PROVO, Utah — Man and woman are God's masterpieces, created in His image, said President Thomas S. Monson during BYU Women's Conference May 4. "You cannot sincerely hold this conviction without experiencing a profound new sense of strength and power. As Latter-day Saints, we know that we lived before we came to earth . . . where we might prove ourselves obedient to God's commandments.

Photo by Michael Brandy

President Thomas S. Monson, with his wife, Frances, by his side, shared humorous and touching accounts during closing session.

"Thus, we learn who we are. Now, what does God expect us to become?" President Monson asked during the closing session of the two-day conference. He was accompanied by his wife, Frances, as he addressed thousands crowded into the Marriott Center.

"The way will not be easy," President Monson affirmed. "Dear sisters, may I suggest three guidelines: strengthen your home, share your talents and serve your God."

President Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, highlighted each of his suggestions:

• "Strengthen your home. You need to know how vital you are to this process. Too frequently women underestimate their influence for good. Well could you follow the formula given by the Lord, 'Establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.'

  "In such a house will be found happy, smiling children who have been taught, by precept and example, the truth. In a Latter-day Saint home, children are not simply tolerated, but welcomed; not commanded, but encouraged; not driven, but guided; not neglected, but loved.

  "I recognize there are times when a mother's nerves are frayed, her patience exhausted and her energies consumed. She says, 'My children don't appreciate a single thing I do.' I think they do appreciate you. I think it significant that usually the first word a child utters is 'Momma.' "

  President Monson then underlined his point by adding a humorous family anecdote. "Our oldest grandson's first word when looking at his father was 'Momma,' " he recalled, bringing laughter from the women listening. "Love of mother and her teachings has prompted more bad men to be good and good men to be better than any other motivational force."

  Continuing, he counseled families to avoid debt. "Feelings become strained, quarrels more frequent and nerves frayed when excess debt knocks on the door. Resources channeled to make payment on debts do not put one crumb on the table, provide one degree of warmth in the house, or bring one thread into a garment. Many more people could ride out the storm-tossed waves in their economic lives if they had their year's supply of food and clothing and were debt-free. Today we find that many have followed this counsel in reverse: they have at least a year's supply of debt and are food-free."

  President Monson said that all families, whether those with a husband and wife and many children, homes with single parents, or homes with an unmarried person only, can be recipients of "that noble gift — love at home."

• "Share your talents." President Monson related a visit he made to a nursing home where a young girl was to play her violin for Sunday services. "She told me she was nervous and hoped she could do her best. As she played, an elderly patient called out, 'Oh, you are so pretty, and you play so beautifully.'

  "Afterward, I congratulated her and her gifted accompanist. They responded, 'We came to cheer the frail, the sick, and the elderly. Our fears vanished as we played. We forgot our own cares and concerns. We may have cheered them, but they truly did inspire us.'

  "To the Philippians, the Apostle Paul pleaded, 'Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.' (Philippians 4:8.)

  "I plead with you to be doers, as well as thinkers, and thereby translate your thoughts into deeds and to live your thoughts to the highest level of your ideals. Time is the raw material of life. Every day unwraps itself like a gift, bringing us the opportunity to spin a fabric of health, pleasure and content and to evolve into something better than we are at its beginning."

• "Serve your God. Shakespeare, in his play, 'Henry VIII,' taught the importance of this principle through one of his characters, Cardinal Wolsey. He was a man who enjoyed great prestige and pride because of his friendship with the king; but that friendship was severed. Cardinal Wolsey was stripped of all of his authority and all of his pride. In the sorrow of his heart, he declared, 'Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, he would not have left me naked to my enemies.' "

President Monson then related the account of Catherine Curtis Spencer, an early pioneer wife and mother. After leaving Nauvoo with her husband and six children, she declined in health to the point that her husband wrote her parents in Boston, asking if she could return to live with them until he established a home in the West. They replied in a letter that she could return only if she renounced her faith. The pioneer woman refused to renounce her faith and died soon after.

"This is the spirit of serving God. This is the spirit of putting Him first in our lives. Though we may not necessarily forfeit our lives in service to our God, we can certainly demonstrate our love for Him by how well we serve Him. He who hears our silent prayers, He who observes our unheralded acts, will reward us openly when the need comes.

"May all of us and all with whom we have influence pray to God that no enemy will breech that portion of the line assigned to us. It matters little in which organization of the Church we are called to labor. We have been given a portion of the line to defend, and ours is the responsibility to do so."