In the October 2022 General Conference, Elder Dieter F Uchtdorf gave a message entitled “Jesus Christ is the Strength of Youth.”1 It was in that message that the church announced the new “For the Strength of Youth”2 pamphlet for the young people of the church, with (surprise) the most dramatic changes to it perhaps since it was first announced.
In studying his talk a little more since that time, I have some thoughts.
Elder Uchtdorf starts the talk by proclaiming that his message is for all who are young, whoever feel young, or whoever can’t remember being young. It is also for all who “want them to succeed in life.”
And I so very much want my children to succeed in life. It is the essence and effort of my very work and purpose in life. I feel it dearly.
But the question I asked myself at this point is:
What is success?
How do you measure another’s life?
(Akin to the other question, how do you measure your own life, but that is a post for another day). (And – “How do you measure another’s life?” sounds judgey and impertinent, but really, it can’t be. As a parent with the responsibility to care for and teach children, I have to know what I think about this. How can you teach children the way in which they should go3 if you don’t know that way? Thoughtful parenting (imo) is a better bet than wandering about hoping to bump into a successful life).
Off the cuff, the things I wrote down said:
To me success looks like a soft & gentle life. Soft heart, gentle actions. Not loud and contentious like the world, but a life focused on love – of friends, family, and most especially children. A life lived in service of others and service to the Lord, a life of deep and abiding commitment to the Savior. So that when the storms come, they are bound to Him in trust, faith, and continued diligence.
This seems almost impossible to measure by outward appearance — and yet — in today’s world it is becoming more and more apparent who is who.
And still, the ability to verbalize that clearly evades me.
But- I do think CHILDREN are an excellent measure of those who love the Lord. I do think those who love, and serve children with real effort, respect, expectation, and teaching, well, I just think that in a world where selfishness and self-entertainment reign supreme, the ability to see children, their needs, not just the need to be fed physically, but fed spiritually and emotionally, all of which are counter to today’s culture, that is such a beacon in the darkness of the modern day.
I concede that I may be more impressed by those who “do the work” of caring for children since that is the very work I myself have been engaged in for as far back as my memory goes (ha!), but surely there are other battlefronts in which the Lords servants are engaged. And soft and gentle and true hearts are making head ways in other areas as well.
Okay, this is getting a bit rambly.
Elder Uchtdorf describes to the youth what it would be like to sit in the presence of the Savior, the love we would feel from Him, and the expectation he would have of us to repent.
I have been trying to convey to my children these past couple years the reality of repentance. I think it is a very hard thing to learn when you are young – when everything feels like the ultimate failure, when Grace for learning, growth, and time of life, are concepts outside of their young minds. I’ve tried to convey that Repentance (capital R Repentance), is not just a visit with the Bishop (although that is another balm needed and lovingly given at times), it is not just something for the “naughty” kids or the ones they see making bad choices at school. Repentance is a daily effort, and something that results in the creation of a beautiful life, and a mountain moved.4 It isn’t just a what we do when we have made a mistake, it is how we do what the Lord has asked of us – to become like Him.5 And it isn’t painful or humiliating (although a young mind might believe so, and therefor be afraid of it, ergo my push to teach this to the kids). . .
Repentance is a RETURNING back to the Lord. And sometimes that turn is long and difficult one, when our paths have wandered too long and too far that our hearts and lives need real time of healing. But also it is a daily turning back to the Lord.
When we get up in the morning in prayer, we are returning to the Lord. When we kneel down at night and open our hearts to the Lord of our day, our struggles, and our efforts . . .That is Repentance! That is returning to the Lord, after a long day of mortal living, and Remembering Him, and inviting Him to be with us.
And the beauty is that it is so small, and sometimes feels so futile. But then one day you look back, and you are amazed – truly awestruck – at how much you have changed into what you wanted to be, but didn’t know how you would ever do it. The Lord really does make weak things become strong.6 And it is through that turning to the Lord. It is through Repentance, consistent, daily, personal, simple, and heartfelt Repentance, that the Lord gives us HIS power7 and places us within HIS yoke – where we feel like we are yoked, but he is the one doing the pulling, so the task to be done (of becoming a disciple of the Lord) is easy and the burden becomes light.8 And low and behold, the work is done, the change is made, the destination is reached!9
NOTES
1 – Jesus Christ is the Strength of Youth, Elder Uchtdorf, October General Conference, 2022
2 – For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices
3 – Proverbs 22:6
4 – Matthew 17:20
5 – Matthew 5:48
6 – Ether 12:27
7 – Luke 10:19
8 – Matthew 11: 29-30
9 – 2 Timothy 4:7-8