As I mentioned in a previous post, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that God has called modern-day prophets and apostles to lead and guide the world in our day. Every six months, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints come together to receive instruction from these prophets and apostles and other Church leaders in a General Conference of the Church. We tune in every six months online or on television to watch four two-hour sessions (plus two bonus sessions, one for men and one for women) and receive instruction and guidance from Church leaders. It is an awesome, edifying experience! If you are interested, you can see the talks from our most recent General Conference here. You are also invited to join us at any conference during the first weekend of each April and October on lds.org or BYUtv.
When I started my first job after law school five years ago, I had a steady commute for the first time in my life. For the first few months, I listened to music on the radio. However, after some time, I got tired of listening to the radio, and I felt it was not a productive use of my time. So I decided to turn the radio off, and I opted for something that I felt would help lift me up and help me in my efforts to keep my covenants to “always remember [Jesus Christ].” I pulled up the talks from the most recent General Conference and started listening to them. It wasn’t long, however, that I finished listening to those, so I decided I needed a bigger project so that I wouldn’t have to keep deciding what to listen to next. With this in mind, I decided to start at the beginning -- at least as far back as the app on my phone would go. The Gospel Library app has all the General Conference talks from 1971 forward. So, I decided to start in 1971 and work my way to present day. And approximately four years later, I have recently finished listening to every General Conference talk since 1971 (I picked up some serious momentum about a year-and-a-half ago when I changed jobs and my round trip commute increased by an hour every day).
This project has been great! It has been neat to go through the recent history of the Church as it is played out General Conference by General Conference. It was fun to reflect on my own life as measured by General Conferences (i.e., as I listened to General Conference from October 1982, I thought of how my mom was 7 months pregnant with me, and as I listened to General Conference from April 2004, I thought about how I was just two days away from returning home from my two-year mission to New Jersey). Most importantly, though, this experience has been phenomenal for my spiritual journey. I felt the Spirit on nearly a daily basis. My testimony of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel grew. Listening to these talks was a great way to bookend my work days to develop and nourish my faith.
Throughout this project, I have kept a list of talks that particularly struck a chord with me, or that I want to revisit. The result is a list of over 450 talks! I won’t post the full list here, but I do want to share some of my absolute favorite talks. It is very hard to narrow down a list of 450+ talks, so this is in no way a definitive list of my favorite talks. But I thought I would share here a few talks that I thought were particularly worth sharing.
Without further ado, here is my not-so-definitive list of my 23 favorite general conference talks since 1971 (appearing in chronological order):
Why it makes this list: This talk is among my favorites because the parable of the debtor, creditor, and mediator he shares helps me to better understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how it satisfies both justice and mercy.
Excerpt: “Each of us lives on a kind of spiritual credit. One day the account will be closed, a settlement demanded. However casually we may view it now, when that day comes and the foreclosure is imminent, we will look around in restless agony for someone, anyone, to help us.
And, by eternal law, mercy cannot be extended save there be one who is both willing and able to assume our debt and pay the price and arrange the terms for our redemption.
Unless there is a mediator, unless we have a friend, the full weight of justice untempered, unsympathetic, must, positively must fall on us. The full recompense for every transgression, however minor or however deep, will be exacted from us to the uttermost farthing.
But know this: Truth, glorious truth, proclaims there is such a Mediator.
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim. 2:5.)”
Video available here: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1981/10/o-divine-redeemer?lang=eng
Why it makes this list: I think nearly all of Elder Maxwell’s talks made it onto my master list of talks to revisit. He was such a wordsmith, and his thoughts were always so profound. But at the same time I struggled to know which one(s) to include on this list. I knew I needed to include at least one, and I ultimately decided to include Elder Maxwell’s first talk after his calling as an Apostle. This talk is a touching testimony of Jesus Christ.
Excerpt: “Indeed, we cannot teach Him anything! But we can listen to Him. We can love Him, we can honor Him, we can worship Him! We can keep His commandments, and we can feast upon His scriptures! Yes, we who are so forgetful and even rebellious are never forgotten by Him! We are His “work” and His “glory,” and He is never distracted! (See Moses 1:39.)
Therefore, in addition to my boundless admiration of His achievements and my adoration of Jesus for what He is—knowing that my superlatives are too shallow to do more than echo his excellence—as one of His Special Witnesses in the fulness of times, I attest to the fulness of His ministry!”
Why it makes this list: In this talk, Elder Holland (at this time not-yet-called as a general authority but was serving as the president of BYU), describes an account of when he lost his temper with his son and what he learned from this experience, including coming to feel the great privilege it is to be his son’s father. When I heard this talk, I related to it all too well, as I at times lose my temper with my son (then more than now, thankfully). I was bawling in the car (little known fact about me: I can be a cryer). When I got home that night, my son was already in bed, and I went to his room and prayed over him, expressing my love for him and thanking my Heavenly Father for the privilege of being his father.
Excerpt: “With that, the dream ended, and I shot upright in bed. My pillow was now stained, whether with perspiration or tears I do not know. I threw off the covers and ran to the little metal camp cot that was my son’s bed. There on my knees and through my tears I cradled him in my arms and spoke to him while he slept. I told him that every dad makes mistakes but that they don’t mean to. I told him it wasn’t his fault I had had a bad day. I told him that when boys are five or fifteen, dads sometimes forget and think they are fifty. I told him that I wanted him to be a small boy for a long, long time, because all too soon he would grow up and be a man and wouldn’t be playing on the floor with his toys when I came home. I told him that I loved him and his mother and his sister more than anything in the world and that whatever challenges we had in life we would face them together. I told him that never again would I withhold my affection or my forgiveness from him, and never, I prayed, would he withhold them from me. I told him I was honored to be his father and that I would try with all my heart to be worthy of such a great responsibility.
Well, I have not proven to be the perfect father I vowed to be that night and a thousand nights before and since. But I still want to be, and I believe this wise counsel from President Joseph F. Smith:
“Brethren, … If you will keep your [children] close to your heart, within the clasp of your arms; if you will make them … feel that you love them … and keep them near to you, they will not go very far from you, and they will not commit any very great sin. But it is when you turn them out of the home, turn them out of your affection … that [is what] drives them from you. …
“Fathers, if you wish your children to be taught in the principles of the gospel, if you wish them to love the truth and understand it, if you wish them to be obedient to and united with you, love them! and prove … that you do love them by your every word and act to[ward] them.” (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed., Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1966, pp. 282, 316.)
Brethren, we all know fatherhood is not an easy assignment, but it ranks among the most imperative ever given, in time or eternity. We must not pull away from our children. We must keep trying, keep reaching, keep praying, keep listening. We must keep them “within the clasp of our arms.””
Why it makes this list: I first heard this talk in the Missionary Training Center, and I was blown away at the power of Elder McConkie’s testimony of Jesus Christ, what ended up being his final address before his passing less than two weeks later.
Excerpt: “And now, as pertaining to this perfect atonement, wrought by the shedding of the blood of God—I testify that it took place in Gethsemane and at Golgotha, and as pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person.
I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears.
But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way.”
Why it makes this list: This is a classic talk by President Ezra Taft Benson (actually delivered in General Conference by his counselor, Gordon B. Hinckley due to President Benson’s declining health at the time). President Benson identified pride as the universal sin, the root of all other sins. The talk serves as a great self-assessment for my spiritual progression.
Excerpt: “Pride is the universal sin, the great vice. Yes, pride is the universal sin, the great vice.
The antidote for pride is humility—meekness, submissiveness. (See Alma 7:23.) It is the broken heart and contrite spirit.”
Why it makes this list: This is a great explanation for how members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints view salvation, and the Latter-day Saint answer to many Christians’ inquiry, “Have you been saved?” (Hint: it’s not a simple yes/no answer.)
Excerpt: “What do we say when someone asks us, “Have you been saved?” This question, so common in the conversation of some Christians, can be puzzling to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because it is not our usual way of speaking. We tend to speak of “saved” or “salvation” as a future event rather than something that has already been realized.
Good Christian people sometimes attach different meanings to some key gospel terms like saved or salvation. If we answer according to what our questioner probably means in asking if we have been “saved,” our answer must be “yes.” If we answer according to the various meanings we attach to the terms saved or salvation, our answer will be either “yes” or “yes, but with conditions.””
Why it makes this list: Standards of sexual conduct taught and lived within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are increasingly varied from what is generally accepted in modern-day society: no sexual relations except between a man and a woman, legally wedded as husband and wife. And no pornography. This talk presents the best explanation I have ever heard as to why the Church maintains such a strict standard when it comes to sexuality.
Excerpt: “Thirdly, may I say that physical intimacy is not only a symbolic union between a husband and a wife—the very uniting of their souls—but it is also symbolic of a shared relationship between them and their Father in Heaven. He is immortal and perfect. We are mortal and imperfect. Nevertheless we seek ways even in mortality whereby we can unite with Him spiritually. In so doing we gain some access to both the grace and the majesty of His power. Those special moments include kneeling at a marriage altar in the house of the Lord, blessing a newborn baby, baptizing and confirming a new member of the Church, partaking of the emblems of the Lord’s Supper, and so forth.
These are moments when we quite literally unite our will with God’s will, our spirit with His spirit, where communion through the veil becomes very real. At such moments we not only acknowledge His divinity but we quite literally take something of that divinity to ourselves. One aspect of that divinity given to virtually all men and women is the use of His power to create a human body, that wonder of all wonders, a genetically and spiritually unique being never before seen in the history of the world and never to be duplicated again in all the ages of eternity. A child, your child—with eyes and ears and fingers and toes and a future of unspeakable grandeur.
Probably only a parent who has held that newborn infant in his or her arms understands the wonder of which I speak. Suffice it to say that of all the titles God has chosen for Himself, Father is the one He favors most, and creation is His watchword—especially human creation, creation in His image. You and I have been given something of that godliness, but under the most serious and sacred of restrictions. The only control placed on us is self-control—self-control born of respect for the divine sacramental power this gift represents.”
Why it makes this list: This talk is a great pick-me-up for times when life might not be going smoothly. Elder Holland provides a personal, touching account of when he and his young family experienced repeated car troubles on a cross-country move.
Excerpt: “Just two weeks ago this weekend, I drove by that exact spot where the freeway turnoff leads to a frontage road, just three miles or so west of Kanarraville, Utah. That same beautiful and loyal wife, my dearest friend and greatest supporter for all these years, was curled up asleep in the seat beside me. The two children in the story, and the little brother who later joined them, have long since grown up and served missions, married perfectly, and are now raising children of their own. The automobile we were driving this time was modest but very pleasant and very safe. In fact, except for me and my lovely Pat situated so peacefully at my side, nothing of that moment two weeks ago was even remotely like the distressing circumstances of three decades earlier.
Yet in my mind’s eye, for just an instant, I thought perhaps I saw on that side road an old car with a devoted young wife and two little children making the best of a bad situation there. Just ahead of them I imagined that I saw a young fellow walking toward Kanarraville, with plenty of distance still ahead of him. His shoulders seemed to be slumping a little, the weight of a young father’s fear evident in his pace. In the scriptural phrase his hands did seem to “hang down.” In that imaginary instant, I couldn’t help calling out to him: “Don’t give up, boy. Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead—a lot of it—30 years of it now, and still counting. You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.””
Why it makes this list: In this talk, Elder Oaks reminds us that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is more than a list of things we need to check off of our to-do list. It is a transformation, a true conversion. We are to do what is right, yes, but also do it out of the pure love of Christ.
Excerpt: “From such teachings we conclude that the Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts—what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts—what we have become. It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become...We are challenged to move through a process of conversion toward that status and condition called eternal life. This is achieved not just by doing what is right, but by doing it for the right reason—for the pure love of Christ.”
Why it makes this list: President Monson is well-known for his storytelling, and one of the stories in this talk has stuck with me since I first heard it. He tells of a boy leaving a wedge in between the limbs of the tree which years later caused the tree to be destroyed in an ice storm. He used this story and others to illustrate that we should be quick to forgive others, to remove wedges between ourselves and others so that they do not fester and destroy our relationships with God and fellow man.
Excerpt: ““In the chill silence of that wintry night … one of the three major limbs split away from the trunk and crashed to the ground. This so unbalanced the remainder of the top that it, too, split apart and went down. When the storm was over, not a twig of the once-proud tree remained.
“Early the next morning, the farmer went out to mourn his loss. …
“Then, his eyes caught sight of something in the splintered ruin. ‘The wedge,’ he muttered reproachfully. ‘The wedge I found in the south pasture.’ A glance told him why the tree had fallen. Growing, edge-up in the trunk, the wedge had prevented the limb fibers from knitting together as they should.”
My dear brothers and sisters, there are hidden wedges in the lives of many whom we know—yes, perhaps in our own families.”
Video available here: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2002/04/the-other-prodigal?lang=eng
Why it makes this list: Up until I heard this talk, I had always thought about the parable of the Prodigal Son primarily as a parable about the younger, disobedient son in the parable. But in this talk, Elder Holland focuses on the older son and masterfully teaches about pride, unrighteous judgment, repentance, and lifting those around us.
Excerpt: “Brothers and sisters, I testify that no one of us is less treasured or cherished of God than another. I testify that He loves each of us—insecurities, anxieties, self-image, and all. He doesn’t measure our talents or our looks; He doesn’t measure our professions or our possessions. He cheers on every runner, calling out that the race is against sin, not against each other. I know that if we will be faithful, there is a perfectly tailored robe of righteousness ready and waiting for everyone, “robes … made … white in the blood of the Lamb.” May we encourage each other in our effort to win that prize is my earnest prayer….”
Why it makes this list: President Hinckley was the president of the Church for most of my formative years. I loved listening to him speak, and I knew I wanted to include at least one of his talks on this list. There wasn’t one talk that stood out to me more than others necessarily, but I finally determined to include this talk because it includes a wonderful story about a woman whose faith was rewarded when she paid tithing when she didn’t believe she could afford to. I often used this account on my mission to teach about the law of tithing.
Excerpt: “[The woman continued:] “Suddenly the secretary entered the room, saying that I was a very fortunate person! When I asked her why, she simply answered: ‘The employer has just said that from today on the company is going to pay fully for your college and your books. Before you leave, stop at my desk and inform me of the costs so that tomorrow I can give you the check.’
“After she left, crying and feeling very humble, I knelt exactly where I was and thanked the Lord for His generosity. I … said to Heavenly Father that He didn’t have to bless me so much. I only needed the cost of one month’s installment, and the tithing I had paid on Sunday was very small compared to the amount I was receiving! During that prayer the words recorded in Malachi came to my mind: ‘Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it’ (Mal. 3:10). Up to that moment I had never felt the magnitude of the promise contained in that scripture and that this commandment was truly a witness of the love that God, our Heavenly Father, gives to His children here on earth.””
Video available here: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2002/10/dad-are-you-awake?lang=eng
Why it makes this list: The title of this talk comes from a touching story that Elder Hammond relates about him and his own son on a camping trip. He then uses this story as a launching pad to talk about fathers’ responsibilities. This talk is a good talk for dads everywhere to take personal inventory of how they are doing in their spiritual obligations to their children.
Excerpt: “Then we climbed into our large double sleeping bag, and after a bit of pushing and pulling I felt his little body snuggle and settle tightly against mine for warmth and security against the night. As I looked at my son beside me, suddenly I felt a surge of love pass through my body with such force that it pushed tears to my eyes. And, at that precise moment, he put his little arms around me and said, “Dad.”
“Yes, son.”
“Are you awake?”
“Yes, my son, I am awake.”
“Dad, I love you a million, trillion times!”
And immediately he was asleep. But I was awake far into the night, expressing my great thanks for such wonderful blessings clothed with a little boy’s body.
….The question so innocently asked, “Dad, are you awake?” still rings in my heart.
To every father, I pose the same penetrating question, “Dad, are you awake?” Do your sons ever wonder if you are asleep when it comes to the things that are most important to them?”
Why it makes this list: Elder Howard gives a wonderful analogy relating how his wife meticulously cared for their silverware set to teach about how we need to meticulously care for our marriages.
Excerpt: “For years I thought she was just a little bit eccentric, and then one day I realized that she had known for a long time something that I was just beginning to understand. If you want something to last forever, you treat it differently. You shield it and protect it. You never abuse it. You don’t expose it to the elements. You don’t make it common or ordinary. If it ever becomes tarnished, you lovingly polish it until it gleams like new. It becomes special because you have made it so, and it grows more beautiful and precious as time goes by.
Eternal marriage is just like that. We need to treat it just that way.”
Why it makes this list: Elder Simmons highlights the Biblical examples of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego to teach a profound principle of a higher level of faith that is required when prayers for deliverance from adversity seemingly go unanswered.
Excerpt: “The three young men quickly and confidently responded, “If it be so [if you cast us into the furnace], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand.” That sounds like my eighth-grade kind of faith. But then they demonstrated that they fully understood what faith is. They continued, “But if not, … we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” That is a statement of true faith.
They knew that they could trust God—even if things didn’t turn out the way they hoped. They knew that faith is more than mental assent, more than an acknowledgment that God lives. Faith is total trust in Him.
Faith is believing that although we do not understand all things, He does. Faith is knowing that although our power is limited, His is not. Faith in Jesus Christ consists of complete reliance on Him.”
Why it makes this list: When I heard this talk most recently, I was touched by the sacrifices our ancestors made on behalf of us. I even wrote about it in a separate blog post.
Excerpt: “A little over a year ago, my husband and I visited Nauvoo. As we walked through the Old Pioneer Cemetery searching for the grave of an ancestor, Zina Baker Huntington, I was touched by the peaceful solitude and spirit I felt. I walked through the trees and read the names on the gravestones, many of them children and families. I wept as my heart was turned to our forefathers, many of whom had joined the Church and come to Nauvoo. In my mind I asked many questions: Why did they leave their comfortable homes and families? Why did they suffer persecution, sickness, even death? Why did they sacrifice all that they had to come to this place and build a temple? They hardly had shelter, and yet they were building a temple! Why did they do it? And when the temple was nearly completed, how could they leave it behind? As I sat silently contemplating this scene, the answer came forcefully yet softly to my mind and heart: “We did this for you.””
Why it makes this list: This talk has so many great gems in it regarding how we are to treat our fellow man. The answer is always love and kindness.
Excerpt: “When we are filled with kindness, we are not judgmental. The Savior taught, “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.” He also taught that “with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”
“But,” you ask, “what if people are rude?”
Love them.
“If they are obnoxious?”
Love them.
“But what if they offend? Surely I must do something then?”
Love them.
“Wayward?”
The answer is the same. Be kind. Love them.””
Why it makes this list: Elder Wirthlin bears testimony of the Atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ, while simultaneously analogizing the dark days of the crucifixion and burial on Good Friday and resurrection of Jesus Christ on Sunday to the difficulties we may face in life and the relief and joy that we can hope for in the midst of adversity.
Excerpt: “Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays.
But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come.”
Why it makes this list: This talk includes two memorable personal accounts of Richard C. Edgley to teach about the principle of honesty and integrity, showing that sometimes it can be most difficult to be honest in the seemingly minute decisions, sometimes over no more than 25 cents.
Excerpt: “Some 30 years ago, while working in the corporate world, some business associates and I were passing through O’Hare Airport in Chicago, Illinois. One of these men had just sold his company for tens of millions of dollars—in other words, he was not poor.
As we were passing a newspaper vending machine, this individual put a quarter in the machine, opened the door to the stack of papers inside the machine, and began dispensing unpaid-for newspapers to each of us. When he handed me a newspaper, I put a quarter in the machine and, trying not to offend but to make a point, jokingly said, “Jim, for 25 cents I can maintain my integrity. A dollar, questionable, but 25 cents—no, not for 25 cents.” . . . A few minutes later we passed the same newspaper vending machine. I noticed that Jim had broken away from our group and was stuffing quarters in the vending machine. I tell you this incident not to portray myself as an unusual example of honesty, but only to emphasize the lessons [I learned earlier in life].
There will never be honesty in the business world, in the schools, in the home, or anyplace else until there is honesty in the heart.”
Video available here: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/10/o-remember-remember?lang=eng
Why it makes this list: President Eyring teaches about the importance of remembering and recording our spiritual experiences, something that I have found important in my own life (as I described in an earlier post).
Excerpt: “I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done.”
Why it makes this list: Elder Oaks goes beyond the importance of choosing good vs. bad, teaching a higher principle of choosing to spend our time with “better” activities over “good” activities and the “best” activities over “better” activities -- a principle I’m still working on.
Excerpt: “As we consider various choices, we should remember that it is not enough that something is good. Other choices are better, and still others are best. Even though a particular choice is more costly, its far greater value may make it the best choice of all.
Consider how we use our time in the choices we make in viewing television, playing video games, surfing the Internet, or reading books or magazines. Of course it is good to view wholesome entertainment or to obtain interesting information. But not everything of that sort is worth the portion of our life we give to obtain it. Some things are better, and others are best. When the Lord told us to seek learning, He said, “Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom” (D&C 88:118; emphasis added).”
Video available here: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/lift-where-you-stand?lang=eng
Why it makes this list: President Uchtdorf artfully teaches about rising to the service we are called to in our homes and in the Church. He speaks to those who feel they would be of more service in a different calling (those who lead), and he speaks to those who lack desires to serve (those who hide). He tells of a story in which men were unable to move a piano until someone suggested, “Brethren, stand close together and lift where you stand.” He weaves this analogy throughout the talk, teaching that we should stand together and lift where we stand, exactly in the place we have been called to labor in the Lord’s vineyard.
Excerpt: “When we stand close together and lift where we stand, when we care more for the glory of the kingdom of God than for our own prestige or pleasure, we can accomplish so much more.”
Why it makes this list: This talk helped me gain a broader understanding of grace, redemption, and obedience.
Excerpt: “If grace is a gift of God, why then is obedience to God’s commandments so important? Why bother with God’s commandments—or repentance, for that matter? Why not just admit we’re sinful and let God save us?
Or, to put the question in Paul’s words, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” Paul’s answer is simple and clear: “God forbid.”
Brothers and sisters, we obey the commandments of God—out of love for Him!
Trying to understand God’s gift of grace with all our heart and mind gives us all the more reasons to love and obey our Heavenly Father with meekness and gratitude. As we walk the path of discipleship, it refines us, it improves us, it helps us to become more like Him, and it leads us back to His presence. “The Spirit of the Lord [our God]” brings about such “a mighty change in us, … that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.”
Therefore, our obedience to God’s commandments comes as a natural outgrowth of our endless love and gratitude for the goodness of God. This form of genuine love and gratitude will miraculously merge our works with God’s grace.”
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And there you have it. Did I miss your favorite talk? Let me know in the comments your favorite general conference talks and what makes them your favorite.
Thanks for reading!
Great idea! You hit a bunch of my favorites. Just about every talk by Maxwell, Holland, Uchtdorf, and Bednar would be on my list. Here are some others I really like that did not make your list:
ReplyDeleteLord is it I, Uchtdorf, 10/2014
Approaching the Throne of God in Confidence, Klebingat, 10/2014
Parents, the Prime Gospel Teachers of their Children, Callister, 10/2014
Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease, Bednar, 4/2014
What Lack I Yet?, Lawrence, 10/2015
The Returned Missionary, Perry, 10/2001
The Book of Mormon-Keystone of our Religion, Benson, 10/1986
The Sacrament-and the Sacrifice, Haight, 10/1989
Hi, Doug, thanks for joining the conversation! Most of the talks on your list are on my more expansive list...and I'll be sure to take another look at the couple that aren't.
Delete"What Lack I Yet?" was very close to making my narrower list. I actually had it listed originally in an earlier draft, but felt I needed to narrow my list some more.
In hindsight, there are a couple of speakers that frequently found their way onto my bigger list that I wish I had made more of an effort to include on this "best of" list (i.e, James E. Faust, Howard W. Hunter, David A. Bednar). Elder Bednar's talks made frequent appearances on my bigger list, including "Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease." I love the story he tells of the friend who gets his truck stuck in the snow and is only able to get unstuck once he had loaded the truck with firewood. If I were to pick an absolute favorite Elder Bednar talk, though, I think I would go with "The Spirit of Revelation" from April 2011. I love his use of the appearance of light (turning on a switch vs. a sunrise) to describe personal revelation (sudden bursts of strong inspiration vs. gradual, line upon line learning).
Hi, Quincy. Thanks for reading and joining the conversation! I hope you all are doing well!
ReplyDelete