Object or Agent

We had Stake Conference this morning. Elder Kevin W. Pearson of the 70 was there and spoke to us.  We also had a couple of youth speak to us.  They both gave excellent talks.  One of them, Dane Tolson, always reminds me of my nephew, Dallas, because they used to be good friends when they were younger. Dane spoke about his faith and how it strengthens him in his life.  It makes me sad to see the different paths in life they have chosen.  But I digress.

The other youth speaker was a young woman who spoke about the role of young women but focusing on reaching to Christ.  She told the story of the woman with an issue of blood from the New Testament. She related how the woman reached out towards Christ with faith to be healed.

The temple president and his wife also spoke for a few minutes. The Temple President's wife focused on President Eyring's talk from this past General Conference. She said that talk really resonated with her when she first heard it.  She said she was in her living room watching conference and it was rainy and gloomy outside.  As soon as President Eyring started his talk, the sun came out and filled her living room with light.  She mentioned the quote from that talk that I have already put on my blog once about family relations being more glorious than imagined if we live the gospel to the best of our ability.  We don't need to worry about family members who have strayed who are making bad choices. Here is the link to President Eyring's talk.

Then the Stake President, President Wells, spoke.  He told a joke that his elderly mother told him.  I thought it was kind of funny so I will relate it here.  "You know what I herd?"... No, what  have you heard? ... "Sheep".  Ha ha.  It doesn't work as well in print since the joke is based on a homophone.

Anyway, the Stake President's talk was focused on gathering scattered Israel.  Which includes strengthening individual testimonies, missionary work -- bringing people to Christ both living and dead.  Those who are lost don't know they are lost.  He talked about a recently returned missionary whom he was interviewing and asked her what the most difficult part of serving her mission was.  She said, "interrupting people's lives".  Then she went on to relate that her senior companion taught her an important lesson.  She told her that what they were doing was the most important interruption of people's lives.  Or something to that effect.  After that, she had a different perspective on her service as a missionary.  Which made it easier for her to "interrupt people's lives".

Then for the last hour, Elder Pearson spoke. He focused on the difference between being an object and being an agent.  One example he used was the beautiful trees in the Pacific Northwest.  They can't just say to themselves, "it's too crowded here in the Pacific Northwest, I'm going to move to Utah where it's less crowded."  Or the rocks can't say, "it's too rainy here in the Pacific Northwest, I'm going to Arizona where it doesn't rain so much."  No, objects must follow the laws of nature, the laws of God.  Agents, on the other hand, make their own choices.  They have agency.

Another example was Nephi and his brothers.  When Nephi's bow broke, what did his brothers do?  They complained about it.  How were they going to obtain food?  Now they were going to starve.  They were acting like objects, victims of their circumstances unable to change anything.  What did Nephi do? He acted.  He made another bow, and was therefore able to hunt and obtain food.  Nephi acted as an agent.  He didn't just complain about it, he did something about it.

Another example Elder Pearson used was about Stake Conference.  Objects will go to Stake Conference out of a sense of obligation.  They will complain about the talks given and rhetorically  ask, "Why couldn't they get better speakers?", etc.  Agents, on the other hand, will go to Stake Conference with a hope and determination to feel the Holy Ghost and receive personal revelation relevant to their lives. Objects will use Stake and General Conferences as a free pass for a vacation since they have no church responsibilities.  Agents will use Stake and General Conferences as a wonderful opportunity to learn from Prophets and Church leaders, to receive revelation, and to grow spiritually.

I wish I could've taken notes and remembered more from Stake Conference today.  But that's the best I can do going off of my memory.  Hopefully I didn't mix things up too much.  But that's what I got out of Stake Conference today.

As an added bonus, here is Elder Pearson's last General Conference talk. It was actually one of my favorite talks given at that conference.  I remembered it just by the title.

I hope we can all be agents and not objects.  Take control of your life and your destiny.  Use your agency wisely.  Always reach towards Christ with faith.  Help gather scattered Israel by helping others come unto Christ, including lost sheep who don't know they are lost.  Do the best you can to keep the commandments and stay on the covenant path, and everything, including family relations, will be more glorious than we ever imagined in the next life.

That's my two cents.