This is a little late (conference being a month ago)...it has been a long time coming.
I really look forward to General Conference more than any other event of the year. Sometimes I crave it like I crave dark chocolate. My wonderful mother in law (who is on a mission in Baton Rouge Louisiana with President Woods who is the mission president) gave all her children and their spouses an assignment to write about their favorite conference talk. I have so many that I really liked, I can't think of any I didn't really, but the one that really struck me and felt like it quenched the yearning of my soul at this time was by Russell M. Nelson.
He spoke about Eternal Marriage. I have heard hundreds of talks about marriage, in fact I was kinda obsessed with learning about it when I was single. This is probably the first talk I have heard on it now that I am married and it has a whole new meaning to me. I have to say the first year of marriage have been very "revealing" for me. Meaning I see for myself many of the things that I learned before I was married and that people told me come true. I see that marriage is not always easy (it takes a lot of work), but those moments when it is wonderful are more delicious than most things I've experienced in life so far. I see the great need for selflessness, humility, and looking for the virtues instead of faults in your partner--I also find it is not as easy as I thought to do this. I need the Savior. This first 8 months of married life have been like a rollercoaster with the highs and lows. Here is the part Elder Nelson's talk that really spoke to me:
"While salvation is an individual matter, exaltation is a family matter...(skipped a lot of the talk)
Meanwhile, mortal misunderstandings can make mischief in a marriage. In fact, each marriage starts with two built-in handicaps. It involves two imperfect people. Happiness can come to them only through their earnest effort. Just as harmony comes from an orchestra only when its members make a concerted effort, so harmony in marriage also requires a concerted effort. That effort will succeed if each partner will minimize personal demands and maximize actions of loving selflessness.
President Thomas S. Monson has said: “To find real happiness, we must seek for it in a focus outside ourselves. No one has learned the meaning of living until he has surrendered his ego to the service of his fellow man. Service to others is akin to duty—the fulfillment of which brings true joy.”
Harmony in marriage comes only when one esteems the welfare of his or her spouse among the highest of priorities. When that really happens, a celestial marriage becomes a reality, bringing great joy in this life and in the life to come.
God’s plan of happiness allows us to choose for ourselves. As with the patterns of the shopper, we may choose celestial marriage or lesser alternatives.Some marital options are cheap, some are costly, and some are cunningly crafted by the adversary. Beware of his options; they always breed misery!
The full realization of the blessings of a temple marriage is almost beyond our mortal comprehension. Such a marriage will continue to grow in the celestial realm. There we can become perfected. As Jesus ultimately received the fulness of the glory of the Father, so we may “come unto the Father . . . and in due time receive of his fulness.” "The big question for us, when Dan and I are working through the adjustments of marriage, is "How do we find joy?" I love how the gospel answers this--it is through selflessness and service to our companion. Its quite the opposite mindset of when your dating and you are evaluating how that person will fulfill your needs and if they are what you want and expect . Dan and I were single for so long that this selfish mindset may have become a little engrained, so now the adjustments come. Thinking that way has a place when you are courting to judge whether you want to marry someone, but has no place when you are married and trying to keep temple covenants and build an eternal marriage. I am really learning a lot from being married, and growing in ways I couldn't if I were still single. Thanks to our leaders for their inspired counsel for every stage in life.
I also liked the part about gender, our leaders are definitely involved and aware of the moral issues we are facing at this time. In California many people want to legalize same sex marriage. It has brought joy for Dan and I to defend what brings true happiness in this life and the next and that is marriage between and man and a women--that is the only way to have posterity and exaltation.
