Dear Sisters,
It has been a beautiful conference weekend of full inspiration, reflection, comfort, and some stern reminders. Watching general conference, my mind and heart were full of the experiences I had this week as I read and re-read the final chapters of the Book of Mormon, and I feel compelled to testify to you ever more firmly, along with so many of our leaders, that we must read The Book of Mormon daily, that this practice will bring us peace, joy, understanding, and courage.
A month or so ago I felt strongly inspired to send an email to my three children, in which I stated that now more than ever before in my and their lifetimes it is critically important that we know how to identify truth. I urged them as their mother to draw on all of their learning, spiritual, intellectual, and emotional, to look for patterns that will lead them to truth in all aspects of their lives, and to pray for clarity, insight, and good judgment.
I was struck this week by how Moroni in his final words (Moroni 10:3-4) makes this same plea, and how he provides us with a perfect formula for knowing what is true: read, reflect (or remember, as he says), and pray.
Sisters, it starts with reading. We must immerse ourselves regularly in the scriptures. They are the iron rod. It is so easy to fall out of this habit, so easy to turn to other sources for comfort, guidance, and nourishment. But anything other than the scriptures is like empty calories. We might feel filled temporarily, but we will not be nourished, we will not have strength and stamina, and we will not thrive.
We need to reflect ("remember how merciful the Lord hath been") so that we begin to see the patterns in our lives and in the world around us. We begin to see the hand of the Lord in all aspects of our lives, and we begin to know how the spirit works for us as individuals.
And we need to pray, with energy and focus ("with real intent"), to know what is true.
My dear sisters we have a great and marvelous work to do in our own lives, in our homes, in our communities, and in the world. Each one of you has a mission to fulfill, and you can know what that mission is each moment of each day as you follow the admonition of Moroni:
... awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled. Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him ... (Moroni 10:31-32)
With love and gratitude,
Marni Campbell, Theresa Roth, Michelle Quinn, and Jenni Currit
Seattle North Stake Relief Society Presidency
