What's in Your Load?

This past Sunday we had a special stake conference. It sure was a special one too. Elder Bednar came and spoke to the stake. It was great! Usually when an apostle speaks at General Conference he seems very serious and down to business, but when not in General Conference he is hilarious! Actually, the best part wasn't even Elder Bednar's talk. The best part came from a young man who was really nervous about being called out of the congregation to bear his testimony. He was really nervous and was telling a little story about a conference talk he remembered and how if you only bear your testimony at the pulpit you are a hypocrite. Then the boy remembered the person who spoke those words was sitting on the stand. I have never seen an apostle turn so red and laugh so hard!
Elder Bednar gave a great talk. He began by taking to those who are not members of the church and telling them why we have the name The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then he said something that I wish every person who is investigating the church had heard. He said that those who are not members need to start asking members what they believe. It's hard to talk to people who are not members of your same church to get them to understand what you believe when they are asking people not or you same religion what your religion believes. That's how rumors get started, ugh. Anyway back to Elder Bednar's talk. He then starts telling this story about a friend who bought a truck that the family could not afford at the time and in order to justify why he bought the truck the dad went up to cut some wood for a wood burning stove to save some money because he had bought the truck anyway even though his wife had told him not to. While he was up out it started snowing and the truck became stuck. The man then decided that he could either sit there and die or go cut wood. So he cuts the wood and places the load in the bed of the truck and he becomes unstuck. The point of the story is that the load gave the truck enough traction so that he could get out of the snow. He likened it to us and what load are we carrying? What are we hauling around with us? The right kind of load will lead us back to our Heavenly Father. He also states that the absence of a load is not a blessing nor does it lead to happiness. What kind of load do you carry?
Elder Bednar also talked about not having time to do the important things in life like family prayer and scripture study. He says, "'I do not have time' is a deception [of Satan]. It is a fundamental falsehood. 'I do not have time' equals 'It's not important'". This really struck me because I often say that I don't have time for certain things. I may think those things are important, but if I am saying I don't have time to do them then they really must not be that important to me. No more excuses if "I don't have time".
Elder Bednar also issued a challenge. He said go out and get one of those little paper back copies of the Book of Mormon read through it looking for all the instances of "strengthened of the Lord" and "In the strength of the Lord". He promised that if we do that then we will have ears to hear and eyes to see. Will you take that challenge too?
I love listening to the leaders of the church. I am so grateful for the inspiration that they receive and the examples that they are to those around them. It truly was a special stake conference.