General Conference Reflections, Part 1

Every six months or so I start to feel a sense of lethargy and discontent, and it's only when I remember that General Conference is a few weeks away that I realize how much I benefit from the regularity of this part of my religion, this semiannual opportunity to recharge my spirituality. So it is that as September came to a close I felt anxious and ready for something, and over the past week I have been looking forward to this conference.

My relationship with General Conference has changed a lot since I was a teenager and I would go the Priesthood session broadcast with Dad on Saturday and not much else. We didn't get any at-home broadcasts of conference, and I think we saw the first weekend each in April and October as a mini-vacation.

At BYU I came to appreciate conference, and I was able to attend few session in the Tabernacle during my freshman year. On my mission conference was a belated event (most of my time in Italy was spent far from a stake center with the broadcast, so we would watch a video tape a few weeks later). But on those occasions when I did get to go to the broadcast, it was a pilgrimage, a chance to sacrifice to hear from prophets.

My adult life has involved a range of experiences: I've gone to the Conference Center a few times, we've watched broadcasts on TV when we lived in Provo, we've gone to a stake center a few times, and we've listened to the streaming online a lot. Recently we've gravitated toward listening online, and even the kids have come to look forward to a lazy weekend together.

This is followed a few days later by the audio files, which I load onto my iPod and burn to CDs for Summer and the kids to listen to in the car and at home. I spend a lot of time for a month or so after conference listening to the messages.

This conference, however, I want to try something new. For each session of conference I intend to write some quick impressions. I'd like to expand on this over the next few weeks with some more detailed blogging on themes and topics that stand out to me.

So, to start, here's what stood out from Saturday morning's session. I was impressed with Elder Christofferson's talk on consecration, an idea that I have to admit has been on my mind recently. Ever since Summer and I have increased our temple attendance, I've felt that life has been smoother. It's not easy, but we seem more capable of facing those challenges with grace and calm.

But I realize the addictive nature of spirituality—the more you get it, the more you need it. My slip-ups now seem like pretty minor stuff compared with the mistakes I made 10 years ago, but they seem to affect me more. I find myself working harder than ever to do more than ever. But—and here's the blessing part of it all—I feel more capable of doing what I need to do.

I don't think I'm that far on the path toward consecration, but I do feel good about the direction my family and I are going, and I see some very real and very powerful blessings in our home and in our lives of late. And that fact gives me great hope as Summer and I strive to live even better, that these small acts will bring blessings to us and our children, and to those we love and serve.