For the May visiting teaching message, we get to choose any talk from the April General Conference. I ended up looking at the entire first session:
Elder Hallstrom gave a
talk called “I Am a Child of God.” He
said while most of us good sing, without seeing the lyrics or music, the song, “the critical question is, do we really know it? Do we know it in our mind
and in our heart and in our soul? Is our heavenly parentage our first and most
profound identity?”
He
also said, “We live in a world that can cause us to forget who we really are.
The more distractions that surround us, the easier it is to treat casually,
then ignore, and then forget our connection with God.
“In
today’s world… it is essential that our preeminent identity is as a child of
God. Knowing that will allow our faith to flourish,
will motivate our continual repentance, and will provide the strength to “be
steadfast and immovable” throughout our mortal journey.
So, how
do you know it? How does that become part of your identity?
I think
that some of the other speakers provided answers to that. President Eyring, who
gave the first talk at General Conference spoke about the parable of the sower
and how we can continue to both love God and feel His love—and he said that one
thing that can help us is our approach to General Conference: “Today my message to us all is that there will be a
precious opportunity in the next few days to choose to have our hearts softened
and to receive and nourish the seed. The seed is the word of God, and it will
be poured out on all of us who listen, watch, and read the proceedings of this
conference. The music, the talks, and the testimonies have been prepared by
servants of God who have sought diligently for the Holy Ghost to guide them in
their preparation. They have prayed longer and more humbly as the days of the
conference have approached.
They have prayed to have the power to encourage you to make the
choices that will create in your heart a more fertile ground for the good word
of God to grow and be fruitful. If you listen with the Spirit, you will find
your heart softened, your faith strengthened, and your capacity to love the
Lord increased.
Your choice to pray with full purpose of heart will transform
your experience in the conference sessions and in the days and months that
follow.”
Sister
Mary R. Durham spoke about the Holy Ghost, specifically in relation to
children, but the things that she recommended we do to teach our children about
the Holy Ghost are all things we could for ourselves, too, and would draw us
nearer to God. Elder Gary E. Stevenson spoke about priesthood keys, which make
it possible for us to return to God, and Elder Steven E. Snow talked about
being humble. Examining each of these, we can find ways that we can remember
that we are children of God.
Elder
Kevin R. Duncan talked about forgiveness. He said, “Even though we may be a victim once, we need not be a victim
twice by carrying the burden of hate, bitterness, pain, resentment, or even
revenge. We can forgive, and we can be free!” One thought I had with this is that often that second hurt involves not
only being hurt through our feelings of pain, resentment, etc. toward the
person who hurt us but also toward God for “allowing” that person to hurt
us—or, in our view, not sufficiently punishing them for it. But if we can
forgive, we can get rid of not only our resentment toward the offender but also
any that we might have toward God.
Elder Renlund’s whole talk was about coming closer to Christ; he talked
about how we can overcome feelings of entitlement and feel closer to the
Savior, particularly through the sacrament. He said, “No matter where you stand in your relationship to God, I
invite you to draw nearer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, the Ultimate
Benefactors and Givers of all that is good. I invite you to attend sacrament
meeting each week and partake of the holy emblems of the Savior’s body and
blood. I invite you to feel God’s nearness as He is made known to you, as He
was to the disciples of old, in the “breaking of [the] bread.”
As you do, I promise that you will feel nearer to God.
Natural tendencies to childish whining, disgruntled entitlement, and derisive
skepticism will dissipate. Those sentiments will be replaced by feelings of
greater love and gratitude for Heavenly Father’s gift of His Son. As we draw
closer to God, the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ will come
into our lives. And, as with the disciples on the way to Emmaus, we will find
that the Savior has been nearby all along.”
