General Conference Closing Remarks – April 2010

Once again, President Monson gave us a great uplifting closing message along with some guidance. He thanked those who participated in the conference, said he had seldom heard so good of sermons with so few words, reminded us the messages would be reprinted in the May issues of the Liahona and Ensign, and urged us to study, ponder, and apply those messages.

He used seaman’s terms to describe how the world around us, “seems to have slipped from its moorings of safety and drifted from the harbor of peace.” Similar to the previous closing address, he mentioned how permissiveness, immorality, pornography, dishonesty and a host of other ills cause many to be tossed about on the seas. President Monson urged us to look to the lighthouse of the Lord, thanked us for our prayers in his behalf and in behalf of the General Authorities, and invoked a blessing upon us that the messages and spirit of this conference might find an expression in all that we do.

Although the closing messages are usually pretty brief, I always look forward to them. This time I especially enjoyed his use of sea fairing terms which fit so well with the rescuing message that is being strongly promoted across the church. His choice of terms is especially relevant when you consider the rescue painting that is currently being used to help energize our rescuing efforts.

We wordled his closing message in similar format to that we used on his October 2009 Conference closing message to allow some comparisons to be made below.

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General Conference Closing Remarks – October 2009

President Monson gave us a great closing message. He began with the typical lines about thanking everybody who participated, especially those involved with the music, reminding us the talks would soon be available in the Ensign and Liahona for our further study, and thanking those who were released.

Then he got down to specific messages for our day and time (what we need to be thinking about the next six months). He opened with several ocean going (ship) references. He said:

Many in the world have slipped from the moorings of safety of following the commandments.
It is a time of permissiveness, with many breaking the laws of God. We, as members often find ourselves swimming against the current of society.
He spoke of the Book of Ether when the Lord told the people they could not cross the great deep unless he prepared them against the waves of the sea, winds, and floods which would come.
President Monson assures us that we have been prepared. If we heed the Lord’s words and follow his commandments, we will survive this time of wickedness and permissiveness – a time that can be compared to the waves, winds, and floods.

He invoked the blessings of heaven upon us, that we would safely return to our homes, and ponder the things of the conference that we might know of their surety and truth. He asked that we, as the people of King Benjamin, might have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually. He asked that we might all leave as better people than we were when the conference began.

President Monson told us he loved us, he prays for us, he asked us to remember him and all the General Authorities in our prayers, plead for strength and the ability for us to do our part in moving forward this marvelous work.

He bore his testimony and bid us farewell for six months.

We first wordled his General Conference closing message in black and white.

A quick examination of the Mormon Wordle above results in the findings below:

The word “May” seems to be more prominent than we recall from the talk. A closer examination finds him using it to encourage us (May we incorporate into our daily lives the truths found therein, may you say with the people of King Benjamin) and to plead with Heavenly Father in our behalf (May all of you return safety to your homes, May every man and woman, boy and girl leave this conference a better person, May God give us the strength and the ability and the determination to play our part as well, May God bless you, May His promised peace be with you always).

The word “time” occurs frequently. President uses “time” to represent the era in which we live (We live at a time, it is a time of permissiveness, we will survive this time of permissiveness, a time which can be compared) and in closing he bids us farewell for six months’ time.

He used the word “words” a few times to represent the words of the scriptures (If we heed His words and live the commandments, I am reminded of the words of the Lord) and once in a quote from King Benjamin (We believe all the words which Thou hast spoken).

As would be expected, we see permissiveness, wickedness and commandments in larger fonts.

We took the black and white wordle we created of President Monson’s October 2009 closing remarks and further processed it into a bit of a stone tablet feel that also has little bit of a Temple cornerstone inscription feel to it, especially when you zoom into it.

 
 

The images above were previously posted over on Mormon Wordles dot com, but moved them here in early 2017 and closed the old site down.