Welcome back to another week of General Conference Book Club. Our comments were a little sparse last week, so I’d love to have more of you tune in on this talk and share some of your favorite parts or best insights.
“Hope”
by Elder Steven E. Snow
of the Presidency of the Seventy
This was my favorite quote from the talk because I thought it was a great reminder about acting on our hope and desires:
As parents, we find our fondest hopes center around our children. We hope they will grow up to lead responsible and righteous lives. Such hopes can be easily dashed if we do not act as good examples. Hope alone does not mean our children will grow in righteousness. We must spend time with them in family home evening and worthwhile family activities. We must teach them to pray. We must read with them in the scriptures and teach them important gospel principles. Only then is it possible our fondest hopes will be realized.
What stood out for you? What does the talk make you want to do or change? Please share your ideas in the comments below.
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Diapers and Divinity 
I LOVE good talks about HOPE. 🙂 And this one is great! I believe that where there is hope, there is success. Thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ, hope is all we need. If we have hope, we keep trying; we never give up; and Jesus Christ wants us to make it! Can you imagine Him saying at the day of judgement, “I know you hoped, and tried, but I’m sorry, you just didn’t do good enough?” Of course not! I see Him lovingly watching over us and seeing to it that those who with hope strive to move forward – success comes. He can do miracles, and He does… every day for those who continue on in hope, to accomplish their righteous dreams.
“The exercise of hope enriches our lives and helps us look forward to the future. Whether we are plowing fields to plant or plowing through life, it is imperative we, as Latter-day Saints, have hope.”
I think hope is a good reflection of our testimony. Combined with faith, it shows if we truly believe in the Atonement and the promises the Lord has made to us. If these things are rooted deeply in our hearts, we can continue to “plow through life” despite the difficulties and challenges we face.
I haven’t read this talk yet, but I did read the First Presidency message in the September Ensign (technically Liahona). It’s all about preparing ourselves for General Conference. President Uchtdorf shares a great story at the beginning of the message about treasuring up the words of our modern day apostles and prophets. I couldn’t help but think of this GCBC and feel grateful for the weekly reminders I get to read & study the talks. Thank you Stephanie and all of the GCBC members!
I really liked the part which spoke about faith, hope and charity… and that these are the attributes which tether us to the celestial kingdom. It has motivated me to develop these attributes if this is to be my final destination… needless to say… I did not get off to a good start this morning but… the journey has begun.
Lovely talk. Hope is the reason why I keep trying. I have hope in the Atonement. That’s something it took me a long time to understand, and I am so grateful to have added hope to my ‘three legged stool’. I once I understood hope a little better it was like the entire gospel finally snapped into place for me. It’s SO crucial to my testimony.
I struggle with hope, but paradoxically I also cling to it (if that makes sense?). My favorite portion of the talk was:
Other times our hopes can lead to dreams which can inspire us and lead us to action. . . . Hope can inspire dreams and spur us to realize those dreams. Hope alone, however, does not cause us to succeed. Many honorable hopes have gone unfulfilled, shipwrecked on the reefs of good intentions and laziness.
p.s. Completely understand the neglect of the blog during the summer — there is just so much going on. So sorry about the stomach flu, but it does sound like you had a good time. We just bought a pop-up trailer …. such fun!
I agree with you Stephanie about the best quote. Also, this sentence jumped at me, “We should plow in hope.” That creates a picture in my mind and food for thought.
~Shari (Looking forward to tomorrow’s assignment!)
We’ve had a crazy month, but better late than never, right? Like Jan and Shari, I liked the paragraph with “We should plow in hope,” but it was the beginning statement, “We should never let hope be displaced by despair” that really caught my attention. Just like fear is the opposite of faith, despair is the opposite of hope. When I feel like sinking in fear and despair, that’s when I need to work at increasing my faith and hope in my Savior. And when I do, it works.