During Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin's incredible discourse on love?
The quality that must define us most as members of the Church of Jesus Christ?
A couple of quotes I jotted down:
"We see ourselves in terms of yesterday and today, but our Heavenly Father sees us in terms of forever."
"In the end love leads us to the glory and the grandeur of eternal life."
As he began to tremble, Elder Nelson standing so gently beside him and helping to steady him while he persevered until he had delivered his entire talk were in themselves two such incredible gestures of love... Literally seeing the sermon illustrated in the manner of its delivery.
Tears were running down my face. There were audible sighs and sobs at the ward meeting house where we watched. Incredible.
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Yes, very moving, wasn't it? Another quote:
Love is the beginning, middle and end of the pathway of discipleship.
It really was an amazing session.
That was another great quote from that talk!
At a certain point, I gave up taking notes because I was so moved, I just wanted to listen. I can hardly wait to see it in print in the Ensign.
I agree. I was so worried about Elder Wirthlin but so touched by both the gentle loving touch of Nelson and the fact that Wirthlin obviously wanted to get his message out regardless of his own discomfort. Did you hear Elder Wirthlin utter "Thank you" at the very end? If only all of us could show such love to one another.
I wasn't able to see that session, but my former lover, who has in the last couple months decided choose "the lifestyle" over the church, actually watched it. She told me about it and told me that it was her best conference session ever. She said she cried and could feel of the Spirit. She said that you could tell how much pain he was in, but that his message was so important to get out, that he delt with his pain for all of us. Talk about being Christlike.
It was remarkable. He was determined to get this message out... And what an incredible message it was.
There were some other great moments in this conference as well. Boyd K. Packer's talk at the beginning of the first session was incredible. President Hinckley's benediction on the Saints at the end of the third session moved me to tears. Again, just a great outpouring of love.
I may post later about some of the other highlights for me...
I started to weep during this, because it reminded me of my own father, during one of my last poignant moments with him. He wanted to recite the Lord's prayer and was so determined to finish, like Elder Wirthlin or Abinadi before King Noah. Oh that we might have such zeal to finish the things that we are called to do!
Actually, I thought of a Book of Mormon parallel too, but the one I thought of was King Benjamin. I felt such an outpouring of the Spirit at the end of this talk... I was so moved by his tenacity and the power of his testimony. For at least the first few minutes after the end of his talk, I could barely find my composure. (Felt sorry for Bruce Porter, who had to follow that! He actually seemed a bit flustered...)
For me it was a real King Benjamin moment... I wanted a moment of silence, and I imagined all in attendance standing up with one accord and saying, "Yes, we will take Christ's name upon us, and we will walk in the path of love!"
That is certainly what I did personally, in my heart!
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