President Monson

(For extra credit)

President Monson also talked about the importance of obedience, and his was one of my favorite talks from the entire conference. I especially loved his example of him setting a field on fire when he was just eight years old. He said that he was not allowed to use matches, but he knew where they were and so he did it anyway. He thought for some reason that the fire would stop once it had done its intended duty of burning a small section of weeds. Unfortunately it did not and soon the entire field was ablaze and he and his friend were forced to run for help. These are some of the parallels I drew from that story:

“We were not allowed to use matches, but I knew where they were kept”— there are rules in place to protect us. Those rules are the commandments, and obedience to them brings spiritual protection.

“I recall thinking that the fire would only burn as far as we wanted, and then magically stop” — People think that they can simply “stop” in deep sin. Far too often we try to get as close to the edge as possible and set the “line” which we will not cross at the absolute last point of safety. Instead we should draw the line which we will not cross before the first sign of transgression; draw the line before the danger starts. Stay as far away from danger as possible. We should not push the limits and do things we know will lead to greater sin.

“We realized there was nothing we could do to stop it, we had to run for help” — when you do fall into transgression, you cannot stop the “fire,” or sin, by yourself. You must go to God for help, through taking advantage of the Atonement. For serious sins we must run to our Bishop for help