What is Your Plan?

In the final talk of this most recent general conference, President Nelson announced that next year will be “a bicentennial year” and that “general conference next April will be different from any previous conference.”  This caused quite a stir and there has been much excitement around this announcement.  I realize, though, that his purpose in making the announcement was to invite us to prepare for it and not just give us something to speculate about.  He continued, “In the next six months, I hope that every member and every family will prepare for a unique conference that will commemorate the very foundations of the restored gospel.”  He first suggested three things that we could do as part of that preparation:

·        “Reading afresh Joseph Smith’s account of the First Vision as recorded in the Pearl of Great Price.”

·        “Ponder important questions such as, ‘How would my life be different if my knowledge gained from the Book of Mormon were suddenly taken away?’ or ‘How have the events that followed the First Vision made a difference for me and my loved ones?’”

·        “With the Book of Mormon videos now becoming available, you may wish to incorporate them in your individual and family study.”

But that wasn’t all—he further invited us in these words, “Select your own questions. Design your own plan. Immerse yourself in the glorious light of the Restoration.”  So, I ask myself—it’s been a month since general conference.  What is my plan?

               When the Savior visited the Nephites, He gave them this invitation between the first and second days of His visit, “Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again” (3 Nephi 17:3).  I believe this is what President Nelson is hoping that we will do: ponder, pray, and prepare for spiritual experiences that the Lord can bring to us next April.  So here are my goals to try to follow his invitation:

·        Listen to these 28 speeches about the Prophet Joseph Smith from this BYU speeches podcast.  These include the famous lectures on the prophet by the late Truman Madsen, and I remember how my testimony of the prophet was strengthened through his words as a teenager.  I am very excited to rediscover these and others’ testimony of the Prophet.

·        Write once a week in this blog focusing on a question related to the Restoration.  I hope to be able to reflect on the great blessing that the Book of Mormon, the Priesthood, living prophets, the temple, and many other aspects of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ that continue to bless my life. 

·        Memorize verses from the Doctrine and Covenants.  I believe there is a great power in this book for in it we hear the voice of Jesus Christ in our dispensation.  It invites all the world with this powerful injunction: “Hearken and hear, O ye inhabitants of the earth.… Hear the voice of the Lord; for he calleth upon all men, and he commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Doctrine and Covenants 133:16).  This book perhaps more than any other embodies the spirit of the Restoration. 

·        Reread two books that show the indominable spirit of the pioneers and their devotion to the Restoration despite the terrible sacrifices they were called upon to make: Fire of the Covenant and The Undaunted.  Both of these are historical fiction accounts by Gerald Lund that had a powerful effect on me when I read them many years ago.  I can only hope to one day have the faith that these devoted pioneers had.

I write these goals mainly as a challenge to myself to take the invitation of our prophet seriously.  I hope all of us can seek to prepare spiritually for a year commemorating the glorious First Vision that brought in the light of the restoration to bless all nations, kindreds, tongues and people.