General Conference Book Club Week 5:
I have a daughter and I sometimes wonder about exactly what our relationship should be. I was surprised how much Elder Ballard’s talk about the things I should be teaching my daughter actually taught me about myself as a woman. I love this talk. You will too. Tell me about your favorite parts in the comments.
Go here to find the media versions of the talk (audio, video, mp3, etc.). If this is your first visit to the General Conference Book Club, click here to learn more about it.






melissa
May 2, 2010 at 10:36 pm
Beautiful message- beautiful spirit I love listening to Elder Ballard speak. He is very eloquent and loving with his words.
Jan
May 3, 2010 at 2:26 pm
The older I get, the more I love and cherish my mom. Reading this talk makes me think about the relationship I am developing with my own daughter. E. Ballard makes it clear how important and powerful our influence is.
Julie
May 3, 2010 at 2:35 pm
I love loved this one. The lists I’ll be making and thinking about this week: how can I counter societies views and opinions about womanhood and motherhood? What/who are examples of women who are strong AND feminine in church history and my own life that I can learn from? What are specific things that show, and bring, joy in womanhood?
(hope you had fun at women’s conference, I was disappointed I couldn’t make it to dinner!)
Becoming LDS
May 3, 2010 at 2:41 pm
So I am giving the lesson in Relief Society on this talk at the end of the month so I super excited to hear everyone’s thoughts.
The talk was really good. I’ll probably be back to share my thoughts later. My son just had an accident.
Sue Q
May 4, 2010 at 1:05 am
Quadruple dose at my house! I cherish every day I have with my girls, and those days are rapidly depleting as I contemplate sending off my first born into the wide and scary world in a short two years. I want my girls to grow up with an independence of spirit and dependence on the Spirit, and I hope and pray every day that I can accomplish this! Thank goodness for General Conference and talks like these that help me along the way!
Shantel
May 9, 2010 at 8:45 pm
What really struck me about this talk, is when Elder Ballard talked about the influence my daughter would have on me. That it is not just about me teaching her, but she is here to teach and influence me too. I think that will help me to be a little more patient with her. I like the idea if us “recognizing” each other as a family in the next life – it speaks of something so deep and eternal there. Hmmmm… This really gets my brain going.
Steph @ Diapers and Divinity
May 9, 2010 at 10:43 pm
My favorite part of this talk is where he points out the “fallacy that a woman’s value is dependent solely upon her sensual appeal.” It just struck me how true it is that this myth is so profusely spread throughout our culture and how much girls and women buy into it. I compared this to Sister Dalton’s claims in this conference that virtue and “deep beauty” are really power, and Sister Beck’s testimony that a righteous woman’s greatest power is her influence. I love that we as women can be vehicles to perpetuate the TRUTH about the power that good women have and how great our value and power and influence can be when we do things in the Lord’s way.
Amanda D
May 12, 2010 at 4:27 pm
I watched the video as I read and I could barely keep up for all the marking I was doing. Such good advice in this talk. It’s made me ponder the relationship I have with my daughter, who is 7. I wonder if I am doing enough to make her treasure womanhood.
My favorite part of this talk was near the beginning – the quote from Joseph F Smith about how we should be leading the women of the world. It’s overwhelming, but how true. I also loved the Emerson quote – “What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.” That’s such power there.
Becca
May 15, 2010 at 7:09 pm
Geesh. I’m behind, again. But I loved this talk! And what struck me most was the part about the fact that our daughters are here to influence US, just as we’re here to influence them. That my daughters (and sons) have things to teach me, and that I’d better be paying attention. Awesome.