At the tomb

I have long enjoyed when Easter and Conference land on the same day. There is something about hearing the 15 men called as special witnesses of Jesus Christ testify of His life and resurrection on the day we celebrate His defeat over death and the promise of redemption and immortality for us all.

That being said I was quite surprised when there wasn’t more talks about the events that led to the Christian world celebrating Easter. Elder Uchtdorf’s talk was really the only talk that discussed Christ’s journey from Gethsemane to the empty tomb, he invited us to Behold the Man, our Savior and Redeemer. There was much mention that today is Easter and that Christ lives and Pres Eyring gave an account of visualizing Christ and Mary in the Garden (which was so very powerful). Yet with all the surprises of the weekend at times it felt to meet that Easter got lost under changing priesthood quorums, retiring home and visiting teaching for ministering and the knowledge that seven new temples will soon be under construction from Layton, Utah to India, to Russia.

In the midst of me sort of feeling that the Easter meetings I was hoping for and expecting were hi-jacked (don’t get me wrong, I am very excited for these changes) the Spirit came knocking at my heart to open up and see a bigger picture. The picture I then saw helped me see that the talks and changes that came today are an invitation to not only remember Christ, but to become like Him and do His work and serve His children. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then doing the work our Savior did is our way to show that His sacrifice for us has changed our lives and we are grateful enough to change ourselves to become more.

As I think back to the talks that stood out to me the most (Elder Robbins, Elder Bednar, Pres Eyring, Pres Oaks, Elder Holland, and Pres Nelson) I see invitations to learn to be okay with failure, to keep growing and trying again with enthusiasm, to take the Spirit as my guide. As Pres Eyring spoke that a witness to the Spirit is more powerful and lasting than seeing with our mortal eyes I felt the Spirit telling me to develop my spiritual eyes, to allow myself to be put in places where I can be taught and tutored by the Spirit so that my nature can be changed and the Spirit can one day introduce my heart to my Savior for that is a witness that can never be taken away. I was taught to be submissive and meek, to allow my life to be directed daily by the Spirit and to pursue the Spirit and things of the divine with my whole heart. I was taught to minister in the Savior’s way. With billions on the earth needing love and comfort the Lord needs each of us to help His children, to learn charity and to simply love without counting the cost or hoping for a return on my investment of time.

We live in an era of the world when remembering isn’t enough anymore. No longer can we take holidays as the time to remember the Savior and His work, then return to our work a day world. We live in a world that needs that remembering to change hearts and lives and to give us the desire to do as He did.

I feel like I am not doing this post justice, today as I listened to the messages from our seers and revelators my heart burned within me to take the messages and do something more, to take the Spirit as my guide, to seek charity and to love as I haven’t loved before. How do we honor the Savior and the work He did in gardens and on the cross, how do we show Heavenly Father we have taken it to heart? We live like His Son. I hope we see that all that has happened the last two days is another step closer to Zion, they are inviting us to change and unify the heart, they are asking us to access the powers of heaven before the typhoon is upon, there is a typhoon coming, if we follow the counsel we heard this weekend and if we take it to heart in the months to come we will make it through the typhoon and bless many in the process, if we do not, then a day of reckoning is coming.

I hope this Easter day we remember the work of our Savior in gardens, to suffer for us, then to live again for us, and that we share that light and life with the world, oh how it needs it now and what a joy to help in this holy work.

My challenge to you as the print versions of the talk come available to count how many times the words “holy” and “unity” were used, I think there is a message there for the latter day saints and the world at large. May we go forth ever ready for a harder right and light to shine forth in the world.