General Conference Odyssey: general Young Women meeting, March 24, 2007
Daughters of Heavenly Father
Susan W. Tanner, Young Women General President
Ever since I started this project there have been times when I’ve pointed out how relevant these talks from the past are relevant to the present. Now we’re reaching a point where the talks are relevant because they’re addressing our specific time. Granted, 2007 was 17 years ago from our 2024 perspective. But the April conference that year happened only a week before I became a father. The girls President Tanner was addressing in this session included 17-year-olds, and that all adds up to these talks being more relevant to our times because they’re a product of our times.
Of course, understanding our identity as children of God will always be relevant. As President Tanner taught, “Youth often experience an identity crisis, wondering who they really are. The teenage years are also a time of what I describe as ‘identity theft,’ meaning that worldly ideas, philosophies, and deceits confuse us, buffet us, and seek to rob us of the knowledge of our true identity.”
She reminded us of the encounter Moses had, first with God and then with Satan, and how the way they addressed him and defined his identity shaped the way he responded to both of them. The same principle is true for us.
“As we come to know and feel who we really are, we are enabled to recognize the difference between good and evil and are empowered to resist temptation. One of the ways we can come to understand the divinely appointed mission the Lord has for us is through our patriarchal blessings. These are very specific and individual messages we can each receive by the power of the priesthood.”
Our identity as children of God can be augmented by our identity as members of families and of a Church; the more I learn about my own heritage the more I realize how rich that heritage is, and how much I owe to them for bringing me to where I now am. And even for those who are the only members of their families in the Church, having their lineage declared through a patriarchal blessing gives them a connection to the house of Israel that carries more significance than the worldly could understand.
President Tanner also included this great quote from C.S. Lewis:
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.... There are no ordinary people.... Your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”
It’s insightful observations like this that have made Lewis so admired among the Latter-day Saints. In contrast, there are numerous legacy Christians who take issue with the idea that we are children of God and would deny that divine heritage within all of us. They will fade into irrelevance as more people see the relevance of what the gospel teaches regarding our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
Remembering, Repenting, and Changing
Julie B. Beck, First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency
Sister Beck (who would be called as Relief Society General President a week later) had four points to remember in her talk: 1) everyone makes mistakes, 2) repentance isn’t optional, 3) we don’t do it alone, and 4) we can change.
Regarding mistakes, she said, “I often hear about the chosen, royal generation of this dispensation, but I have never heard it called the perfect generation. Teenagers are especially vulnerable because the power of Satan is real, and they are making their first big, independent choices. Consequently, they are also making their first big mistakes.” And, because of the mistakes we inevitably make as fallen mortals, repentance is the antidote.
She also spoke of a woman who was the daughter of pioneers, married in the temple, had 10 children, paid her tithing, and attended her Church meetings. But she also kept a coffee pot on her stove and reasoned that “the Lord will not keep me out of heaven for a little cup of coffee.” Maybe so, but that “little cup of coffee” she loved ultimately led to only one of her children marrying in the temple, and most of the five generations since descended from her not following the covenants of the gospel. Instead of thinking God is the one keeping us out of heaven for a “little cup of coffee,” it’s more useful to think of that “little cup of coffee” keeping us away from God. Is that coffee-or other vice of our choice-really worth separating ourselves from more worthwhile things?
“We must not let one little cup of coffee, one bad habit, one bad choice, one wrong decision derail us for a lifetime.
“Sometimes people get casual about repenting. I have heard some people say that repenting is too hard. Others say they are tired of feeling guilty or have been offended by a leader who was helping them repent. Sometimes people give up when they have made mistakes and come to believe that there is no hope for them. Some people imagine that they will feel better about themselves if they just leave the restored gospel and go away.
“It is Satan who puts hopeless thoughts into the hearts of those who have made mistakes. The Lord Jesus Christ always gives us hope.”
Stay on the Path
Elaine S. Dalton, Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency
With stories of hiking and paths as her metaphor, Sister Dalton taught about the importance of staying close to the Lord and His guidelines. She had quite a lot to say about modesty:
“Virtue encompasses modesty-in thought, language, dress, and demeanor. And modesty is the foundation stone of chastity. Just as one does not hike trails inhabited by rattlesnakes barefoot, similarly in today’s world it is essential to our very safety to be modest. When we are modest, we show others that we understand our relationship with our Father in Heaven as His daughters. We demonstrate that we love Him and that we will stand as a witness of Him in all things. Being modest lets others know that we ‘cherish virtue’ (“Dearest Children, God Is Near You,” Hymns, no. 96). Modesty is not a matter of being ‘hip.’ It is a matter of the heart and being holy. It is not about being fashionable. It is about being faithful. It is not about being cool. It is about being chaste and keeping covenants. It is not about being popular, but about being pure. Modesty has everything to do with keeping our footing securely on the path of chastity and virtue. It is clear that virtue is a requirement for exaltation. Mormon helps us understand that both virtue and chastity are ‘most dear and precious above all things’ (Moroni 9:9). We simply cannot afford to be casual or get too close to the edge. That is dangerous ground for any daughter of God to walk.”
The laws of inertia are as relevant to human behavior as they are to physics. The more we do what is right, the easier it becomes to do what is right. “Our covenants will strengthen us to resist temptation. Keeping our covenants will steady us on the path of virtue. As we keep the covenants we have made at baptism, we will remain in the center of the path.”
Or, as Elder Holland once said (and was quoted in this talk), “The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path.” We usually won’t be prompted with words, or with dramatic manifestations of divine power. We will simply receive enough guidance as we stay on the covenant path-and enough is enough.
Let Virtue Garnish Thy Thoughts Unceasingly
Gordon B. Hinckley, President of the Church
President Hinckley also recommended four items in his address: 1) pray, 2) study, 3) pay your tithing, and 4) attend your meetings.
Regarding prayer, he taught,
“Prayer is the bridge over which we approach our Father in Heaven. It costs nothing. It requires only faith and effort. There is nothing more rewarding than kneeling in humble prayer. It speaks of love for Deity, as the giver of all that is good. It speaks of respect for self. There is no substitute for it. It is personal communication with God.”
That line about prayer speaking “of respect for self” is what made this statement stand out to me, giving much to ponder about.
Study entails both spiritual and secular knowledge. Perhaps more than any other prophet, President Hinckley encouraged women to become educated-something the critics like to ignore when they criticize the Church’s teachings regarding women, as critics do. Yet, President Hinckley said it again here to his Young Women audience: “Resolve now, while you are young, that you will get all of the education you can. We live in a highly competitive age, and it will only grow worse. Education is the key that will unlock the door of opportunity.”
Of all the meetings we attend as Latter-day Saints, the most important is sacrament meeting, where we participate in the one ordinance that is meant for us to repeat multiple times in our lives as we commemorate Christ’s atonement.
“There is no other event in human history as significant as the atoning sacrifice of our divine Redeemer. None else compares with it. Without it life would be meaningless. It would be a dead-end journey.
“With it we are assured of eternal life. Death is not the end, but rather a passing on to a more glorious existence.
“All of this is symbolized in the partaking of the sacrament. All other items in our meetings are of lesser importance compared with partaking the emblems of the sacrifice of our Lord.”
Thinking of President Hinckley and the sacrament brings to mind a story one of my mission companions shared from a letter he received, telling him of a special priesthood meeting President Hinckley held in the Salt Lake Temple for the bishops and stake presidents in Salt Lake City and surrounding cities. The Quorum of the Twelve administered the sacrament to those who had gathered. When President Hinckley spoke to the audience he held up a piece of bread from the sacrament trays, with tears in his eyes, and said, in so many words, “Do you know what this bread represents? This bread symbolizes the body of our Savior who gave His life for us.”
I haven’t had many opportunities to repeat that story, but this seemed an appropriate moment to do so.
“Ending credits” of the April 2007 conference (names of those who didn’t speak in italics):
First Presidency
Gordon B. Hinckley (5 talks)
Thomas S. Monson (3 talks)
James E. Faust (3 talks)
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Boyd K. Packer
L. Tom Perry
Russell M. Nelson
Dallin H. Oaks
M. Russell Ballard
Joseph B. Wirthlin
Richard G. Scott
Robert D. Hales
Jeffrey R. Holland
Henry B. Eyring
Dieter F. Uchtdorf
David A. Bednar
Presidency of the Seventy
Earl C. Tingey
D. Todd Christofferson
Charles Didier
Merrill J. Bateman
Robert C. Oaks
Neil L. Andersen
Ronald A. Rasband
First Quorum of the Seventy
Gene R. Cook
James M. Paramore
Yoshihiko Kikuchi
Monte J. Brough
Marlin K. Jensen
Carlos H. Amado
Spencer J. Condie
Robert K. Dellenbach
Glenn L. Pace
Kenneth Johnson
Lynn A. Mickelsen
Dennis B. Neuenschwander
Cecil O. Samuelson Jr.
John B. Dickson
Jay E. Jensen
W. Craig Zwick
Dallas N. Archibald
Bruce C. Hafen
Gary J. Coleman
John M. Madsen
W. Rolfe Kerr
Carl B. Pratt
Sheldon F. Child
Quentin L. Cook
Francisco J. Viñas
Lance B. Wickman
Lynn G. Robbins
Donald L. Hallstrom
Claudio R. M. Costa
Richard J. Maynes
L. Whitney Clayton
Christoffel Golden Jr.
Walter F. González
Steven E. Snow
Bruce D. Porter
Benjamin De Hoyos
David F. Evans
C. Scott Grow
Richard G. Hinckley
Paul V. Johnson
Paul E. Koelliker
Paul B. Pieper
Ulisses Soares
Keith K. Hilbig
David S. Baxter
Shayne M. Bowen
Daniel L. Johnson
Marcus B. Nash
Anthony D. Perkins
Enrique R. Falabella
Erich W. Kopischke
Michael J. Teh
Octaviano Tenorio
Claudio D. Zivic
Second Quorum of the Seventy
Lowell D. Wood
Robert S. Wood
Douglas L. Callister
Robert F. Orton
Wayne S. Peterson
R. Conrad Schultz
Robert R. Steuer
H. Ross Workman
Gerald N. Lund
William R. Walker
Craig C. Christensen
James M. Dunn
Daryl H. Garn
D. Rex Gerratt
Spencer V. Jones
Mervyn B. Arnold
Shirley D. Christensen
Clate W. Mask Jr.
William W. Parmley
W. Douglas Shumway
Won Yong Ko
Wolfgang H. Paul
Lowell M. Snow
Paul K. Sybrowsky
Craig A. Cardon
Don R. Clarke
Keith R. Edwards
Stanley G. Ellis
Larry W. Gibbons
Presiding Bishopric
H. David Burton
Richard C. Edgley
Keith B. McMullin
Sunday School
A. Roger Merrill
Daniel K. Judd
William D. Oswald
Young Men
Charles W. Dahlquist
Dean R. Burgess
Michael A. Neider
Relief Society
Julie B. Beck
Silvia H. Allred
Barbara Thompson
Young Women
Susan W. Tanner
Elaine S. Dalton
Mary N. Cook
Primary
Cheryl C. Lant
Margaret S. Lifferth
Vicki F. Matsumori
Other speakers
Bonnie D. Parkin
Susan W. Tanner, Young Women General President
Ever since I started this project there have been times when I’ve pointed out how relevant these talks from the past are relevant to the present. Now we’re reaching a point where the talks are relevant because they’re addressing our specific time. Granted, 2007 was 17 years ago from our 2024 perspective. But the April conference that year happened only a week before I became a father. The girls President Tanner was addressing in this session included 17-year-olds, and that all adds up to these talks being more relevant to our times because they’re a product of our times.
Of course, understanding our identity as children of God will always be relevant. As President Tanner taught, “Youth often experience an identity crisis, wondering who they really are. The teenage years are also a time of what I describe as ‘identity theft,’ meaning that worldly ideas, philosophies, and deceits confuse us, buffet us, and seek to rob us of the knowledge of our true identity.”
She reminded us of the encounter Moses had, first with God and then with Satan, and how the way they addressed him and defined his identity shaped the way he responded to both of them. The same principle is true for us.
“As we come to know and feel who we really are, we are enabled to recognize the difference between good and evil and are empowered to resist temptation. One of the ways we can come to understand the divinely appointed mission the Lord has for us is through our patriarchal blessings. These are very specific and individual messages we can each receive by the power of the priesthood.”
Our identity as children of God can be augmented by our identity as members of families and of a Church; the more I learn about my own heritage the more I realize how rich that heritage is, and how much I owe to them for bringing me to where I now am. And even for those who are the only members of their families in the Church, having their lineage declared through a patriarchal blessing gives them a connection to the house of Israel that carries more significance than the worldly could understand.
President Tanner also included this great quote from C.S. Lewis:
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.... There are no ordinary people.... Your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”
It’s insightful observations like this that have made Lewis so admired among the Latter-day Saints. In contrast, there are numerous legacy Christians who take issue with the idea that we are children of God and would deny that divine heritage within all of us. They will fade into irrelevance as more people see the relevance of what the gospel teaches regarding our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
Remembering, Repenting, and Changing
Julie B. Beck, First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency
Sister Beck (who would be called as Relief Society General President a week later) had four points to remember in her talk: 1) everyone makes mistakes, 2) repentance isn’t optional, 3) we don’t do it alone, and 4) we can change.
Regarding mistakes, she said, “I often hear about the chosen, royal generation of this dispensation, but I have never heard it called the perfect generation. Teenagers are especially vulnerable because the power of Satan is real, and they are making their first big, independent choices. Consequently, they are also making their first big mistakes.” And, because of the mistakes we inevitably make as fallen mortals, repentance is the antidote.
She also spoke of a woman who was the daughter of pioneers, married in the temple, had 10 children, paid her tithing, and attended her Church meetings. But she also kept a coffee pot on her stove and reasoned that “the Lord will not keep me out of heaven for a little cup of coffee.” Maybe so, but that “little cup of coffee” she loved ultimately led to only one of her children marrying in the temple, and most of the five generations since descended from her not following the covenants of the gospel. Instead of thinking God is the one keeping us out of heaven for a “little cup of coffee,” it’s more useful to think of that “little cup of coffee” keeping us away from God. Is that coffee-or other vice of our choice-really worth separating ourselves from more worthwhile things?
“We must not let one little cup of coffee, one bad habit, one bad choice, one wrong decision derail us for a lifetime.
“Sometimes people get casual about repenting. I have heard some people say that repenting is too hard. Others say they are tired of feeling guilty or have been offended by a leader who was helping them repent. Sometimes people give up when they have made mistakes and come to believe that there is no hope for them. Some people imagine that they will feel better about themselves if they just leave the restored gospel and go away.
“It is Satan who puts hopeless thoughts into the hearts of those who have made mistakes. The Lord Jesus Christ always gives us hope.”
Stay on the Path
Elaine S. Dalton, Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency
With stories of hiking and paths as her metaphor, Sister Dalton taught about the importance of staying close to the Lord and His guidelines. She had quite a lot to say about modesty:
“Virtue encompasses modesty-in thought, language, dress, and demeanor. And modesty is the foundation stone of chastity. Just as one does not hike trails inhabited by rattlesnakes barefoot, similarly in today’s world it is essential to our very safety to be modest. When we are modest, we show others that we understand our relationship with our Father in Heaven as His daughters. We demonstrate that we love Him and that we will stand as a witness of Him in all things. Being modest lets others know that we ‘cherish virtue’ (“Dearest Children, God Is Near You,” Hymns, no. 96). Modesty is not a matter of being ‘hip.’ It is a matter of the heart and being holy. It is not about being fashionable. It is about being faithful. It is not about being cool. It is about being chaste and keeping covenants. It is not about being popular, but about being pure. Modesty has everything to do with keeping our footing securely on the path of chastity and virtue. It is clear that virtue is a requirement for exaltation. Mormon helps us understand that both virtue and chastity are ‘most dear and precious above all things’ (Moroni 9:9). We simply cannot afford to be casual or get too close to the edge. That is dangerous ground for any daughter of God to walk.”
The laws of inertia are as relevant to human behavior as they are to physics. The more we do what is right, the easier it becomes to do what is right. “Our covenants will strengthen us to resist temptation. Keeping our covenants will steady us on the path of virtue. As we keep the covenants we have made at baptism, we will remain in the center of the path.”
Or, as Elder Holland once said (and was quoted in this talk), “The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path.” We usually won’t be prompted with words, or with dramatic manifestations of divine power. We will simply receive enough guidance as we stay on the covenant path-and enough is enough.
Let Virtue Garnish Thy Thoughts Unceasingly
Gordon B. Hinckley, President of the Church
President Hinckley also recommended four items in his address: 1) pray, 2) study, 3) pay your tithing, and 4) attend your meetings.
Regarding prayer, he taught,
“Prayer is the bridge over which we approach our Father in Heaven. It costs nothing. It requires only faith and effort. There is nothing more rewarding than kneeling in humble prayer. It speaks of love for Deity, as the giver of all that is good. It speaks of respect for self. There is no substitute for it. It is personal communication with God.”
That line about prayer speaking “of respect for self” is what made this statement stand out to me, giving much to ponder about.
Study entails both spiritual and secular knowledge. Perhaps more than any other prophet, President Hinckley encouraged women to become educated-something the critics like to ignore when they criticize the Church’s teachings regarding women, as critics do. Yet, President Hinckley said it again here to his Young Women audience: “Resolve now, while you are young, that you will get all of the education you can. We live in a highly competitive age, and it will only grow worse. Education is the key that will unlock the door of opportunity.”
Of all the meetings we attend as Latter-day Saints, the most important is sacrament meeting, where we participate in the one ordinance that is meant for us to repeat multiple times in our lives as we commemorate Christ’s atonement.
“There is no other event in human history as significant as the atoning sacrifice of our divine Redeemer. None else compares with it. Without it life would be meaningless. It would be a dead-end journey.
“With it we are assured of eternal life. Death is not the end, but rather a passing on to a more glorious existence.
“All of this is symbolized in the partaking of the sacrament. All other items in our meetings are of lesser importance compared with partaking the emblems of the sacrifice of our Lord.”
Thinking of President Hinckley and the sacrament brings to mind a story one of my mission companions shared from a letter he received, telling him of a special priesthood meeting President Hinckley held in the Salt Lake Temple for the bishops and stake presidents in Salt Lake City and surrounding cities. The Quorum of the Twelve administered the sacrament to those who had gathered. When President Hinckley spoke to the audience he held up a piece of bread from the sacrament trays, with tears in his eyes, and said, in so many words, “Do you know what this bread represents? This bread symbolizes the body of our Savior who gave His life for us.”
I haven’t had many opportunities to repeat that story, but this seemed an appropriate moment to do so.
“Ending credits” of the April 2007 conference (names of those who didn’t speak in italics):
First Presidency
Gordon B. Hinckley (5 talks)
Thomas S. Monson (3 talks)
James E. Faust (3 talks)
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Boyd K. Packer
L. Tom Perry
Russell M. Nelson
Dallin H. Oaks
M. Russell Ballard
Joseph B. Wirthlin
Richard G. Scott
Robert D. Hales
Jeffrey R. Holland
Henry B. Eyring
Dieter F. Uchtdorf
David A. Bednar
Presidency of the Seventy
Earl C. Tingey
D. Todd Christofferson
Charles Didier
Merrill J. Bateman
Robert C. Oaks
Neil L. Andersen
Ronald A. Rasband
First Quorum of the Seventy
Gene R. Cook
James M. Paramore
Yoshihiko Kikuchi
Monte J. Brough
Marlin K. Jensen
Carlos H. Amado
Spencer J. Condie
Robert K. Dellenbach
Glenn L. Pace
Kenneth Johnson
Lynn A. Mickelsen
Dennis B. Neuenschwander
Cecil O. Samuelson Jr.
John B. Dickson
Jay E. Jensen
W. Craig Zwick
Dallas N. Archibald
Bruce C. Hafen
Gary J. Coleman
John M. Madsen
W. Rolfe Kerr
Carl B. Pratt
Sheldon F. Child
Quentin L. Cook
Francisco J. Viñas
Lance B. Wickman
Lynn G. Robbins
Donald L. Hallstrom
Claudio R. M. Costa
Richard J. Maynes
L. Whitney Clayton
Christoffel Golden Jr.
Walter F. González
Steven E. Snow
Bruce D. Porter
Benjamin De Hoyos
David F. Evans
C. Scott Grow
Richard G. Hinckley
Paul V. Johnson
Paul E. Koelliker
Paul B. Pieper
Ulisses Soares
Keith K. Hilbig
David S. Baxter
Shayne M. Bowen
Daniel L. Johnson
Marcus B. Nash
Anthony D. Perkins
Enrique R. Falabella
Erich W. Kopischke
Michael J. Teh
Octaviano Tenorio
Claudio D. Zivic
Second Quorum of the Seventy
Lowell D. Wood
Robert S. Wood
Douglas L. Callister
Robert F. Orton
Wayne S. Peterson
R. Conrad Schultz
Robert R. Steuer
H. Ross Workman
Gerald N. Lund
William R. Walker
Craig C. Christensen
James M. Dunn
Daryl H. Garn
D. Rex Gerratt
Spencer V. Jones
Mervyn B. Arnold
Shirley D. Christensen
Clate W. Mask Jr.
William W. Parmley
W. Douglas Shumway
Won Yong Ko
Wolfgang H. Paul
Lowell M. Snow
Paul K. Sybrowsky
Craig A. Cardon
Don R. Clarke
Keith R. Edwards
Stanley G. Ellis
Larry W. Gibbons
Presiding Bishopric
H. David Burton
Richard C. Edgley
Keith B. McMullin
Sunday School
A. Roger Merrill
Daniel K. Judd
William D. Oswald
Young Men
Charles W. Dahlquist
Dean R. Burgess
Michael A. Neider
Relief Society
Julie B. Beck
Silvia H. Allred
Barbara Thompson
Young Women
Susan W. Tanner
Elaine S. Dalton
Mary N. Cook
Primary
Cheryl C. Lant
Margaret S. Lifferth
Vicki F. Matsumori
Other speakers
Bonnie D. Parkin