General Conference Book Club Week 13:
In President Dieter F. Uctdorf’s General Conference talk, “You Are My Hands,” he teaches the important principle that Christian discipleship requires us to act more like the Savior: to embrace, to comfort, to serve, and to love.
I love the story from the New Testament about the adulterous woman that was brought before Jesus to be condemned. After clearing the room by inviting the sinless to cast the first stone, he showed her great compassion and invited her to live a new life. I worry that sometimes we all spend too much time condemning others, playing courthouse in our minds and deciding what’s right, what’s wrong, what deserves mercy, what demands justice, and somehow casting more stones than the situation calls for or than we have any right to throw.
I love President Ucdtorf’s simple exhortation:
As disciples of Jesus Christ, our Master, we are called to support and heal rather than condemn.
It seems we should analyze less and, instead, do more good. When you read this talk, what parts of the message stand out for you? How can your hands better do His work?
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Diapers and Divinity 
I’m staggered by the fact that this is the topic I chose for our FHE tonight. It’s been so much on my mind lately. I’ve been blessed with so many opportunities to serve recently, and I love that feeling of being His Hands. It’s such a big part of why we’re here in this mortal life in the first place.
I loved how he pointed out that we should put our effort into compassion and mercy rather than into judgment and condemnation. Great reminders for all of us.
It’s a beautiful talk and I blogged about it. I loved the quote from the woman about being a wrinkled up and bruised twenty dollar bill. I also loved the stories of the Christ statue and the brothers.
We do spend a lot of time judging and I think we’re often guilty of being those guys in the BOM who praised themselves for their righteousness. I think we do that because we believe we have the fullness of the gospel and so everyone else must be inferior. We have to be careful and we need to accept people where they are right now instead of concentrating on what we can make them become.
Loved this talk! I loved the stories that he told and the small and simple principles that he taught with them. This is something that I have been working on with my children, trying to teach them the importance and value of serving others. What a wonderful reminder for all of us. I think that I am going to use the story of the $20 bill, as an object lesson in FHE this coming week.
I loved this talk, as well. My favorite part is the story about Abram and Zimri. I would love to find out what their mother was like and what she taught them:) Obviously to love and think of others. So often we see the opposite. Instead of worrying about others, we spend so much time worrying about ourselves and justifying why our needs are greater than our “brothers”. Not to get into politics, but this is one of the saddest things to me about our current welfare system in the U.S. It seems to me that instead of taking care of our neighbors and friends, we get caught up in this idea that it is the governments job to take care of the poor and needy. We end up robbing ourselves of the blessings and the joys that come from “being our Savior’s hands”.
The other thing I love about this story is that neither of the brothers was wondering what was in it for them. Their reward for serving was the pleasure it gave them to take care of each other. The reason I think this is important is because sometimes in life we aren’t going to get an immediate reward for our service, sometimes our sacrifices go unnoticed (being a mom, need I say more,haha), but if we are serving for the right reason, then we will find joy just from the experience of serving and from the blessings we receive from the Lord.
Wow sorry this is so long! I have been lurking here for a while and I really love and appreciate all of the insights you amazing women share.
As I read & watched this talk, I thought of the ways I treat my children. Do I “talk with, never down to, (my children)”? Do I make my children “feel as though they are deficient”? Do I remember that my children (as well as myself) are “in need of mercy”?
I’m afraid that when I think on it, I come up much lacking. There is much room for improvement. There are many things to improve so that I my “heart and hands (are) stretched out in compassion…”
I love his defintion of compassion: “that we love others as ourselves, seek their happiness, and do unto them as we hope they would do unto us.”