Welcome to Closer to Christ through General Conference,
where two friends who love Jesus share our own
approach to studying the most recent General
Conference talks. This is Abbe and Amy. Let's
jump into it. Today we're covering the talk,
Reverence for Sacred Things. This is by Elder
Ulysses S. Suarez of the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles. And it's interesting because the story
that I'm going to start out sharing was actually
kind of like sandwiched. Almost at the end of
the talk. And I remember I was doing laundry
as I was listening to it again. And I was like,
did he just say that? Like, I had to stop doing
laundry and catch my breath for a minute because
it really got my heart. And I was like, wow,
like, it also just helped me to remember that
he is a real person who's having real, really
hard life experiences. His discipleship has not
made everything just easy as pie. Exactly. Yes.
And yes, he He is having experiences with God
and that that always continues in life. That's
why we're here This is what he says. My wife
and I have personally experienced some sacred
mountain moments in reverence as we have strived
to apply these principles in our lives, which
has caused a meaningful transformation in our
discipleship. He says, I remember like it was
yesterday, walking through the cemetery before
burying our second child who was born prematurely
and did not survive while my wife was still recovering
in the hospital. I recall praying to God with
great fervency and reverence, asking for help
to cope with that challenging trial. In that
instance, I received a clear and powerful spiritual
assurance in my heart. everything will be fine
in our lives if my wife and I endure holding
on to the joy that comes from living the gospel
of Jesus Christ. What seemed like an overwhelming,
sorrowful challenge at the time turned into a
sacred, reverent experience, a capstone that
has helped sustain our faith and has given us
confidence in the covenants we have made with
the Lord and in His promises for me and for my
family. especially knowing he could have become
bitter and angry and let that turn his life into
something completely different than it has become.
We get to see the man that he is now, his wife
that stands by his side, the things that they've
accomplished together and the good that they
do for the world because of the decision that
he made based on a feeling that he had in...
in that cemetery on that day. And with a second
child that tells you that it was earlier in a
marriage, you know what I mean? So yes, that
was foundation number two. Very young in the
marriage and they had a lot of years shared experiences
together since that time. So you'll probably,
maybe you'll notice like we're always experimenting
with how we outline these talks or how we approach
them. I was impressed to, because I loved this
talk so much, I was impressed to like paragraph
by paragraph just pull out some of my favorite
things that he said and the thoughts that came
to my mind as I was doing it. And I'm imagining
that you've all noticed that too on your electronic
copies. I need to go back to my physical friend
and see, not friend, enzyme and see if they're
numbering them in there too. Oh, I don't have
the physical one. Maybe they wouldn't have, I
don't think. I'll have to look. No comment on
that. But most of us are using our electronic
devices for this. And I can definitely imagine
Relation Society as an elders quorum. You want
to get to a shared thing if somebody's like,
oh, I read this paragraph and it was super helpful.
You don't have to be like, oh, it's five down
on the page you say. Paragraph one, paragraph
three, five, seven. A friend of ours just started
in a new ward and the gal totally used the paragraph
system. She's like, I want you guys to study
paragraphs 15 through 17, you one and two, whatever.
And they did their group combined thing and then
they were going to mix it and then put a person
from each of those groups together to have a
robust discussion about the whole talk. Not just
like one representative to go to the top and
talk to the whole release site about it. each
within each group that there was a discussion
because she was like pinch -hitting, like she
didn't have time to prepare for the talk. It's
not her regular calling. And so what a beautiful
idea rather than like, you know, in the two minutes
before church that I'm going to throw this together
and feel frazzled about it. We all have the opportunity
to come prepared to these lessons. We have opportunity
to listen through them ourselves and see what
the Spirit, you know, sparks in us to be, stand
out as important to us. And however the sisters
and brothers are deciding to share these talks,
great, but I'm going to give it a whirl trying
to go, you know, highlights paragraph by paragraph.
So, paragraph one, it says, So, when I heard
that, I thought, what a simple way to show our
agency. I'm taking off my shoes in preparation
to approach you, so I want to be taught and learn
from you. Like, I'm indicating, I've got my listening
ears on and I want to have what you have for
me. And he kind of referenced, like, isn't it
interesting in temples? Like, that's one of the
first things that we take off our worldly shoes.
We don't the, you know, really attractive white
temple shoe. Mine aren't that attractive. This
is a temple experience, you know, in these scriptures.
But it can also happen anytime that we pray and
approach God. Love it. You know, maybe I'm not
the best at getting on my knees to pray, but
I can see in the same way, like getting on my
knees or bowing my head or doing something that's
a little bit out of the ordinary for my day -to
-day moments, because I've prayed in a car without
my eyes closed. Absolutely. Whatever. But if
I'm showing that I'm coming to you, and he sees,
you know, my willingness to come prepared to
talk to him, maybe his offering to me is going
to look a little bit different. So taking off
the shoes feels symbolic, like we're shutting
off the world, we're coming to communicate with
God, we're going to pause from the things that
we were normally engaged in doing. I love that,
Abby. All right, why don't you hit paragraph
two for us? All right. the virtues of reverence
for sacred things into our patterns of behavior.
That also reminds me of Elder Scott. He always
said, I went through and read some of his talks
again, and he said, when you have a notebook,
this is different. It's a different day to day.
You can have your phone, whatever you use. But
he said, when you have a notebook and a pen nearby,
like your bedside table, and then that tells
the Lord that you are. No, our prophet does this.
I know he has that. I've heard his wife, Wendy,
talk about that and it's like things happen and
it's like he's busy. Yeah, it tells him that
we are ready. So I like that. It's another way
of saying, what you are telling me is sacred.
I understand that. Do you think he thinks my
phone sitting by the side of my bed that has
a note section is the same thing? If you tell
him that that's what it's for, absolutely. Well,
if you say that's what this means, you know what
I mean? Yeah. I do get my best thoughts like
in those early hours of the morning, especially
if I've gone gone to bed with a prayer, with
something on my mind, and I'm like, I need some
inspiration on this. It doesn't come in that
moment. I go to bed on it, I'll have some, you
know, sometimes I dream, sometimes I don't, but
regardless of that, in the morning I tend to
wake up with a piece of what I need. Quiet moments,
right? It is awesome. And I love how in that
paragraph, it's just a reminder that yes, Moses
is a prophet, he's going to have an experience
with God, but what Elder Soros is trying to say
to us is that we all have. because we're children
of God, we all have the same opportunity to have
those transformative moments with Him. And that's
why He had this so close to the top of the thing,
like, listen, because this is your right and
opportunity. So, paragraph three, He says the
question, what does reverence mean? And the answer
is to stand in awe. I love that. So, the feeling
or attitude of profound respect, love, and gratitude.
I love how this paired with Elder Kieran's thoughts
on joyful reverence enhances the real meaning
of reverence. Love that. It's not always like
we have to bow our heads, we have to fold our
arms, and I'm not going to go... too much into
that, but it does leave me with a renewed desire
to stop, look around more often in the little
moments of the day and identify the things that
just make me think, wow, I can't believe this
is my life that I get to live. And not like I
have perfect days all the time, but there are
perfect moments in every day. They either get
recognized by us or they get swept under the
rug. And I want to choose to be more of a person
that stands in awe or feels like a deep sense
of wow at the things that I'm seeing. Like I
said, there's going to be some days that are
harder to see those moments, but I even think
in days that I recognize as being harder days,
if I can just stop for even one moment and center
myself and take another look around, there will
be something that I can stand in awe of and that
will increase my joy. And now on to paragraph
four. He says, reverence for sacred things is
the greatest manifestation of a vital spiritual
quality. It's a byproduct of our connection to
holiness and reflects our love for and proximity
to our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ.
And I thought there were a lot of words there,
and I'm like, it's something important, but I'm
struggling with it, so I thought on that for
a minute. And what I came to was that feeling
that I get when I witness a baby being born.
And I'll know something's really wrong with me
if I ever lose that immense sensation that comes
with the birth of a baby, meaning I mean, not
even my own baby's births. I love my baby's births,
but friends' stories, TLC, a baby's story, and
even sadder for me, but I was preparing this,
you know, my words for this talk, and in my feet,
I got to watch an elephant give birth and literally
had tears in my eyes. All births of babies are
amazing to me. And if I could just bottle the
sensation that I get. It's like the sensation
of like hiking a mountain peak and the joy that
you feel like after that hard thing that you've
gone to and you're like looking over the valley
and you're seeing like what you've accomplished.
Anyway, each of us has something that we I don't
hike a lot. So I really don't have those moments
my thing, but I think some of you are hikers.
But like I said, I was thinking of the emotions
that I get surrounding the birth of anything,
really. Yeah, awe and wonder. Yeah, that's the
word that we want to really focus on, but we
stand in reverence of it because these things
are created by all of these things. From the
mountain peak view babies, they're all created
by God and they have His fingerprints all over
them. So this talk made me want to refocus my
efforts on just looking for more opportunities
to communicate to Him, the God that created me,
that I know. that he was the one that made this
possible for me. Sometimes you don't really appreciate
the things like breathing, you take that for
granted, in and out, but when you get sick, your
nose is clogged, your throat sore, you notice
every swallow that you have, you've got excruciating
pain on your hives or whatever on your skin,
you get back to health and then all of a sudden
you're like, oh wow, it's so nice to be able
to take this breath, it's so nice to... experience
these things, you know, pain -free, and sometimes
they never become pain -free, but I do think
it's still something like, it's great to be able
to have this breath or that swallow, that would
be really awful if I didn't. So every time that
I deep dive into the body system, how they're
supposed to work and how they're not working,
or I'm trying to get them back to the way that
they're working, again, something I can honestly
stand in awe of the creator's plan. and all those
things that it took to make things, for the most
part, work the way that they're working, I can
definitely say that they testify of a divine
creator. Oh, absolutely. And I'm in awe of everything
that he's done. I'm in awe of rocks. I'm in awe
of mountains. I'm in awe of everything. Trees
and the leaves fluttering in the breeze. Like,
everything's a work of art. It's just amazing.
We are invited. This is number five. We are invited
to cultivate the gift of reverence in our lives
in order to open ourselves to a deeper communion
with God and his son, Jesus Christ, simultaneously
strengthening our spiritual character. So we
can go through a day and see a sunrise or sunset,
walk, breathe, jump, just like Gabby was kind
of talking about, jump, have a myriad of experiences
without once thinking of the great creator. But
If we choose to cultivate the gift of standing
in awe of these things, we will strengthen our
relationship with the giver of these gifts. I
know I could do better at this, but I also know
from just taking opportunities that I have taken
to do that it has strengthened my relationship
with God. When I take that opportunity, I feel
stronger and there's a connection there. We must
remember that showing reverence for sacred things
gives meaning to much of what we do every day.
And it strengthens our feelings of gratitude,
inspiring awe, respect and love for higher and
holier things. That's really it, right? It's
recognizing that everything that we have and
see on this earth is a gift from God. and is
a gift from our Creator, Jesus Christ. I so appreciate
the constant reminders in this talk that we aren't
just looking for big, infrequent experiences,
but even in the smallest things that happen every
day and every second of our lives. Like every
breath we take. Yeah. Like literally, that is
a gift from God. The autonomic nervous system,
that's what does things automatically. We don't
even think about it, breathing, things like that.
But just that nervous system, the more I've been
learning about that, I'm like, oh, wow, there
are a lot of things that have to be working for
us to continue on through a day. It's truly awe
-inspiring. Could be in awe of every breath that
you take. You could. Elder Suarez asked the question,
why is this so hard? It's because we live in
a world that celebrates the irreverent. If you
don't believe it, just look about music and the
movies, the social media space, the magazine,
the list goes on and on. This world that we live
in encourages us to become very casual and careless
and eventually apathetic to the things that are
around us. That is exactly Satan's line item
plan on how to take us farther away from our
connection with Heavenly Father and His Son,
Jesus Christ. I do like in this talk here that
he makes the point that it's no wonder that we
slip out of looking for reverence because we're
just being bombarded constantly with this thing.
Um, I've noticed it, especially when I'm encouraged
to take breaks from social media, you know, either
a challenge that's presented to me or when I've
asked, I, you know, what little steps can I take?
It's like, take a little breather from that,
put that on pause. Are you on a pause right now
from social media? I'm on it so that I can keep
track of your missionary. He's doing great, by
the way. I do jump on to see his stuff, but it's
very limited. It is like you don't have the app
downloaded and you have to like seek it out.
Um, Sometimes I'm not saying like a heavy duty
hike, but sometimes I'm called into nature. And
that's sometimes even just sitting on my back
porch and enjoying the things that are out there.
Sometimes it's like, stop watching the news.
It is not for your betterment. There's nothing
good out there. Or you have to seek out the better
news. But we can try our hardest to try to mute
some of the resistance. But in combination, the
spirit As I was trying to think, what things
do I need to try to mute out of my life, the
Spirit started working on me and teaching me
that in every day, in every moment, even if it's
loud and crazy, like I said, kind of to the last
paragraph, every breath we take is an opportunity
for reverence. If you have a desire to connect
with the more reverent things, maybe you'll stop
whatever you're doing, go take a walk, switch
off a song that's kind of... creating that turmoil
in you or making you feel like busier than you
want to feel. Maybe you're encouraged to call
a friend. But going back to the first paragraph,
we prepare ourselves for holy and spiritual experiences,
and then we allow ourselves to become different
people by the path that we walk after. So if
we don't feel like we're having those moments
as often in our life as we would like, then we
have to assess that and say, there's something
in my life that's preventing me from taking that
opportunity. Am I trying to fill my life with
too much business and too much noise to really
stop and have those conversations with them and
find that deeper connection? Am I using that
noise to drown out something that I really need
to take care of? I'm like drowning it out. Yeah.
Well, and it's also like it just helps to bring
balance back into your life. That's a good way.
What I realized for me, like I took a break from
all social media. I didn't realize why. And then
later I had some diagnoses and it was like my
autoimmune or my immune system is working in
overdrive. And if that's happening, then I need
to put more focus and intention in quieting and
in slowing down and not giving my attention and
focus to other things that aren't healing my
body right now. I just didn't really think that
that took some of my focus and attention. away
from healing. When I thought of it that way,
I was like, well, of course, Heavenly Father,
why don't you tell me that in the beginning?
Tell me that in the first place. But I think
it really required me quieting and slowing down
to realize that. We're at seven. Boyd K. Packer
gave a talk back in 1991 entitled, Reverence
Invites Revelation. And it's quoted in Elder
Suarez talks also when he shares, irreverence
towards sacred things furthers the adversaries.
aim by disrupting our sensitive channels of revelation,
which are crucial for our spiritual survival
in our day. That's funny because that's a different
way of what I just said. Yes. I didn't realize
that my channels were being kind of like jammed
and signal. Yeah. Isn't it such a clever plan?
And what's crafty about Satan is that he'll throw
in like in my reels, I'll death scroll, and he'll
throw in the prophet talk and I'll like stop
and listen for a minute and then it's like onto
like the next military homecoming or whatever
political banter that's going on. But like he
mixes in the things that are like, well, that
was worth my time. Wouldn't have run into that
great quote, but you know, that might be paired
with 99 other things that I didn't really need
to spend my time watching. It's just interesting
too, I feel like the Spirit helps us and tells
us when we need to rein it back in. Other times
it's great and it really does help us with the
things that we're looking for and sometimes it
doesn't. When we know how Satan operates and
what his strategy is, it makes you want to do
everything in your power to thwart that plan,
right? We open ourselves up to being either under
his influence or the influence of God and it
happens in little decisions that we make every
single day. Love it. Paragraph 8 jumps into some
scripture, Doctrine and Covenants 76, and we
just studied that a few weeks ago, so I think
it's cool to bring that up. But it teaches us
that reverence towards Heavenly Father and His
Son Jesus Christ are essential virtues for those
to attain the celestial kingdom. It is the whole
reason why we came here, to have the physical
body that we need in order to become like them
and to be challenged in strengthening our resolve,
to be tested with agency. And they lay line it
out in 92, they say, thus we saw the glory of
the celestial which excels all things. 93, before
who's thrown all things bow in humble reverence
and give him glory forever and ever. 94, it says,
they who dwell in his presence are the church
of the first born. 95, and he makes them equal
in power and in might and in dominion. Kind of
made me think when I was referencing these scriptures
about how our prophet has encouraged us to think
celestial and it not something as a far off in
the distance Get that achieve that it's like
in the moment in the now live so lately now and
this be blessed celestial II now not like when
I get through all of this, am I going to qualify
to be in His presence? It was mind blowing when
He said it. I agree. Like, claim those blessings
now. Yeah, now it's been brought up enough that
you're just like, yeah, why not live in the celestial
in this moment? And I think living more in the
moments, day to day, in awe of the things around
us, is when we learn more about the Father and
the Son, and we get to know them better, and
then we're able to exemplify them more in our
own traits. And in this way, we get to experience
the celestial here and now. Absolutely. 100 %
I agree with that. Number nine, a gentle reminder
to use the Spirit to judge whether the images
we create do not distract from our primary focus
on our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ
and their teachings, including how we apply advanced
tools offered by technology. Loved this, the
whole AI thing, right? It's part of life. It's
going to be even more. AI will continue to be
more and more and more part of our life. And
it's so important that we each fine for ourselves,
what the balance is and what the role will be.
Right. In paragraph 10, he kind of builds on
that. He says, as easy as it would be to come
up with new church material with the use of AI,
the church leaders do not apply that same standard.
It's a busy church. It would be very nice to
offload some of those responsibilities that they
have. But what are we lacking if we're using
artificial intelligence? And it's this statement.
Close attention to the Spirit is essential to
make sure the leaders maintain the sacred virtue,
values, and standards of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, and Elder David A. Bednar taught. To
navigate the complex intersection of spirituality
and technology, Latter -day Saints should humbly
and perfectly, one, identify gospel principles
that can guide their use of AI, and two, strive
sincerely for the companionship of the Holy Ghost
and the spiritual gift of revelation. And I think
we must all challenge ourselves when it comes
to creating lessons or talks. You know, like
you said, what's the appropriate use of it. Certainly
you should use AI, you can use AI, sometimes
it helps you kind of create formats if you're
leading a Sunday school. Think like how to put
your thoughts, especially if you're the one inputting
the question into the machine, like how do I
cover these, like what does the arc of the lesson
look like? AI will never be able to duplicate
your thoughts and your impressions that come
from the spirit as we take time to really learn
and study for ourselves these important things.
So calling it a complex intersection is very
fitting and the advice to take it to prayer to
determine the best use of it, solid advice. Absolutely.
I also have found that sometimes when I've done
like an outline, I've noticed that when I say
an outline, an outline of a conference talk,
I've noticed that it takes out key points that
I would want to have in there, like something
that talks specifically about the atonement of
Jesus Christ or that talks specifically about
something that the spirit tells me is important.
What I do love is I would love to type into it,
like, what did President Nelson say on this topic
and have it bring up everything and then put
that into my talk. Do you know what I mean? But
if you know a lot about that thing that you're
asking it, you can see, I don't know if it's
intentional or not, but sometimes there's lies.
Like I'll be like, what did he say about this
thing? And that gives me this answer. And I'm
like, he wasn't even the guy that said it. And
that wasn't the year that he said it, just because
I'm trying to test its ability. So I'll tell
it, I said, you got that wrong. And that's a
lie. He didn't say that. I'm like, oh, my apologies.
I'm sorry about that. That's funny. I'm like,
I don't know if there's a motivation behind that,
how smart these generations of AI are, but it
has still, regardless of that. It's taught me
there are so many great uses of it, but the fact
of the matter is you can't. You're going to miss
on opportunities for the spirit to impress you
of what's important to you if you let AI tell
you. Well, here's the summary. This was the good
part. I like AI's use of when I say, here's the
talk, give me an action item. It's done very
well on taking action items or good questions
to pose, but the questions will lead to my own
self -studying reflection. It's not taking that
revelation out of the mix. Absolutely. And when
I would ask for those things, I would go back
and be like, oh, this is the starting point because
I couldn't remember like all the different years
or something. be able to know for sure because
you'd look in the conference talks if that's
where it was. He says it perfectly here. This
is 11. My dear brothers and sisters, as sophisticated
as modern technology has become, it simply cannot
simulate the wonder, awe, and amazement found
in the kind of reverence born from the influence
of the Holy Ghost. 100 % agree with that. Overuse
of AI tools is a modern day's tool that Satan
can use against us. If we get too used to getting
answers through AI, and through the search and
just take the answer for truth. We have eliminated
the Holy Ghost from the process. It will reap
the same benefits to the adversary as jamming
the signals with a lot of unnecessary noise.
or use of the irrelevant. This week I was listening
to different gospel topics and it's really, really
good. I love that one. Yes. So I was listening
and the one that's seeking truth and it talked
about number one, it's a process. Number two,
when you find something, corroborate that, which
means don't just take one. Yes. Oh, that confers
my answer. No, like look for three references.
And it really starts building your testimony
on this. And so again, AI is not the you know,
that the end -all be -all, it can help. But I
just love that, yeah, get different viewpoints.
And when they all start to say the same thing,
you start thinking, oh yeah, like this is definitely,
I see where this is coming from. It gives you
a well -rounded view of your approach. That's
amazing advice. Elder, President Russell M. Nelson
has strongly emphasized our worship and reverence
in the sacred temples in the House of the Lord.
And we're taught about entering into the holy
presence of the Father and the Son there. Elder.
Suarez says, I have always found it instructive
and even inspiring that one of the first things
that we do upon entering the temple and preparing
ourselves in preparation for the sacred ordinances
is to remove our shoes and change into our white
clothing, like tying back to the first paragraph
where we talked about what we do to prepare to
communicate with God through the Spirit, and
doing those things necessary to open those channels
of communication, or showing our agency that
we're here, we're ready to learn and listen.
Elder Suarez says, we can be like Moses and take
off our shoes as a beginning step to be transformed
to higher and holier ground. This week, as I
was pondering taking off the shoes, I started
with something simple. Our family prayers are
before bed and meals, typically, you know, in
any given day, there's like multiple prayers
that we're going to give. We're a very young
family, and I think it's fair to say that a lot
of times they lack the reverence that they deserve.
Kids are running around, they're dishing up their
food, or at least sounds like we're heathens,
we kind of are. I think that's pretty normal,
Addie. I think it is too, but you know. they're
doing age -appropriate things, I would say, for
the most part. But the four -year -old can come
up with some pretty funny things unintentionally.
And what I'm trying to do, recognizing that I
think that we can improve on it, is just to ask
the kids to take a moment before we get our prayers
to seriously consider that we are communicating
with God, even over simple things like the food
and the night prayers and stuff that we're doing.
And it's going to take some more focused effort.
But I love that because I was reviewing this
talk, it helped me to see kind of a hole where
we can infuse more reverence into our daily lives
and be teaching them at that young age that we
are taking this seriously. We're not just praying
for a checklist moment. We're praying because
we really do think that we're communicating with
God and those cute little things of your heart
that you say can be heard by our Heavenly Father.
13. Moses climbed a mountain to have his experience.
Mountain language is temple language. Though
it is certainly easy to be reverent and commune
with God and His holy temples, the point of this
talk was to encourage us to seek and expect reverent
moments in the here and the now, in multiple
ways throughout the day, protecting our home
environments as we consider the things we let
into our homes in prayer and scripture study
and honoring our covenants by living in obedience
to the commandments. Have you felt a quiet and
certain stillness at times you have put more
emphasis into those things? I know I have. The
prophet shared in 2020 a talk called Embrace
the Future with Faith, you may remember this,
and we all know that time can be filled with
uncertainty. He said this, Focusing on such actions
can surely help transform our homes into reverent
places of spiritual refuge, personal sanctuaries
of faith where the spirit resides." Doesn't it
bring a lot of peace to think about our homes
being an extension of the temple or a safe place
for ourselves and our loved ones to be? It brings
me a lot of joy. As I'm reminded, that's exactly
what they're meant to be. And I also do know
Probably people listening to this back in 2020
or people that are listening to podcasts now
like there will be a fair share of people They
can't say that they can't say they feel that
peace and comfort in their own homes because
of you know circumstances outside of their control
and I just wanted to testify that our own physical
body can be a shelter from the storms that we
experience around us Maybe the spirit will well
help you see the you know the holes that can
be filled If your home potentially could be one
of those safe sanctuary places, make the little
changes that can make it an extension of the
temple. Or if it's completely impossible out
of your reach and something you have no control
over, that he'll help you make whatever changes
you need to to fill that safety and peace within
yourself. For sure. Again, that's taking back
our agency, right? Right. Paragraph 14, he talks
about worshiping in church on Sundays, and I
loved that he used the word worship, or maybe
it just pricks mayors a little bit different
after we did that talk on worship. Are we being
distracted? Can we sing with more reverence?
Just focusing on the sacrament, the emblems of
the sacrament itself will foster a reverent,
renewing moment of our communion with the Savior.
it will make the Sabbath a delight and it will
transform our lives. You know how I talked about
that process of studying the names of Jesus Christ
in the top of a guide? It was in studying this
talk that the Spirit taught me that I can tweak
that a little bit more. So before I was trying
to manage it in a year and I kept blast through
it and then like the Spirit modified that to
like take your time with it like you're learning
about the Savior Jesus Christ and some of those
are going to take a little bit longer. So the
duration of that project stretch this stuff out,
and then in studying this talk this week, this
paragraph stood out to me, and I thought, you
know what, I can do that study. It's a quick
pop into the top of the guide, find a title of
Jesus Christ, and then reference some of the
scriptures, but I can do that in my week, at
some point in my study in the week, and then
maybe be able to keep my phone down as I'm partaking
of the sacrament, because I don't feel bad about
having the phone out, but it's a small dumb little
thing. the plan that I'm on, how I want to connect
with Jesus Christ during the sacrament, it's
still there. But really what he's done in that
little tweak is to have me thinking about my
Savior and preparing for the sacrament, like
on a Wednesday. And maybe something will come
up and I'm trying to strengthen my testimony
and things that I know about Him. So then I get
to that Sunday worship and my phone is down and
I'm recalling the things that I've gained a testimony
of as that role of the Savior. during that week.
So I'm going to try to do that. Just my husband's
going to be thrilled. My phone's going to be
down a little bit more. That's funny. I love
it. Worshipping in the temples regularly is such
a blessing as we try to develop the virtue of
reverence for sacred things. If you're endowed
being inside, and reminded of the covenants that
you have made brings covenant confidence and
nod back to his excellent talk from a year ago.
I do love that. We suggest reviewing that talk
because man, that talk focused on the preparation
that we make before entering the Holy Temple
and then what we're able to bring back out of
the temple with us and carry on and infuse into
our daily lives. And then just a reminder, paragraph
16, we had to bump up to the top of the talk
because it was such a starter. But when you listen
to his own words on this talk, you're reviewing
it however you guys manage that, listening to
the podcast and listening to the talks by them,
the emotion in his voice. And the things that
he's testifying of come from deep personal experience
and it kind of just makes them hit even harder.
He knows these things to be true because he's
experienced the peace that's come from hard things
in his life because of the time he's taken to
have these real meaningful deep moments. Yes.
I feel like too when I listen to that paragraph
that the spirit kind of like shook me like there
is something here and the spirit or the Holy
Ghost bore. a witness of those things, a truthfulness
that he does know he's not just talking about
things, He has, number one, experienced them.
And number two, He has put these principles to
practice in His life. And it has changed His
discipleship, like He said. So I just feel like
it was almost like the Spirit was underlining
that and saying, yes. Transformative is the word.
Transformative, that's what it was. It was transforming
His discipleship. It underlined that part. So
He references how Moses had a transformative
experience. I know that in this talk, He's trying
to say, we can have transformative experiences
and without being braggy. I can hear the testimony's
voice of how. his life experiences have transformed
him, and I can testify. I've met him physically.
He came to our temple here when we were in the
dedication process. Amazing. He's a man of God,
and he's done great things with these life experiences
that he's had. Absolutely. 17, my brothers and
sisters, reverence for the sacred fosters genuine
gratitude, expands true happiness, leads our
minds to revelation, and brings greater joy to
our lives. It places our feet on holy ground
and lifts our heart to deity. I absolutely love
this talk, Abby. So good. I loved it too. You
know, you sit and you think back and you're like,
are we going to do this perfectly every day?
Is it going to be easy? And I'm going to say
no. But I love that the way that he makes me
feel when I'm looking through the words of this
talk, he uses the word himself of strive. We
strive to incorporate virtue into our daily lives.
and we'll be able to increase our humility and
expand our understanding of God's will for us
and strengthen our confidence in the promises
of the covenants that we have made with the Lord.
Meaning, strive. We're not going to do it perfectly.
Nobody expected us to do it perfectly, but we're
showing a desire to work in the direction of
doing it than we did before. Any final thoughts?
I love it too because he just does emphasize
and underline humility. Like you said, strive.
Are we going to be perfect? No. But when we're
humble, and humility is just something that reminds
us, too, that God has given us everything that
we have. Everything is a gift. We didn't create
the air, our breath, the leaves, whatever it
is. It's all from God. When we remember that,
it just helps us to remember our relationship
to Him, that He is our Father, Jesus Christ is
our Creator, and that we are all on the same
team. I definitely want to strive towards being
a better disciple, being a good disciple of Jesus
Christ. So yes. And that the Savior's role is
to fill in those gaps in whatever way and part
in peace that we need because we've given our
best offering to Him, He can magnify and multiply
and fill in whatever gaps that exist there. So
I will close with his testimony. He says, embracing
the gift of reverence for sacred things in temples,
church houses, and our homes, we connect to the
perfect love of our Heavenly Father in Jesus
Christ. I revere and witness these truths in
the sacred name of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus
Christ. Amen. Amen. Thanks so much for being
with us today. We really appreciate you.