"Stay by the Tree"

Man, Conference was so good! One idea my bishop gave me is to listen to one talk several times in a row, so that you can catch different things you might otherwise miss. I think it's better to hone in on one talk you need than to try to lightly cover all of them. My favorite talk is by Elder Kevin W. Pearson, a member of the Quorum of the Seventy. My favorite talk last Conference was by Elder Jorg Klebingat, and Elder Pearson's talk reminded me of it. They are both really bold, practical, have six suggestions, and they even both served as mission presidents! There were a ton of powerful one-liners from Elder Pearson, and I'm going to mention some of the thoughts that were most powerful to me.

-"Shortly before President Heber J. Grant passed away, one of the Brethren visited his home. Before he left, President Grant prayed, 'O God, bless me that I shall not lose my testimony and keep faithful to the end!' After nearly 27 years as President of the Church, this was his fervent prayer. His example is a striking reminder that no one, at any age, is immune from Satan’s influence." - A good reminder to me that it's not over til it's over, and that we always need to be praying for the ability to stay strong. If the president of the Church needs to pray for it, I definitely need to.

-"Let me be clear: to 'hang in there' is not a principle of the gospel." - I love how bold this statement is. The statement after it expounds on it: "Enduring to the end means constantly coming unto Christ and being perfected in Him." - Coming unto Christ an active pursuit, while enduring sometimes has the connotation of waiting. Everyone endures, just by the passing of time. But will we endure it well? Will we fulfill the purpose of our lives, to become like God, or are we just trying to wait it out?

-"If enduring to the end is essential to eternal life, why do we struggle to be faithful? We struggle when we are caught between competing priorities." - I've realized these last few weeks that scripture study and prayer are never really an "urgent" matter to the natural man. Sure, homework is urgent because of the deadlines. Eating is urgent for obvious reasons. But there are no earthly-imposed deadlines for spiritual strengthening, which is why I think it can be so easy for them to get pushed aside. These things may not even seem urgent to those who are slipping away. Thus, we have to make it a priority - our first priority - to strengthen ourselves.

- "Casual obedience and lukewarm commitment weaken faith." - Such a good thought, because we would normally think that casual and lukewarm mean neutral, not negative. But here he's saying that it does weaken faith. We cannot be neutral in the gospel. Heavenly Father does not want His children to be casual in the battle around us!

-"Obedience builds faith in Christ." - I once read a quote that said something along the lines of "where there is no obedience, there is no faith." I really liked that, because obedience is something you can actively measure.

-"Search the Book of Mormon and the words of the living prophets every day, every day, every day! It’s the key to spiritual survival and avoiding deception. Without it, we are spiritually lost." - I love practical applications. This is a practical thing I can do with huge blessings promised.

-"Only the Savior has 'the words of eternal life.' Everything else is just words."

-"Apostasy is the reverse of conversion." - For me, this means that if I'm not moving into a greater concentration of conversion, I'm moving on the continuum down towards apostasy. If we're not progressing, we're regressing.

-"If you lose the Spirit, you are lost." - How bold is that! How true is that! How important is that to always remember! Not to say that being lost means that you could never be found again, but that you have let go of the iron rod. Holding on to the iron rod is more than studying the scriptures. It's living those words. And it includes words of Christ personal to you - personal revelation. We need to follow those commandments as well.

-"Once we enter into covenants with God, there is no going back. Giving in, giving up, and giving out are not options." - Covenants are the most serious promises we will ever make. I need a greater understanding of covenants.

-"In the kingdom of God, there is a standard of excellence for exaltation. It requires valiant discipleship!" - This makes me think of the standard of excellence on my mission. They were goals for us to aim for, and our mission president always promised us that where the Lord commands, the Lord provides.

-"If you are struggling, confused, or spiritually lost, I urge you to do the one thing I know will get you back on track. Begin again to prayerfully study the Book of Mormon and live its teachings every day, every day, every day!" - Again, a very practical application with a very powerful promise. I feel like he is throwing a rope that people can immediately grab on to!

-"Our daily discipleship will determine our eternal destiny. "

Okay, so I basically just quoted the entire talk, but can you blame me? So powerful! I have had the word "valiant" on my mind a lot lately. I want to be valiant, not casual. This talk was so good for me.