Elder Holland’s General Conference Address

I have a confession to make. I missed almost all of General Conference because I was at a research conference on Saturday and on my way to another research conference on Sunday. So, last week was a conference weekend for me, it just wasn’t Conference weekend. What I am grateful for is the opportunity I have to listen, read, or watch all the talks from General Conference online or on my iPod. I can (and do) listen to Conference talks while walking from my car to my lab. I can use that time to soak in the words of prophets and apostles, thanks to terrific technologies.

In this strain of gratitude, I would like to post the video of Elder Holland’s talk, as well as a few quotations from his talk. Here is the video:

To those in the church who might feel as if their contributions have been small or insignificant, Elder Holland offers these words with all the sincerity of his heart: “And to the near-perfect elderly sister who almost apologetically whispered recently, ‘I have never been a leader of anything in the Church. I guess I’ve only been a helper,’ I say, ‘Dear sister, God bless you and all the ‘helpers’ in the kingdom.’ Some of us who are leaders hope someday to have the standing before God that you have already attained.” (Source).

We are all important members of God’s family and are loved by Him and by so many others. Elder Holland said, “In whatever country you live, however young or inadequate you feel, or however aged or limited you see yourself as being, I testify you are individually loved of God, you are central to the meaning of His work, and you are cherished and prayed for by the presiding officers of His Church. The personal value, the sacred splendor of every one of you, is the very reason there is a plan for salvation and exaltation.”

I hope that we might all read, watch, listen to, re-read, re-watch, or listen again to Elder Holland’s message. His message was more than a jaunty pep-talk or a bit of positive psychological prose, Elder Holland spoke of and exhibited the pure love Christ. God loves each of us, in spite of our many imperfections. This does not mean that we are free to sin without consequence but God does love each of us.

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