General Conference - With a Bang!

Sometimes life leaves you with question marks. Other times life meets you head on with a giant exclamation point that serves as a confirmation. After one session of General Conference, I received that big ole' exclamation mark!

Over the past few months, I've given the idea of "going and doing" a lot of thought. Here's the cliffnotes version of it: Life is short. Too often we worry about failing, worry about not being good enough, and it ends up becoming self-fulfilling. I've been excited about the idea of jumping into something big and running with it. I've also been fascinated in how the most successful people in the world didn't hedge their bets, they jumped into what they believed in.

Well, General Conference. I worked at KD today so I was unable to watch any sessions live. This evening I tuned into the archive of the Saturday Afternoon session. I also took notes of impressions during the session. In the past, I've separated them by speaker. This time, I decided to leave them all together and see how that worked.

Here's a summary of what I compiled (excluding irrelevant or personal entries):

• We will only see change by living as examples.


• Struggles bring opportunities to grow.


• Don't wait to act in important matters. Be diligent after acting.


• Aim your life towards what you want to become. That desire brings focus and strength.


• It is a responsibility to seek those things that we righteously desire.


• Stay on the course. You won't see it at first, but blessings accumulate over time.

Each of these ideas alone are great principles. Together - it began to meld a bigger picture. Here's my rough sketch: "You must aim your life towards the righteous goals you desire. In order to aim your life towards those goals, you must act on those goals. Don't wait until tomorrow to do that, because the struggles you will encounter today will allow you to grow. Be diligent through those struggles, because as you stay on the course you will be rewarded. The rewards will come. Really. Keep going. Have faith in the goals you desired in the beginning. Your life will change - you'll change the lives of others - just see it through to the end."

I wasn't going into the session looking for anything. I was just writing down memorable ideas and thoughts that came from them. As a result of those actions, many months of personal reflection crystallized over the course of two hours on a Saturday evening.

There's no way we will ever realize our potential if we wait for the perfect opportunity. Our best laid plans will mean nothing without action, diligence, and patience.

Man, I love General Conference!