general conference

I am so excited for General Conference, even though it's still a couple of weeks away. I guess part of it was being in the Tabernacle again on Sunday. It probably sounds strange... but I get a little giddy inside to think that I will have the chance to feel the Spirit for so long for a few days. It's interesting though. It comes with a challenge. The challenge to strive more, to be better, to serve more and serve better than I have in the past: to be more kind, more patient, more tolerant, and more devoted.

The two words that come to mind when I hear the brethren and sisters at conference speak is "quiet dignity". I was listening to Elder Hales from April 2009 on the drive to work today. His talk is entitled Christian Courage. His voice and message epitomize quiet dignity. That is how we worship (even though it may not always seem that way in our sacrament meeting on Sunday). But kids learn to respect Divinity through reverence. And that is how we learn. The Spirit seems loudest when we make the effort to listen: the Spirit shakes our soul with His whisper.

Conference is not a series of dynamic motivational speakers whose inflections sometimes cause small children to hold their ears... no... it is apostles, prophets, and other leaders, called of God, teaching doctrine and allowing us to learn by the promptings of the Spirit.

Now the key is to be able to hear that Spirit above the rushings of our children. But really, there have been times when the youngest are sleeping and the older ones are listening for keywords for conference bingo game. Maybe this year we will have to go to the stake center to listen to conference on Sunday.