story highlights for us the importance of
learning to recognize the voice of the Spirit. This is something that I feel I need to work on; I have a
hard time telling whether it is the Spirit speaking to me or whether it is just
me. I suppose it is the kind of
thing that has to be learned (and relearned) by experience.
How did this experience bless President Monson?
·
He had a good conversation with his friend and was able to
use his priesthood.
·
He learned there was a reason behind the inspiration he
received to visit his friend in the hospital.
·
He was able to be an answer to his friend’s prayer.
·
He learned that he was able to save his friend’s life just
by visiting.
How did this experience bless President Monson’s friend?
·
He got to see that the Lord heard his prayer and knew of his
desperation even if an answer didn’t appear in the next instant or even the
next five minutes.
·
He learned President Monson cared for him enough to make an
unscheduled visit.
·
His hope for his life was renewed.
Another thing I notice from this story is that President
Monson seems to do a lot of visiting people. Visits are part of his modus
operandi and go clear back to when he visited those 80+ widows when he was
a bishop. I’m glad I do visiting
teaching, but something tells me there is a certain power in personal unscheduled
visits that we forget in our fast-paced world. I can think of two times when I made unscheduled visits to
some people and discovered that I had been inspired.
Story #3
On another occasion, as Sister Monson and I were
driving home after visiting friends, I felt impressed that we should go into
town—a drive of many miles—to pay a visit to an elderly widow who had once
lived in our ward. Her name was Zella Thomas. At the time, she was a resident
in a care center. That early afternoon we found her to be extremely frail but
lying peacefully on her bed.
Here’s another case of an unscheduled visit and not one that
was convenient; he had to drive many miles to do it. It is also a case of visiting an elderly widow, something he
had done before, so while visiting widows might be an uncommon practice for us,
President Monson, if he had chosen, could have called it unremarkable.
Zella had long been blind, but she recognized
our voices immediately. She asked if I might give her a blessing, adding that
she was prepared to die if the Lord wanted her to return home. There was a
sweet, peaceful spirit in the room, and all of us knew that her remaining time
in mortality would be brief. Zella took me by the hand and said that she had
prayed fervently that I would come to see her and provide her a blessing. I
told her that we had come because of direct inspiration from our Heavenly
Father.
Once again, it seems that learning that Zella had
specifically prayed for him to come elevated what could have been an ordinary
ministering visit into something much more dear to President Monson.
I kissed her on the forehead, knowing that I
perhaps would not again see her in mortality. Such proved to be the case, for
she passed away the following day. To have been able to provide some comfort
and peace to our sweet Zella was a blessing to her and to me.
How was this experience a blessing to President Monson?
·
It was a chance to use the priesthood.
·
It was satisfying to find out he had been an answer to
prayer.
·
It was probably satisfying to find out that he had been the
one that she prayed to see.
·
It was satisfying to find out he visited Zella at a good
time, since she died the next day.
How was this experience a blessing to Zella Thomas?
·
She got to see her prayers answered—the Lord knew who she
wanted to see and brought him to her.
·
She obtained a priesthood blessing as she wanted.
Story #4
The opportunity to be a blessing in the life of
another often comes unexpectedly. On one extremely cold Saturday night during
the winter of 1983–84, Sister Monson and I drove several miles to the mountain
valley of Midway, Utah, where we have a home. The temperature that night was
minus 24 degrees Fahrenheit (–31°C), and we wanted to make certain all was well
at our home there. We checked and found that it was fine, so we left to return
to Salt Lake City. We barely made it the few miles to the highway before our
car stopped working. We were completely stranded. I have seldom, if ever, been
as cold as we were that night.
Reluctantly we began walking toward the nearest
town, the cars whizzing past us. Finally one car stopped, and a young man
offered to help. We eventually found that the diesel fuel in our gas tank had
thickened because of the cold, making it impossible for us to drive the car.
This kind young man drove us back to our Midway home. I attempted to reimburse him
for his services, but he graciously declined. He indicated that he was a Boy
Scout and wanted to do a good turn.
This certainly identifies how fundamentally good the young
man was, if that explanation rose to the top of his mind when offered reimbursement.
I identified myself to him, and he expressed his
appreciation for the privilege to be of help. Assuming that he was about
missionary age, I asked him if he had plans to serve a mission.
Here President Monson is checking out how the young man is doing
in a manner appropriate to his age.
This is how cares for his stewardship and fulfills his responsibility to
bring others to Christ and to strengthen his brethren.
He indicated he was not certain just what he
wanted to do.
On the following Monday morning, I wrote a
letter to this young man and thanked him for his kindness. In the letter I
encouraged him to serve a full-time mission. I enclosed a copy of one of my
books and underscored the chapters on missionary service.
The case of this young man must have preyed upon President
Monson’s mind afterwards. Most
people would have left matters where they stood, but President Monson seems
have gone to some trouble to find out the young man’s address, and he followed
up with a letter of gratitude, encouragement to serve a mission, and the gift
of a book with specific counsel for the young man underlined in it.
About a week later the young man’s mother
telephoned and advised that her son was an outstanding young man but that
because of certain influences in his life, his long-held desire to serve a
mission had diminished. She indicated she and his father had fasted and prayed
that his heart would be changed. They had placed his name on the prayer roll of
the Provo Utah Temple. They hoped that somehow, in some way, his heart would be
touched for good and he would return to his desire to fill a mission and to
serve the Lord faithfully. The mother wanted me to know that she looked upon
the events of that cold evening as an answer to their prayers in his behalf. I
said, “I agree with you.”
Once again, sharing with President Monson the backstory of
why his help was appreciated made this experience into a greater blessing.
After several months and more communication with
this young man, Sister Monson and I were overjoyed to attend his missionary
farewell prior to his departure for the Canada Vancouver Mission.
It is neat that the interaction continued between President
Monson and the young man. He
builds it into a relationship instead of something disposable. How many of us, if we had been stuck on
the highway like President Monson was, would have continued to connect with a
person who helped us? How many of
us would have sent thank you letters or would have continued to connect? This makes me think about how I choose
who I will form lasting relationships with. It shows me that maybe I am rather selfish, choosing to
cultivate relationships that I expect to gain from, rather than just
cultivating relationships because a person is a child of God.
Was it chance that our paths crossed on that
cold December night? I do not for one moment believe so. Rather, I believe our
meeting was an answer to a mother’s and father’s heartfelt prayers for the son
they cherished.
Again, my brothers and sisters, our Heavenly Father
is aware of our needs and will help us as we call upon Him for assistance. I
believe that no concern of ours is too small or insignificant. The Lord is in
the details of our lives.
How was President Monson blessed by this experience?
·
He received help on a very cold night.
·
He got a chance to use his influence for good to persuade a
young man to go on a mission.
·
He got to find out how events had been orchestrated to bring
about his meeting with the young man.
·
He got to find out why his efforts to reach out to the young
man were an answer to prayer and fasting.
How was the young man blessed by this experience?
·
He got an opportunity to do a good turn (and for an
apostle!)
·
He got to visit with an apostle and discuss the direction of
his life.
·
He got to have multiple interactions with Thomas S. Monson.
·
Ultimately his desire to go on a mission was strengthened
and bore fruit.
When you think of all the conditions that had to line up for
that meeting to take place between that young man and President Monson, you get
an idea of how involved the Lord can be in the details of our lives. Consider the factors that the Lord
would need to take into account:
1.
President Monson’s diesel car and the distance it would be
able to drive before the gas would thicken and starve the engine.
2.
How cold it would have to be and for how long before the
diesel gas would thicken.
3.
Getting President Monson to the right place.
4.
Getting the young man on that highway going in the right
direction at the right time.
We understand what got President Monson out there; he and
his wife were concerned about their Midway house and whether it was okay. (I’ve heard stories of mountain cabins
whose pipes burst and flood during exceptionally cold weather, so maybe this
was on their minds.) What we don’t
know was what brought that young man out on the road at that time.
When we examine our lives, I’m sure we can find all kinds of
experiences like this where circumstances just lined up perfectly to bring
about a tender mercy and when we think about all the factors that had to be
taken into account to make it happen, it boggles our minds. That is when we know that the Lord has
been at work in the details of our lives.
And the amazing thing is that when He is setting it all up, we have no
idea.
Probably when President Monson and his wife were starting
that frigid walk to the nearest town he never realized that unpleasant
experience was an integral part of a blessing the Lord was about to bestow on
another person. This makes me
think that there may be times when uncomfortable things I experience may be
part of the Lord’s plan to bless some of His other children. If I could only remember that the next
time I have one, I might be able to bear it more patiently..
Story #5
I should like to conclude by relating one recent
experience which had an impact on hundreds. It occurred at the cultural
celebration for the Kansas City Temple, just five months ago. As with so much
that happens in our lives, at the time it seemed to be just another experience
where everything worked out. However, as I learned of the circumstances
associated with the cultural celebration the evening before the temple was
dedicated, I realized that the performance that night was not ordinary. Rather,
it was quite remarkable.
President Monson goes to cultural celebrations every time
there is a temple dedication, so it would be easy for him to think of the event
as unremarkable. Yet you always
hear him mention them in conference and speak of how well done they are. This shows he works hard to not take
for granted the wonderful experiences he has. Learning of the circumstances behind the excellent
performance, however, made the Kansas City cultural celebration into an extra
blessing.
This is an interesting story too because it is one in which
President Monson wasn’t directly involved. However, you might say that his impending visit was a
motivating factor and all the participants wanted to present an excellent
performance for him.
As with all cultural events held in conjunction
with temple dedications, the youth in the Kansas City Missouri Temple District
had rehearsed the performance in separate groups in their own areas. The plan
was that they would meet all together in the large rented municipal center on
the Saturday morning of the performance so that they could learn when and where
to enter, where they were to stand, how much space should be between them and
the person next to them, how to exit the main floor, and so forth—many details
which they would have to grasp during the day as those in charge put the
various scenes together so that the final performance would be polished and
professional.
There was just one major problem that day. The
entire production was dependent on prerecorded segments that would be shown on
the large screen known as a Jumbotron. These recorded segments were critical to
the entire production. They not only tied it all together, but each televised
segment would introduce the next performance. The video segments provided the
framework on which the entire production depended. And the Jumbotron was not
working.
Technicians worked frantically to solve the
problem while the youth waited, hundreds of them, losing precious rehearsal
time. The situation began to look impossible.
The writer and director of the celebration,
Susan Cooper, later explained: “As we moved from plan A to B to Z, we knew that
it wasn’t working. … As we were looking at the schedule, we knew that it was
going to be beyond us, but we knew that we had one of the greatest strengths on
the floor below—3,000 youth. We needed to go down and tell [them] what was
happening and draw upon their faith.”3
I loved this statement of Susan Cooper’s that President
Monson shares because it exemplifies a number of excellent virtues. She moved from plan A to B to Z--showing
resourcefulness and creativity and hard work. Taking into account the schedule, she knew the performance would
be beyond their abilities--showing humility. She also knew the power of prayer, the faith of the youth
participating, and the great power that comes from large numbers of people
united in prayer for the same thing--showing her great faith in the efficacy of
prayer and the mercy of the Lord to hear and answer. Because she had that faith, she was able to inspire them to
exert their faith as well.
Just an hour before the audience would begin to
enter the center, 3,000 youth knelt on the floor and prayed together. They
prayed that those working on the Jumbotron would be inspired to know what to do
to repair it; they asked their Heavenly Father to make up for what they
themselves could not do because of the shortage of time.
Said one who wrote about it afterward, “It was a
prayer the youth will never forget, not because the floor was hard, but because
the Spirit melted their bones.”4
I really think that this blessing of united prayer is
available to all of us. If,
instead of just listening, we pray in our hearts for the same things as others
are praying for as they speak, then our faith unites with theirs and prayers
become more powerful. This can be
done in family prayers, class prayers, prayers in sacrament meeting, and so on.
It was not long before one of the technicians
came to tell them that the problem had been discovered and corrected. He
attributed the solution to luck, but all those youth knew better.
I was thinking about this and I realized “lucky” solutions
are ones that seem possible but success is uncertain. Faith is required to try them and the success that comes
seems almost too easily obtained.
I think the technician showed faith too by continuing to try things on
the Jumbotron.
When we entered the municipal center that
evening, we had no idea of the difficulties of the day. Only later did we learn
of them. What we witnessed, however, was a beautiful, polished performance—one
of the best I have seen. The youth radiated a glorious, powerful spirit which
was felt by all who were present. They seemed to know just where to enter,
where to stand, and how to interact with all the other performers around them.
When I learned that their rehearsals had been cut short and that many of the
numbers had not been rehearsed by the entire group, I was astonished. No one
would have known. The Lord had indeed made up the difference.
President Monson must have had enough experience with this
kind of thing to not take the importance of practice for granted.
I think the way that the youth were able to know just where
to enter, where to stand, how to interact, and so on is a perfect example of
the perfect harmony of action that the entire church can achieve when all the
members are unified by the Spirit and pray to live by inspiration. If the youth could do exactly what was
needed, think how amazing it would be if the whole church could act in concert
by inspiration in all our various walks of life?
I never cease to be amazed by how the Lord can
motivate and direct the length and breadth of His kingdom and yet have time to
provide inspiration concerning one individual—or one cultural celebration or
one Jumbotron. The fact that He can, that He does, is a testimony to me.
I suppose if all our journals were mined for the blessings
that we have received and then put all together, we would see the scope of the
Lord’s care for us all, His mighty power and His attention to detail, as well
as the intimate knowledge He has of our lives, along with His masterful ability
to prepare and order events for our good.
My brothers and sisters, the Lord is in all of
our lives. He loves us. He wants to bless us. He wants us to seek His help.
It makes a difference whether you believe the Lord wants us
to seek His help or whether you believe the Lord doesn’t want to be
bothered. Believing the Lord wants
us to seek His help encourages us to come to Him more often, bringing Him problems
large and small. It suggests that
there may be blessings He can’t give us unless we ask for them. (Not that He would be unable to give those blessings without
our praying for them, but the blessings might be more effective if we recognize
them, and to ask for them helps us recognize them, which means they have a
teaching component to them.)
As He guides us and directs us and as He hears
and answers our prayers, we will find the happiness here and now that He
desires for us. May we be aware of His blessings in our lives, I pray in the
name of Jesus
Christ, our Savior, amen.
So… what counsel do I get
from this talk?
1.
Consider the
blessings, large and small, in my life.
2.
Keep my journal,
recording blessings I’ve received.
3.
Read my journal,
looking for blessings I’ve received.
4.
Find joy in
communicating with the Lord in prayer and in seeing my prayers answered.
Areas I recognize I need
improvement because of this talk:
1.
Sincere prayer
2.
Recognizing and
following inspiration
3.
Building deeper
relationships
Ideas for teaching a lesson from this talk
·
Make sure
everyone in the class has a copy of President Monson’s talk.
·
Ask your class
to read through the first four paragraphs and look for as many bits of counsel
(specific or implied) as they can find.
Write them on the board.
Ask your class what they think about how this counsel can help them
today.
·
Divide the class
into five groups and assign each one to study one of the five stories President
Monson tells. Give them paper and
a pencil. Ask them to write how
the experience in the story blessed President Monson and how it blessed the
other people in the story. Also
ask them to look for any other bits of counsel they notice. Ask each group to present what they
found.
·
Ahead of time,
invite three people from the class to bring one of their journals to class, and
ask them to be prepared to share a few experiences they found written in their
journals that remind them of large, medium, and small blessings they have
received. Ask them how they felt
as they remembered these experiences.
·
Read through
your journal and make a list of blessings you find. Notice and record the feelings you have as you read. Bring the list to show your class
members and share how you felt as you made the list.
·
Make an extra
effort to pray sincerely and in secret each
day about your problems and to thank the Lord for your blessings. Notice when your prayers are answered
and write about these experiences in your journal. (Also write about any additional blessings you
received.) This will allow you to
testify with greater confidence during the lesson that Heavenly Father answers
prayers. Challenge your class
members to do the same.
