General Conference Thoughts: April 2015: The Plan of Happiness

For those of you who watched General Conference last weekend: wasn't it incredible? I just love watching Conference every spring & fall, listening to our Church leaders and hearing the beautiful Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing. Such a wonderful time!
For those of you who missed General Conference: it's not too late to watch! You can watch, read, or listen to the talks here: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions?cid=HP14GC&lang=eng
For all of you: for the next few weeks I'll be focusing on some favorite talks and quotes from General Conference. This week, it's the talk from the Saturday morning session by Boyd K. Packer.

First of all, what a precious, precious story Pres. Packer shares about how he met his wife and the beginning of their journey. It made me melt.
Now, there's a lot of deeper, more detailed doctrine referred to in this talk. It can be difficult to explain, but long story short, we as Latter-day Saints believe that we lived as spirits with our Heavenly Father before we were born on earth, that earthly birth is, essentially, the union of spirit and physical body. We need physical bodies in ordered to gain glorified bodies at the Resurrection (how can your body become glorified if you don't have a body to begin with?).
Side note: here's a diagram of the Plan of Salvation as Latter-day Saints believe it to be, just as a reference to what I just said. Also, you can check out lds.org or mormon.org to learn more.

Okay, back to what I was saying... So, the quote from this talk that stuck out for me the most was when Pres. Packer said, "The power of procreation [and, by extension, marriage and family] is not an incidental part of the plan; it is the plan of happiness" (emphasis added). The Lord commanded Adam and Eve to "multiply, and replenish the earth" (Genesis 1:28); that commandment has never been "canceled out," so to speak. The purpose of using our procreative powers (within marriage, of course) is to give other spirits bodies, and they in turn will provide others with bodies, etc., etc.

Now, as Pres. Packer goes on to say later, there are those who cannot bear children, or who never marry, or under other circumstances are not able to have children. Remember, the Lord hasn't forgotten you. Your Heavenly Father loves you and is ever so aware of you. Just as in other things, the Lord knows your heart, and He will bless you.

I can't really say any more, because I have not been married, nor have I borne children. But I can say that I know that what Pres. Packer shared is true.

And here's the talk that he gave so that you can watch (if you would rather read it, click here):

The building where General Conference takes place. Anyone is welcome to go--you can get tickets ahead of time or go via stand-by, so feel free to go sometime! It's an amazing experience!