Study and Lesson Guide
This general conference study guide from Elder Dieter Uchtdorf will help you see the structure of his talk. This will help you learn the flow of how he conveyed his message to us.
Elder Uchtdorf started with what we do each week as members of the Church of Jesus Christ. You can list it down and write the things you do each week in worshiping the Lord.
I introduced a question that will open the following explanation. This way, it will prepare the minds of the listener. We explained that what we do involves more than talking and preaching of Christ. We, each day, should practice being a disciple of Christ.
He made a good comparison between practicing a craft or skill and practicing discipleship. We can ask someone who developed a skill or a craft in a period. And someone who has developed certain attributes for how long now. This will help us realize that developing any skill or any attributes needs time and patience. Recognizing the tools used to develop a skill is important as actively participating in the church’s programs. These programs will help us develop qualities that we need in times of challenges and difficulties.
Elder Uchtdorf invited us in three ways and encouraged us with different possible ways how to start. Here we can identify that each invitation he mentioned has commitments on our part.
He taught us that the Savior’s embrace extends to those who feel unaccepted, unworthy, alone, or don’t belong and to those who reject the Savior. At this point, we will be able to identify how the Savior accepted us and that we belong. Asking someone to share an experience of how they feel accepted or sharing your personal experience will be inspiring on this part.
Elder Uchtdorf taught that God allows us to learn from our mistakes. Because the Savior’s embrace extends to us who have done mistakes, it will help us learn and grow from it. He emphasized the experience of Joseph Smith when called to accomplish the purposes of the Lord. Here we can ask questions accepting a call when we feel we are inadequate or unequipped. Sharing of testimony on this part would be helpful.
On the concluding part, Elder Uchtdorf, counseled to do our part and expressed his assurance of the results if we will begin to decide to hear Him and follow Him.
Phrases that Stood out
There is no threshold of perfection you must
attain to qualify for God’s grace.
In truth, God does not show favoritism.
He cares regardless of a person’s position –
how poor or rich, how imperfect or proven someone is.
Often, the people He lifted up had little to offer in return
but gratitude, a humble heart, and the desire to have faith.
What I’ve Learned
Towards the Other Person – Reserve Judgment. Let’s face it. We are easy to judge by how a person looks, speaks, or acts but we don’t know their struggles. How much judgment we can give if we know the person very well? And we think we are in a better position to give resolutions to their challenges. A person would not come and feel he belong with us or with the church if we are easy to complain, criticize, belittle and put the person down.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ, we can practice to reserve judgment towards the other person by understanding and knowing their struggles. We can develop empathy towards the other person.
Towards Our self – Small Step of Continual Learning and Practicing. Perfection is the goal but is not the key. We can do the small steps each day to become the better version of ourselves and towards achieving our goal.
Together – We may Learn in a Hard Way or Easy Way. We need each other to learn, to complement, or to disagree with each other. Some earnestly want to change themselves by seeking learning and doing it. It is an easy way. But some of us need to experience difficult situations or even made mistakes to understand a principle and apply it to ourselves. It is the hard way. We may not learn it a month, maybe in years or maybe when we get old. The important thing for me is that, when we learn it for ourselves, our loved ones were there for us no matter what. We didn't leave alone. We may always feel the belonging of our family.
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