PROVO, UTAH
President Thomas S. Monson encouraged those attending the BYU Women's Conference to find "joy in the journey," to enjoy today rather than just look forward to what might come tomorrow.
As the conference's concluding speaker, President Monson addressed an audience of some 17,000 gathered in the Marriott Center who had come from throughout the United States and some other countries. The conference, held May 1-2 on BYU's campus in Provo, had the theme "Awake, Arise and Come unto Him" (from Moroni 10: 30-32), and included 209 presenters in 96 concurrent sessions and four general sessions.
In introductory remarks, President Monson quoted American author and historian Washington Irving:
"There is one in the world who feels, for him who is sad, a keener pang than he feels for himself; there is one to whom reflected joy is better than that which comes direct; there is one who rejoices in another's honor more than in any which is one's own;... there is one who hides another's infirmities more faithfully than one's own; there is one who loses all sense of self in the sentiments of kindness, tenderness, and devotion to another. That one is woman."
President Monson said, "You, my sisters, are everything described by Washington Irving. You are sensitive and selfless. You are nurturers; you are compassionate. You genuinely care about others, and you form strong relationships. You love and forgive. With good hearts and willing hands, you make a real difference in the lives of others."
Further, he declared, "Wherever you are in life, your individual tapestry is woven with threads common to you and to all women, and it is regarding some of these common threads on which I wish to comment today.
"First, each one of you is living a life filled with much to do. I plead with you not to let the important things in life pass you by, planning instead for that illusive and non-existent future day when you'll have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey — now."
From Meredith Wilson's "The Music Man," he quoted this caution: "You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you've collected a lot of empty yesterdays."
President Monson noted, "There is no tomorrow to remember if we don't do something today. Let us not procrastinate those things which matter most."
He spoke of a man who, after his wife passed away, found an item of clothing she had purchased nine years earlier and had been saving for a special occasion, which now would never come. The man related the experience to a friend and said, "Don't save something only for a special occasion. Every day in your life is a special occasion."
The widower's friend said those words changed her life. They helped her cease putting off things most important to her. She spent more time with her family, used crystal glasses every day and said she would wear new clothes to the supermarket if she felt like it. She called old friends to make peace over past quarrels, told her family how much she loved them, and tried to not delay or postpone anything that could bring laughter and joy into their lives. Each day, each hour and each minute, she said, is special.
President Monson quoted from a national magazine article by Arthur Gordon, who wrote that on the day his father had promised to take him and his younger brother to the circus his father received a phone call about some urgent business that required his attention downtown. The boys, prepared to be disappointed, heard their father say, "No, I won't be down. It'll have to wait." The boys' mother said, "The circus keeps coming back, you know." To this, the father said, "I know, but childhood doesn't."
President Monson said, "If you do something that turns out not quite as you had planned, you can almost always put it right, get over it, learn from it. But once you've missed out on something, it's gone....
"Send that note to the friend you've been neglecting; give your child a compliment and a hug; say, 'I love you' more; always express your thanks. Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. Friends move away, children grow up, loved ones pass on. It's so easy to take others for granted, until that day when they're gone from our lives and we are left with feelings of 'what if' and 'if only.'...Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey and share our love with friends and family. One day, each of us will run out of tomorrows. Let us not put off what is most important."
President Monson turned to "the threads of adversity, which are woven into the tapestry of all our lives."
He told of a woman who sat in the Relief Society room, weeping over her daughter who, apparently, had lost her testimony and had gone to another church. As she watched other women enter the room she realized that each one had her own set of problems.
"She could see how faith had helped each one endure her particular challenges," President Monson said. "Although her problem did not disappear...the mother resolved that she would attempt to follow the examples she had seen that day, examples of faith and endurance.
"As with this woman, some of you may at times have cried out in your suffering, wondering why our Heavenly Father would allow you to go through whatever trials you are facing."
He spoke of a father who was eager to save his small daughter from the dangers of choice and discovery as she played with friends, but he knew that scraped knees, tears and bruised feelings are often necessary parts of growth and development.
"Our mortal life was never meant to be easy or consistently pleasant," President Monson observed. "Our Heavenly Father, who gives us so much to delight in, also knows that we learn and grow and become refined through hard challenges, heartbreaking sorrows, and difficult choices. Each one of us experiences dark days when our loved ones pass away, painful times when our health is lost, feelings of being forsaken when those we love seem to have abandoned us. These and other trials present us with the real test of our ability to endure. A fundamental question remains to be answered by each who runs the race of life: Shall I falter, or shall I finish? To finish life's race involves enduring through challenges and trials to the very end of life itself."
Into the tapestry of life are also woven threads of service, love and kindness to others, President Monson said. "Sometimes, my dear sisters, you feel inadequate and ineffective because you can't do all that you feel you should. Rather than continually dwelling on what still needs to be done, pause occasionally and reflect on all that you do and have done. It is most significant.
"The good you have done, the kind words you have spoken, the love you have shown to others, can never be fully measured."
As an example, he told of Lucy Gertsch, his Sunday School teacher when he was a boy in the 6th-7th Ward in the Pioneer Stake in Salt Lake City, who won over the class with her patience, love and ability to make the scriptures come alive for the children.
One Sunday, she announced that a classmate, Billy Devenport, wasn't present; his mother had passed away. Sister Gertsch taught a lesson from Acts 20:35, in which is given the admonishment to "remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive."
Sister Gertsch asked the class if they would like to follow the teachings of the Lord. She proposed that they take the money they had been saving for a big party and give it to Billy's family in that time of economic depression when money was scarce. The class agreed and went together to Billy's house to make the presentation.
"This simple act of kindness welded us together as one," President Monson said. "Because of Lucy Gertsch, we learned through our own experience that it is indeed more blessed to give than to receive....We who laughed, who grew under the direction of that inspired teacher of truth have never forgotten her inspired service or her love for each of us.
"You, my dear sisters, are filled with the same kind of love and caring which Lucy Gertsch exemplified throughout her life. Your hearts are tender and sensitive to the needs of others. Thank you for the selfless service you give so willingly. Such service provides the golden threads which run through the tapestry of your lives."
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