It's been three weeks since General Conference, and I'm only now drafting my post about it. Why the delay? Like everyone, I'm busier than I'd like to be. My dream world would include limitless time to read, write, and walk, but alas, household responsibilities and a job worm their way in, and rob me of my precious reading and writing time. (I'm a fanatic about walking; nothing impedes that.) I also needed time to think about what I would say, time to process the talks and focus on what resonated most with me as well as reflect on their significance to the world at this time. This process continues indefinitely, but I think I'm ready to put words to a few of my thoughts.
First, I so loved Elder Bednar's talk on "The Parable of the Wedding Feast." Exegetical discussion of scripture is my favorite, and Elder Bednar did a fabulous job explaining the spiritual truths in this parable. I was mesmerized! To be "chosen" is NOT an exclusive status. We all can "choose to be chosen," as we honor our covenant relationship with God. Hooray!
I was also grateful for Elder Renlund's talk as he reminded us that "with the help of the Holy Ghost, we can transform ourselves into the beings God intends us to be." Consider the power in those words! The covenant relationship that began with Abraham and Sarah and their little family so long ago is now ours. It is personally transformative and the sole means by which we realize our divine lineage and potential. Elder Renlund was also clear about our sacred responsibility to seek and receive personal revelation for our lives as we move through our own covenant journey: "Leaders may guide and give counsel, but choices and decisions belong with us." Woo!
Happiest of all was I, when Elder Uchtdorf announced the revised "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet. Truth be told, I have always disliked that particular document, so much so that I basically ignored it as I raised my teenagers and considered it only slightly when I served in a Young Women's Presidency. The rigid rules and legalism in the former version of the pamphlet did nothing to strengthen my testimony, deepen my conversion, or help me feel yoked to my Savior, and if I felt that put off by the language and tone, imagine how our sweet young men and young women might have felt.
But guys!!! This new one is splendidly different! It doesn’t make choices for us, but focuses on the "doctrine, foundations, and values" to guide our choices. It points our youth not so much to rules but to the only source where they can find true hope....their Savior, Jesus Christ. "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophesies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins" (2 Nephi 25:26).
Time with our youth is limited and so precious. Shoulder shaming our adorable young women and preaching againt tattoos to our awesome young men seem like sad and unproductive uses of that precious time. Surely there are other principles more worthy. What if instead we asked them to reflect upon what living a covenant life might look like, knowing it will look different for each of us? Or what if we asked them to consider what they already know about the character of their Savior and how remembering His goodness and power and love might sustain them in the darker periods of mortality? Or what if we shared how we have used His healing atonement in our own lives to carry us when we couldn't walk on our own?
Surely discussions such as these would strengthen our youth and nurture their conversion process way more than inconsequential, culturally-specific stuff like hemlines, earrings, tank tops, and tattoos.
This revised pamphlet refocuses us on the only true source of strength: Jesus!
And that, my friends, is "For the Strength of Everyone!"
