We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet!

We are so blessed to have President Hinckley as our prophet today.
We are so blessed to have all of our prophets. Some other thoughts I had during the rest of conference were:
-These men are true leaders and they are men of God. The difference between listening to General Conference talks and say. . .political speeches of the times, is like night and day. The General Authorities speak with conviction, with the Spirit, and they have something to say. I had recently become slightly interested in contributing to the political debate a bit more—what this means in my life is that I listen to certain talk shows in the car, and when I browse the internet I look for politically-themed articles, blogs, etc. I had also thought about posting a lot on my blog about politics. Then, along comes General Conference. Politics (and the associated talk) seems so trivial and base, in comparison to other topics. I am not saying that those who participate in such are in the wrong. I am speaking about me. After off and on dabbling in such reading and listening, I have come to realize what benefits me and my family the most. . .and it certainly is not when I spend my free time on political meanderings. Rather, when I spend that time reading scriptures, church books, etc. then I can remain in a mindset that will be conducive to the Spirit. Again, I am speaking personally. I cannot think about politics and government without getting into the frame of mind of “I’m right and they are wrong. . .and if they are wrong, they are stupid.” I know this sounds harsh, but I have realized that I quickly go to a mindset of pride when I focus on politics. There are many who can participate in such conversations, research, etc. without getting caught up in pride. . .but I have yet to learn how to do so. Better for me, and my family, to stay away. Conference reminded me of this.
-It would be fun to compile a list of all the analogies and parables that General Authorities have used over the years. I love pickles, and I loved Elder Bednar’s analogy.
-I’ve always thought the music at Priesthood Session is the best. It was again this year. Sorry, sisters, you missed out. The BYU combined Men’s Choir closed with a great song. It was entitled, “I love thee Lord”. It was to the tune of “Be Still My Soul” and the text was taken from 2Nephi 4 (Nephi’s Psalm). I also liked the last song of the last session. I love “I Need Thee Every Hour” and that was a neat rendition.
-My heart is overflowing with love for President Hinckley.
-I could feel President Faust’s yearning as he pleaded with us to be more forgiving. What a masterful sermon!
-I really like Elder Eyring. His talks are always so thoughtful. I’ll never forget the first talk he gave as an apostle entitled “Remember”. I really like his manner of speaking, too. This conference was no exception. I actually can’t remember at this moment what he talked on, but I remember feeling the Spirit.
-I was blown away to learn that of all the missionaries to ever have served missions, 40% of them have served while President Hinckley has been President. Amazing.
-I liked Elder Hales talk in Priesthood session. He drew many analogies to flying. He talked about the concept of “spiritual vertigo”. Our inner ear cannot make a lot of sense about 1-degree differences. If we aren’t careful, we can quickly be off by many degrees and crash into the ground.
-There are some talks I missed. I fell asleep in one session and the DVR messed up while recording the first session for us. I will need to read up on the talks again in order to refresh my memory. Let’s not forget President Hinckley’s invitation to make the most of the May Ensign.
-The kids remained pretty engaged in a lot of conference. They played conference bingo for a while (they always like that for a short period of time, at least). They really liked the music and sang along with many of the hymns. Often times they commented that they liked a certain song, or a certain General Authority.

All in all, we had a nice family time during conference weekend.