From the weekend.

We had Stake Conference this weekend at our church. Our Stake is now so big that we can't fit in one Manhattan-sized building. Instead, the 14 units around our Manhattan Stake gathered in their own buildings & watched via webcast. It was kind of fun.

.

I think I went into this weekend with really unreasonably high expectations, albeit with a real eagerness to hear inspired council from our leaders in Manhattan. Many members of our stake work in finance, & many of us have seen this financial crisis from the front row. I guess a part of me thought that maybe we would get some inside scoop on what stock to buy, or what the financial forecast really is. I say this jokingly, but in all seriousness, I was really wanting some clarity on so many topics. There is so much going on in the world right now & I was just hoping I'd be lucky enough to get answers to all of the questions I was looking for, or maybe even just a few. A magic pill talk would have just been perfect, something that encompassed everything from the stock market to politics to family, because life is really complicated right now, for a lot of people.

In the end, I really got what I was looking for, what I needed to hear. The messages of the weekend were so very simple in topic.

Follow the prophet.

Read your scriptures.

Say your prayers.

Serve.

Small & simple things have great cumulative results.

No matter what is going on in the world, if your life is centered on the gospel, everything thing will be okay.

.

I really felt good by the conclusion of the Sunday session. I was talking to a friend that afternoon who had given a talk on Saturday evening, & she told me that she had felt inspired, at the pulpit, to totally change the topic of her talk. She was terrified, but proceeded to give a talk entirely out of her scriptures, completely off the cuff. She said that she only hoped that it had touched someone, that she was inspired for a reason. I just broke down in tears- big, embarrassing, can't-talk-anymore tears in the middle of the chapel, in front of a girl that I don't know really well. I just about jumped up & down & said, "Hello! That was me! Your talk was for me!" Because it really was, & it was one of those experiences that reminded me that He has an active hand in my daily life, & He really, truly uses people as angels every day. It was a little embarrassing to sit there & cry in front of this sweet girl - who was kind enough to ask if everything was okay (they really were those kind of tears) - but in that moment I just knew.

.

I've been devouring the conference edition of The Ensign over the last week. The over-arching theme has again, been simple:

.

The Lord's way is not hard. Life is hard, not the gospel. There is an opposition in all things, everywhere, for everyone. Life is hard for all of us, but life is also simple. We have only two choices. We can either follow the Lord and be endowed with His power & have peace, light, strength, knowledge, confidence, love, & joy, or we can go some other way, any other way, whatever other way, & go it alone - without His support, without His power, without guidance, in darkness, turmoil, doubt, grief, & despair. And I ask, which way is easier? ...Life is hard, but life is simple. Get on the path & never, ever give up. You never give up. You just keep on going. You don't quit, & you will make it. (Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge Of the Seventy)

.

The answers, the solutions, the clarity... it really is all that simple. Things just get cloudy sometimes, & I forget.