Women's Conference

Every year in the fall right before General Conference, women all over the world have an opportunity to watch the General Relief Society Broadcast of the Church. I always enjoy it, and every year after it’s over I think, or say, “Wow, I really needed that.” I felt that exact same way this year, too. There were many parts of the conference that were my favorite. My favorite talk was by Sister Thompson. It was about visiting teaching. I LOVE to be a visiting teacher. It brings such joy to my life. Since I know that some of you are not members of my church, I know that you would probably not be able to apply tons of that talk to your life, so instead I chose to post some of the highlights from President Monson’s talk. His talk was concerning the negative impacts of judging others. Below are some of the highlights of it that I hope you will be able to use in your everyday life as I am able to.

~A young couple, Lisa and John, moved into a new neighborhood. One morning while they were eating breakfast, Lisa looked out the window and watched her next-door neighbor hanging out her wash.
“That laundry’s not clean!” Lisa exclaimed. “Our neighbor doesn’t know how to get clothes clean!”
John looked on but remained silent.
Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, Lisa would make the same comments.
A few weeks later Lisa was surprised to glance out her window and see a nice, clean wash hanging in her neighbor’s yard. She said to her husband, “Look, John—she’s finally learned how to wash correctly! I wonder how she did it.”
John replied, “Well, dear, I have the answer for you. You’ll be interested to know that I got up early this morning and washed our windows!”

~There is really no way we can know the heart, the intentions, or the circumstances of someone who might say or do something we find reason to criticize. Thus the commandment: “Judge not.”

~A member of a women’s organization once complained when a certain woman was selected to represent the organization. She had never met the woman, but she had seen a photograph of her and didn’t like what she saw, considering her to be overweight. She commented, “Of the thousands of women in this organization, surely a better representative could have been chosen.”
True, the woman who was chosen was not “model slim.” But those who knew her and knew her qualities saw in her far more than was reflected in the photograph. The photograph did show that she had a friendly smile and a look of confidence. What the photograph didn’t show was that she was a loyal and compassionate friend, a woman of intelligence who loved the Lord and who loved and served His children. It didn’t show that she volunteered in the community and was a considerate and concerned neighbor. In short, the photograph did not reflect who she really was.

~I ask: if attitudes, deeds, and spiritual inclinations were reflected in physical features, would the countenance of the woman who complained be as lovely as that of the woman she criticized?

~My dear sisters, each of you is unique. You are different from each other in many ways. Such differences are almost endless. Do these differences tempt us to judge one another?

~Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who worked among the poor in India most of her life, spoke this profound truth: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” The Savior has admonished, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” I ask: can we love one another, as the Savior has commanded, if we judge each other? And I answer—with Mother Teresa: no, we cannot.

~I express my love to you, my sisters, and pray that heaven’s blessings may ever be yours.