by Elder Steven R. Bangerter
It’s not always easy finding a personal message to every conference talk. And those talks that focus on raising and rearing families are especially difficult to find a personal message with when you’re single. This was one I had to ponder a bit and force myself to stay on track.
But, if you will allow, maybe an outside opinion will be useful?
I had two thoughts while listening to this talk preparing to write this blog. One, the war chapters in Alma when Moroni spent the peaceful time fortifying and preparing. Perhaps it is unrealistic to expect anyone to turn to God during times of trouble when they haven’t learned to communicate with Him during times of peace. A safe time to practice recognizing God’s love and how He communicates with each of us might be helpful when the storms arise.
The second thing I thought of was my experience working with the youth. I worked with many girls from varying backgrounds. The ones who made me wary were those that knew the answers. They knew how to answer the questions during class on Sunday but some of them were not living the answers Monday through Saturday. Unlike school knowing the gospel answers is not enough.
There is no guarantee a child will accept the gospel. That is the thing about agency. But the people – young or old – that lay the strongest foundation are those that learn to live the gospel because of love. Not because of oughts, or shoulds, or have tos. Simply because they choose to.
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