1973

this year I am reading all the talks President Monson gave in General Conference 

here are my thoughts on the talks he gave in 1973

April 1973

Yellow Canaries with Grey on their Wings

President Monson opens his talk with a story about a childless widow who had passed away while he was serving as bishop. 

I love the quote that I chose to highlight on the left, "Our very business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves." I needed to be reminded of that.

President Monson said, "To live greatly we must develop the capacity to face trouble with courage, disappointment with cheerfulness, and triumph with humility." I love that! I will point out now that I loved a lot of this talk. I felt like it was about who we are as children of God and what we can become. If we "come follow him" then "we can determine our personal destiny."

October 1973

Behold Thy Mother

I could tell, by this talk and many others, that President Monson thinks very highly of mothers. This talk was about four kinds of mothers - mother forgotten

mother remembered

mother blessed

and mother loved

The first one, mother forgotten, is absolutely heartbreaking. I could not imagine forgetting/neglecting my mother. President Monson, likewise, did not sound happy with those who do not make time for their mothers. 

Mothers are capable of extraordinary things. He gave the example of the 2000 stripling warriors

"And now I say unto you, my beloved brother Moroni, that never had I seen so great courage, nay, not amongst all the Nephites.

 For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall. . . 

 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death. . .

yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

But behold, to my great joy, there had not one soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and they had fought as if with the strength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength; and with such mighty power "

Alma 56:45-48, 56

These mothers inspire myself to do better at teaching the gospel to my children.

President Monson sums up his talk with this quote, "One cannot forget mother and remember God. One cannot remember mother and forget God. Why? Two sacred persons, partners in creation, in love, in sacrifice, in service are one."

to read yellow canaries with grey on their wings click here

to read Behold Thy Mother click here