Special Stake Conference

Elder L. Whitney Clayton
Senior President of the Quorums of the Seventy

Today we had the special treat of having a special stake conference with a general authority present.  We were not told who the general authority would be.  It ended up being Elder L. Whitney Clayton, Senior President of the Quorums of the Seventy.

We arrived about 35 minutes early to make sure we could get parking and a seat.  While we were waiting for the meeting to begin Elder Clayton and President Wells came over to where we were sitting and said hello and shook our hands.  Elder Clayton thanked me for making the effort to come to church.  He said he knows it takes more work for me to get there than for most people.  I thought that was really nice.  He is a wonderful man.  I could tell he was a true servant of God.

I wish I could have taken notes during his talk but I will try to remember a lot of what he said for you.

This is what stood out to me:

We need to prioritize our lives.  Our priorities should be as follows:

1 -- God.  God should be our number one priority.  We should all live our lives with God as our number one focus.  We should live our lives honoring God's name and remember that we have taken his name upon us.  We should remember that in all we do.  That will make it easy to make right decisions on how to keep the Sabbath day holy, which movies we should watch, in every aspect of our life.  We should always strive to keep the commandments.

2 -- Family.  Family should be our number two priority.  He asked how many people hear men talk about how they are thankful for their wive's support.  But how often do you hear women thank their husbands for their support? He talked about motherhood and how it's the hardest job in the world.  He cited President Wells talk who spoke before him.  President Wells talked about being a physician and how people's priorities change when they realize their mortality when diagnosed with a terminal illness. Without question people start putting family ahead of all the other stuff they thought was so important.

3 -- Employment.  This is one I wouldn't have thought of but it makes sense. Elder Clayton also mentioned the importance of getting an education in order to get a good job.

4 -- Church Service.  Serving in Church callings should be our fourth priority.  Obviously some callings require more time and effort than others.  Depending on individual circumstances and where we are in life depends on how much time and effort we can put into serving in the church.  Church callings should not consume your life.  There needs to be a balance.

5 -- Social/Recreation/Civic Duty etc. All other stuff should be fifth on our priority list.  These can all be good things that help to balance our lives but we need to make sure they don't take priority over more important things.   Elder Clayton mentioned that some of us could be more involved in civic duties especially when our government leaders seem to be lacking.  Of course we know the church encourages us to study the issues and candidates and vote in political elections.  Athletic and social activities can be a good part of a balanced life but they should not take priority over God, family, employment, and church service.

Elder Clayton told the story of the kudzu vines. He and his wife were on assignment in Alabama and noticed all these beautiful vines growing on trees.  He asked the mission president in the area what the beautiful vines with the pretty flowers were that grew everywhere.  The mission president told him they were kudzu plants and yes they were beautiful and were even edible.  They can feed cattle and even humans eat them.  But he said they grow like weeds.  They climb on trees and cover their leaves and quickly everything below them dies because they block out the sunlight.  So the analogy was that even good things like athletics and other social, recreational, and even civic activities can grow like kudzu vines and block our sunshine and block our growth and slowly kill us.  Sometimes those vines need to be cut.

Elder Clayton also mentioned a couple of other stories to remind us of our blessings.  When he was on assignment in Africa his wife Kathy was talking to an African sister.  This sister related to Sister Clayton that here in the United States we talk about the glass being half full or half empty.  She said they were just happy if they had a glass.  And they felt even more blessed if it had anything in it.  Another story Elder Clayton told was of an African man visiting the church office building in Salt Lake City.  Elder Clayton happened to be coming out of a meeting and this man asked him about the drinking fountain.  Elder Clayton told him all he had to do was push the button and water would come out for him to drink.  The man was amazed.  Because where he came from they didn't have drinking fountains and even if they did the water would not be potable.

Another thing I would like to mention that Elder Clayton talked about in his talk this morning was about keeping the commandments and being happy.  He read the story of the tree of life from 1 Nephi Chapter 8.  He made the point that if we stay on the path that leads to the tree of life (Keep the Commandments) that we will be happy.  There is no wondering or disputing that fact. He cited a couple of other scriptures -- Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy.

One last story.  Elder Clayton kept making the point that it was not a true story but it illustrates a point.  There was a very wealthy man who was about to die.  He had so much wealth that he wanted to bring some with him when he died.  But everybody knows you can't take it with you when you go.  Somehow this man got permission from the highest authority to bring a suitcase full of whatever he wanted.  The man thought about it and decided to purchase a bunch of gold bullion to put in a suitcase and bring with him.  He purchased the biggest suitcase he could find with wheels on it and filled it with the gold bouillon. When he got to the pearly gates St. Peter asked him why he had a suitcase and the man told him that the highest authority gave him permission to bring it.  St. Peter said no one ever gets permission to bring anything.  But the man insisted.  So St. Peter went through the pearly gates and asked.  He came back astonished and said, "well you were right, you were granted permission to bring something.  So, what did you bring?"  The man opened the suitcase to reveal the gold bouillon. St. Peter asks the man, "you brought pavers?" :-)

That brought a big smile to my face.  Elder Clayton's point was that the man should have been working more on building family relations than gaining wealth.  Because family relations are actually something you can take with you. He talked a little bit about temple sealings, families, and missionary work.

There was more but those were the main points that stuck out to me.  I hope I got it right.  Like I said, I wish I could've taken notes but I think I did pretty good with just remembering.  :-)

I'm thankful for Elder Clayton and his willingness to serve the Lord and come teach us today.  I hope we will all strive to follow his counsel and prioritize our lives and remember our blessings.

That's my two cents.