Thursday, October 7, 2010

General Conference Reflections, Part 3

The Priesthood session of conference was somewhat bittersweet. The messages were wonderful, and I was especially happy to see so many priesthood holders from our ward at the chapel where we watched the session (10 or so of us went out for ice cream afterwards, which was also pleasant).

But it was also a bit sad. I had been successful in getting two tickets to see this session in the Conference Center, and we had hoped to go up Salt Lake so my younger brother and I could go to the session together. The fact that we didn't go was a disappointment, and several times during the session I felt like I had failed by not being there.

The Priesthood session also makes me think about the future. In three years my oldest son will be a 12-year-old deacon, and three years after that I will have two Aaronic Priesthood-aged sons. Nine years from now our youngest will be a deacon, and each of those years should see me and my sons at the Conference Center for that session of conference.

This Priesthood session included several messages that impressed me, but none more so than that by Patrick Kearon of the Seventy, who weaved several personal experiences that highlighted his message that “complete healing and peace can be found at the feet of the Savior,” and that to achieve that we must overcome our tendency to laziness and rebelliousness.

I found in this message something that I have seen in my own life. My youthful inclination toward these two sins—which still rear their heads in my life today—limited my ability to feel the spirit. Humility and diligence, the opposites of the laziness and rebelliousness spoken of by Elder Kearon, are the things that bless my life, the attributes I wish to instill in my sons as they prepare to hold the priesthood, serve missions, and become husbands and fathers themselves. And these attributes are the things that will ultimately make me the person I ought to become.

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