I ♥ General Conference

Conference Weekend - my favorite! I have really enjoyed the last two days, filled with messages of love and admonition. Elder Bednar's council for more diligence and consistency was a "head-nodder"! I was deeply moved by Elder Holland's passion-filled testimony of the Book of Mormon. My soul was inspired by Pres. Uchtdorf's charge for us to "be known as a people who love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and who love our neighbor as ourselves". What will linger in my mind most of all however, was the heart-shattering verse Pres. Monson read; a passage penned years ago, by Richard L. Evans.

It isn't easy for those who are young to understand the loneliness that comes when life changes from a time of preparation and performance to a time of putting things away. To be so long the center of a home, so much sought after, and then, almost suddenly, to be on the sidelines watching the procession pass by — this is living into loneliness. We have a long time to learn how empty a room can be that is filled only with furniture. It takes someone beyond mere hired service, beyond institutional care or professional duty, to thaw out the memories of the past and keep them warmly living in the present. We cannot bring them back, the morning hours of youth. But we can help them live in the warm glow of a sunset made more beautiful by our thoughtfulness and unfeigned love.

As I reflected on Evan's bittersweet words, I was struck with my own mortality. Will I be one of the lonely? I don't think I've ever thought that I would. I don't think that I've ever even *thought* anything about it! But there it was - in beautiful prose, and it nearly tore out my heart to think of those who feel that NOW. How nearly unbearable it must feel, to be "so long the center of a home, so much sought after, and then, almost suddenly, to be on the sidelines watching the procession pass by". I began to ponder how I would like to relieve the loneliness of another. Who do I know? Who can I serve? Last week in the RS General Meeting, Pres. Eyring promised that we can find joy, "even when our own unmet needs are great". I don't live in loneliness. Indeed, my unmet needs pale in comparison! I have a lot to think about. A lot to do.