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By Linda K. BurtonRelief Society General President

Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In return, theFather, Son, and Holy Ghost promise usthe full splendor of eternal life. 2 In thatbinding contract, the Lord sets the termsand we agree to keep them. Making andkeeping our covenants is an expressionof our commitment to become like theSavior.3 The ideal is to strive for the atti-tude best expressed in a few phrases ofa favorite hymn: Ill go where you wantme to go. . . . Ill say what you want meto say. . . . Ill be what you want meto be. 4

Why Make and Keep Covenants?1. Covenant keeping strength-

ens, empowers, and protects.Nephi saw in vision the signicant

blessings the Lord bestows upon cov-enant keepers: And it came to passthat I, Nephi, beheld the power of theLamb of God, that it descended . . .upon the covenant people of the Lord,. . . and they were armed with righ-teousness and with the power of Godin great glory. 5

I recently met a dear new friend.She testied that after she hadreceived her temple endowment, shefelt strengthened with the power toresist temptations she had previouslystruggled with.

As we keep our covenants, wealso receive courage and strength tohelp us bear one anothers burdens.

A heartbroken sister had a son who was experiencing a difcult mortal

challenge. Because of her faith in herRelief Society sisters as covenant keep-ers, she courageously invited themto fast and pray for her son. Anothersister expressed how she wished shehad asked for similar prayers from hersisters. Years before, her own son wasstruggling. She wished she had invitedthem to help her family bear this bur-den. The Savior said, By this shall allmen know that ye are my disciples, if

Id like to begin by sharing a storythat touches my heart.

One evening a man called his vesheep to come into the shelter for thenight. His family watched with greatinterest as he simply called, Comeon, and immediately all ve headslifted and turned in his direction. Foursheep broke into a run toward him.

With loving-kindness he gently pattedeach of the four on the head. Thesheep knew his voice and loved him.

But the fth sheep didnt come run-ning. She was a large ewe that a few

weeks earlier had been given away byher owner, who reported that she was wild, wayward, and always leading theother sheep astray. The new owneraccepted the sheep and staked herin his own eld for a few days so she

would learn to stay put. He patientlytaught her to love him and the othersheep until eventually she had only ashort rope around her neck but wasno longer staked down.

That evening as his family watched,the man approached the ewe, whichstood at the edge of the eld, andagain he gently said, Come on. Youarent tied down anymore. You arefree. Then lovingly he reached out,placed his hand on her head, and

walked back with her and the othersheep toward the shelter. 1

In the spirit of that story, I praythat the Holy Ghost will help us learntogether tonight about covenant keep-ing. Making and keeping covenantsmeans choosing to bind ourselves to

our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ.It is committing to follow the Savior. Itis trusting Him and desiring to showour gratitude for the price He paid toset us free through the innite gift ofthe Atonement.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland explainedthat a covenant is a binding spiritualcontract, a solemn promise to God ourFather that we will live and think andact in a certain waythe way of His

G E N E R A L R E L I E F S O C I E T Y M E E T I N G| September 28, 2013

The Power, Joy, andLove of CovenantKeeping I invite each of us to evaluate how much we love the Savior,using as a measure how joyfully we keep our covenants.


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ye have love one to another. 6Oh, sisters, we all have burdens to

bear and burdens to share. An invita-tion to bear one anothers burdens isan invitation to keep our covenants.Lucy Mack Smiths counsel to the rstRelief Society sisters is more relevanttoday than ever before: We must

cherish one another, watch over oneanother, comfort one another and gaininstruction, that we may all sit downin heaven together. 7 This is covenantkeeping and visiting teaching at itsnest!

The Book of Mormon reminds usthat even the prophet Alma had tobear the burden of having a rebel-lious son. But Alma was blessed withcovenant-keeping brothers and sisters

in the gospel who were deeply con- verted unto the Lord and had learned what it meant to bear each others bur-dens. We are familiar with the verse inMosiah that speaks of the great faithof Almas prayers in behalf of his son.But the record states that the Lord . . .heard the prayers of his people, and

also the prayers of his servant, Alma.8

We know that the Lord alwaysrejoices in the soul that repenteth, 9 but we desire above all to haveour children follow the counsel ofPresident Henry B. Eyring to startearly and be steady in making andkeeping covenants. 10 Not long agoa thought-provoking and sincere ques-tion was raised in a council of priest-hood and auxiliary leaders: do we

really expect eight-year-olds to keeptheir covenants? As we counseledtogether, it was suggested that one

way to prepare children to make andkeep sacred baptismal covenants is tohelp them learn to make and keep asimple promise.

Faithful parents are entitled toknow how to best teach to meet theneeds of their children. As parentsseek and act on personal revelation,counsel together, minister and teachthe simple principles of the gospel,they will have power to strengthenand protect their families. Other familymembers can also help. My cutegrandpa taught us the importance ofkeeping promises through a simplesong. It went something like this:Before you make a promise, consider

well its importance. Then when made,engrave it upon your heart. Engraveit upon your heart. That little song

was taught with love, conviction, andpower because Grandpa engraved hisown promises on his heart.

A wise mother I know intentionallyincludes her children in her efforts tokeep her covenants. She joyfully bearsthe burdens of neighbors, friends, and

ward membersand comforts those who stand in need of comfort. It wasnot surprising when her young daugh-ter recently came asking for help toknow how to best comfort her friend

whose father had just passed away. That was a perfect setting to teach that

her desire to comfort her friend wasone way to keep her baptismal cov-enant. How can we expect childrento make and keep temple covenantsif we dont expect them to keeptheir rst covenanttheir baptismalcovenant?

Elder Richard G. Scott observed,One of the greatest blessings wecan offer to the world is the powerof a Christ-centered home where the


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gospel is taught, covenants are kept,and love abounds. 11 What are some ways we can create such a home toprepare our children to make andkeep temple covenants?

We can discover together what itmeans to be worthy of a templerecommend.

We can discover together how tolisten to the Holy Ghost. Becausethe temple endowment is receivedby revelation, we need to learn that

vital skill. We can discover together how to

learn through the use of symbols,beginning with the sacred symbolsof baptism and the sacrament.

We can discover together why thebody is sacred, why it is sometimesreferred to as a temple, and howmodest dress and grooming relatesto the sacred nature of templeclothing.

We can discover the plan of hap -piness in the scriptures. The morefamiliar we are with HeavenlyFathers plan and the Atonement inthe scriptures, the more meaningfultemple worship will be.

We can learn the stories of ourancestors together, research familyhistory, index, and perform vicar-ious temple work for deceasedloved ones.

We can discover together themeaning of terms such as endow-

ment, ordinance, sealing, priest-hood, keys, and other words relatedto temple worship.

We can teach that we go to thetemple to make covenants withHeavenly Fatherwe return hometo keep them! 12

Let us remember the concept ofgood, better, and best as we teach. 13 It is good to teach our children about

the temple. It is better to prepareand expect them to make and keepcovenants. It is best to show them byexample that we cheerfully cleave toour own baptismal and temple cov-enants! Sisters, do we realize our vitalrole in the work of salvation as wenurture, teach, and prepare children toprogress along the covenant path? Thepower to do so will come as we honorand keep our covenants.

2. Keeping covenants is essen- tial for true happiness.

President Thomas S. Monsontaught, Sacred covenants are to berevered by us, and faithfulness to themis a requirement for happiness. 14 In 2 Nephi we read, And it came topass that we lived after the mannerof happiness. 15 Earlier in this samechapter we learn that Nephi and hispeople had just built a temple. Surelythey were joyful covenant keepers!

And in Alma we read, But beholdthere never was a happier time amongthe people of Nephi, since the days ofNephi, than in the days of Moroni. 16

Why? Again we learn in a previous verse that they were faithful in keep-ing the commandments of the Lord. 17 Covenant keepers are commandmentkeepers!

I love the scripture that reads: Andnow when the people had heard these

words [meaning the words describingthe baptismal covenant], they clappedtheir hands for joy, and exclaimed:

This is the desire of our hearts.18

Ilove the desire of their hearts. Theycheerfully desired to make and keeptheir covenants!

One Sunday a young sister joyfullyexclaimed, I get to take the sacramenttoday! When was the last time werejoiced in that privilege? And howdo we demonstrate it? We do this byalways remembering the Savior andalways keeping His commandments,

which include keeping His Sabbathday holy. We do it by always remem-bering Him as we always have ourpersonal and family prayers, dailyscripture study, and weekly familyhome evenings. And when we get dis-tracted or casual with these importantthings, we repent and begin again.

Making and cheerfully keeping ourcovenants gives validity and life to the

vital sacred and saving ordinances weneed to receive in order to obtain allthat [the] Father hath. 19 Ordinancesand covenants are the spiritualmilestones President Henry B. Eyringreferred to when he taught: TheLatter-day Saints are a covenant peo-ple. From the day of baptism throughthe spiritual milestones of our lives,

we make promises with God and Hemakes promises with us. He always keeps His promises offered throughHis authorized servants, but it is thecrucial test of our lives to see if we

will make and keep our covenants with Him. 20


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3. Keeping our covenants dem-onstrates our love for the Saviorand our Father in Heaven.

Of all the reasons we ought to bemore diligent in our covenant keep-ing, this reason is more compellingthan alllove. A verse in the Old

Testament is one that touches myheart as we consider the principle oflove. Who of us is not moved by Jacoband Rachels biblical love story as weread, And Jacob served seven yearsfor Rachel; and they seemed untohim but a few days, for the love hehad to her? 21 Sisters, do we keep ourcovenants with that kind of deep anddevoted love?

Why was the Savior willing to keepHis covenant with the Father and fulllHis divine mission to atone for the sinsof the world? It was His love for HisFather and His love for us. Why wasthe Father willing to allow His OnlyBegotten and perfect Son to suffer pain

beyond description to bear the sins,heartaches, sicknesses, and inrmitiesof the world and all that is unfair in thislife? We nd the answer in these words:For God so loved the world, that hegave his only begotten Son. 22

If we fully appreciated the manyblessings which are ours through theredemption made for us, there is noth-ing that the Lord could ask of us that

we would not anxiously and willingly

do. 23 According to this statement byPresident Joseph Fielding Smith, cov-enant keeping is one way to expressour love for the incomprehensible,innite Atonement of our Savior andRedeemer and the perfect love of ourFather in Heaven.

Elder Holland movingly suggested,I am not certain just what our expe-rience will be on Judgment Day, but I

will be very surprised if at some pointin that conversation, God does not askus exactly what Christ asked Peter:Did you love me? 24 Tonight I inviteeach of us to evaluate how much welove the Savior, using as a measurehow joyfully we keep our covenants.

The Savior said, He that hath mycommandments, and keepeth them,he it is that loveth me: and he thatloveth me shall be loved of my Father,and I will love him, and will manifestmyself to him. 25 How we all need aregular manifestation of the Savior in

our daily lives!Let us remember that even those who have been wayward in the pastor who are currently struggling canfeel the touch of the Good Shepherdshand upon their heads and hear His

voice saying: Come on. You arenttied down anymore. You are free. TheSavior said, I am the good shepherd:the good shepherd giveth his life forthe sheep. 26 He can say that because

He kept His covenants with love. Thequestion then is, will we? May we goforth with faith, cheerful hearts, anda great desire to be covenant keep-ers. This is how we demonstrate ourlove for our Father in Heaven and ourSavior, both of whom I testify withgreat love in the name of Jesus Christ,amen. NOTES

1. See D. Todd Christofferson, You Are Free, Ensign, Mar. 2013, 38, 40; or Liahona, Mar.2013, 16, 18.

2. Jeffrey R. Holland, Keeping Covenants: A Message for Those Who Will Servea Mission, New Era, Jan. 2012, 3; or

Liahona, Jan. 2012, 49. 3. See Understanding Our Covenants with

God, Ensign, July 2012, 25; or Liahona, July 2012, 23.

4. Ill Go Where You Want Me to Go, Hymns, no. 270; emphasis added.

5. 1 Nephi 14:14. 6. John 13:35. 7. Lucy Mack Smith, in Daughters in My

Kingdom: The History and Work of ReliefSociety (2011), 25.

8. Mosiah 27:14; emphasis added. 9. Doctrine and Covenants 18:13. 10. See Henry B. Eyring, Spiritual

Preparedness: Start Early and Be Steady, Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2005, 3740.

11. Richard G. Scott, For Peace at Home, Ensign or Liahona, May 2013, 30.

12. See D. Todd Christofferson, The Gospel Answers Lifes Problems and Challenges(worldwide leadership training meeting,Feb. 2012); lds.org/broadcasts.

13. See Dallin H. Oaks, Good, Better, Best, Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2007, 104.

14. Thomas S. Monson, HappinesstheUniversal Quest, Ensign, Oct. 1993, 4; or

Liahona, Mar. 1996, 5. 15. 2 Nephi 5:27. 16. Alma 50:23. 17. Alma 50:22. 18. Mosiah 18:11. 19. Doctrine and Covenants 84:38. 20. Henry B. Eyring, Witnesses for God,

Ensign, Nov. 1996, 30; emphasis added. 21. Genesis 29:20. 22. John 3:16. 23. Joseph Fielding Smith, Importance of

the Sacrament Meeting, Relief Society Magazine, Oct. 1943, 592.

24. Jeffrey R. Holland, The First GreatCommandment, Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2012, 84.

25. John 14:21. 26. John 10:11.

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