I am always uplifted by Conference, but sometimes I am saddened when the best parts never make it to print.
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave an outstanding talk on this Saturday, Oct. 2nd. It was the morning session, and he discussed the need to pay extra attention to the foundational principles of the gospel.
He reminded us that the basic foundations of the gospel provide the answers to the most complex problems of life.
He discussed the need to slow down in times of turbulence (using an airplane metaphor, of course). He reminded us that it is easy to get so busy that "milestones can become millstones."
He discussed how astronauts quickly discovered that standard ballpoint pens do not work in outer space. Millions of dollars of research produced a better pen. What did the astronauts use in the meantime? A pencil. The audience laughed. Simplicity is often superior to complexity.
Then, the talk reached an unexpected climax.
His voice began to crack as he explained that the fundamentals, the pure doctrines, are the "gateway of truth of profound meaning." Turning his head away from the microphone, he coughed several times. He then whispered with some effort to the audience that, "I lost my voice!" The audience politely laughed.
Still whispering and referring to his lost voice, he retorted, "This is one of the foundational things I need to have." The audience erupted with laughter, much louder than before.
That spontaneous remark illustrated President Uchtdorf's presence of mind and his intelligence. He tied his current vocal struggles with the message of his sermon.
We do NOT need to be superhuman to be Mormon and to live the gospel. We can only run so fast, and sometimes when we talk, we can only whisper. We sometimes should not push ourselves beyond our limitations.
For me, the most profound message was found in President Uchtdorf's cough. It's too bad the cough will probably never get preserved into the printed Ensign in November. Sometimes the unprinted coughs and the unprinted audience reactions are Mormonism at its best. It's too bad when they are lost.
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9 comments:
Yeah, President Uchtdorf was great. He gave a great talk last conference too at Priesthood.
I'm glad you captured this. Thanks.
You are absolutely right; those unrecorded moments are some of the best parts of conference. They are the unexpected object lessons that illustrate the principles being taught. When they happen, it seems to me as if the next few paragraphs of speech go in one of my ears and out the other as I continue to mull over what just happened.
Another example is during Elder Wirthlin's talk "The Great Commandment" about love in which he began to shake uncontrollably and Elder Nelson stood up next to him to support him.
No, the best thing that then happened is I realized it was my part to exercise all of my faith and silently pray for his voice to recover. Maybe hundreds watching also prayed, and connected with President Ucthdorf from around the world. It reminded me that when we pray for them, it takes exercising faith. That his voice returned some may attribute to the cough drop and water, but many unseen others did their part.
Thanks, Anonymous. It is tough to outrank prayer as one of the great fundamentals.
Thank you for your comments about Elder Uchtdorf's talk. Another moment I remember was when President Hunter stood for the very first time in conference after being in a wheelchair for some time. During his talk, he fell from the podium, breaking some ribs. Pres Hunter finished his talk with Elder Packer stood by his side. His talk was about miracles, and Pres Monson said to the audience afterwards, "you just saw not just one miracle, but two."
SFaux,
My dad just got back from a mission in Germany. He said that the members over there love to quote Uchtdorf in talks and lessons - he is their favorite apostle. No surprise.
It is amazing how I used to despise listening to Gen. Conference long ago, but now I love listening to conference. Can anyone remember the 150th General Conference? I remember it well as a young boy because they kept saying the following at the opening and close of each session: "This is the Sesquicentennial conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." I thought that big word sounded kind of funny.
Dave C:
I hope to live to see the day when the Quorum of 12 is filled with all kinds of international representatives. The day of being a Utah religion has past. Also, we can no longer be an American one.
I couldn't agree more, especially since the comment he made as he was trying to regain his voice was applicable to his message and could have had significant and relevant meaning to people reading/viewing later (I felt a stronger sense of endearment to President Uchtdorf because of that moment as well). It is sad to me that it was also edited from the video the Church posted as well.
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