April 9, 2016 - Saturday in Nauvoo

I got a call from our daughter Ali, today while I was working in the Browning Gun Shop.  We were able to talk for a few minutes between visitors coming in.  She was telling me about a sweet experience she had.  A day or so ago she was wondering, out-loud,  why she couldn't be a better mom.  It was kind of like directing your concerns Heavenward... 

I have had similar thoughts about why I could not be a better dad, or a better Church member, or a better friend, or a better missionary....  I wonder how many folks think along these lines??  Well, Ali made this a matter of prayer and was almost instantly reminded that if she were perfect, she would not need the Savior.  While we all want to be better and do better, the Savior has Atoned for all of our sins, and shortcomings, and even the injustices we have experienced throughout our lives!  We can be perfect through Him and His Gospel!  The important effort we make is to set aside who we are and really focus on who we can become!

We were up very early this morning, ready to begin this day.  After our morning devotional, and our prayers, we left the house about 10 minutes before 6:00am for our morning walk.  It was cold, in the low 20's, but no wind!  That made the walk brisk and enjoyable and invigorating!

Mom served in the Lyon Drug Store and I had the nod at the Browning Gun Shop.  We had quite a few visitors today!  Folks from all over Utah with that state still in the Spring break mode.  And many of them came to the Rendezvous show tonight!  We had two shows with over 150 in attendance.  Two great audiences, and mom and I had the fun parts of the Editor, and the Relief Society President.

As far as talks from General Conference, I loved the talk that President Monson gave at Conference Sunday morning session.  It was inspiring to see him there at all the sessions, and wonderful to hear him address us in this session about choices.  I have added the summary of his talk from the Church website;

It has been said that the door of history turns on small hinges, and so do people’s lives. The choices we make determine our destiny.

When we left our premortal existence and entered mortality, we brought with us the gift of agency. Our goal is to obtain celestial glory, and the choices we make will, in large part, determine whether or not we reach our goal. …

May we choose to build up within ourselves a great and powerful faith which will be our most effective defense against the designs of the adversary—a real faith, the kind of faith which will sustain us and will bolster our desire to choose the right. Without such faith, we go nowhere. With it, we can accomplish our goals.

Although it is imperative that we choose wisely, there are times when we will make foolish choices. The gift of repentance, provided by our Savior, enables us to correct our course settings, that we might return to the path which will lead us to that celestial glory we seek.

May we maintain the courage to defy the consensus. May we ever, choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong.

As we contemplate the decisions we make in our lives each day—whether to make this choice or that—if we choose Christ, we will have made the correct choice.

I think this goes right along with what Ali felt in her prayer.  The adversary wants us to fail, but we can choose to be successful, to have courage, and strengthen our desire to choose the right, even if it is hard, and especially if we have not yet obtained perfection!