Commending members of the Church as a "prayerful and faith-filled people, ever striving to be honest and decent," President Thomas S. Monson offered a gentle but firm warning Saturday morning about the dangers of complacency.

Photo by August Miller/Deseret Morning News

Warning against debt, encouraging family home evening, President Thomas S. Monson speaks Saturday morning. He has served in the First Presidency for nearly 20 years.

"We cannot afford to be complacent," President Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, declared during the opening session of general conference. "We live in perilous times; the signs are all around us. We are acutely aware of the negative influences in our society that stalk traditional families."

Continuing, he counseled members to "stand up to the dangers which surround us and our families," and offered suggestions, as well as examples from his own life.

"I begin with family home evening. We cannot afford to neglect this heaven-inspired program. It can bring spiritual growth to each member of the family, helping him or her to withstand the temptations which are everywhere. The lessons learned in the home are those that last the longest."

Reminding members of the thought, "Your mind is a cupboard, and you stock the shelves," President Monson added: "Let us make certain that our cupboard shelves, and those of our family members, are stocked with the things which will provide safety to our souls and enable us to return to our Father in Heaven. Such shelves could well be stocked with gospel scholarship, faith, prayer, love, service, obedience, example and kindness.

"Next, I address the subject of debt," President Monson continued. "This is a day of borrowing, a day when multiple credit card offers arrive in our mailboxes each week."

Warning members about the interest rates that accompany credit cards and the possible risk of home equity loans, which are, simply put, second mortgages, President Monson counseled: "Avoid the philosophy and excuse that yesterday's luxuries have become today's necessities. They aren't necessities unless we ourselves make them such. Many of our young couples today want to begin with multiple automobiles and the type of home mother and dad worked a lifetime to obtain."

Consequently, President Monson said, they enter into debt based on two salaries and, perhaps too late, discover changes come, such as children, sickness and lost jobs. "It is essential for us to live within our means.

"Next, I have felt impressed to speak to mothers, to fathers, to sons and to daughters. I would say to each mother, each father — be a good listener. Communication is so vital today in our fast-paced world. Take time to listen.

"And to you children, talk to your mother and to your father. It may be difficult to realize, but your parents have lived through many of the same challenges which you face today. Often they see the big picture more clearly than you can. They pray for you each day and are entitled to the inspiration of our Heavenly Father in providing you counsel and advice."

Share household duties, mothers were counseled. "It is often easier to do everything yourself than to persuade your children to help, but it is so essential for them to learn the importance of doing their share.

"Fathers, I would counsel you to demonstrate love and kindness to your wife. Be patient with your children. Don't indulge them to excess, for they must learn to make their own way in the world.

"I would encourage you to be available to your children. I have heard it said that no man, as death approaches, has ever declared that he wished he had spent more time at the office."

Continuing, President Monson urged the congregation to "search out your heritage. It is important to know, as far as possible, those who came before us. We discover something about ourselves when we learn about our ancestors."

Recalling accounts of his Miller ancestors told him as a boy, President Monson related how his great-grandmother, Margaret Miller, was 13 years old when her family reached St. Louis, Mo., with a group of saints. While there, a plague of cholera struck, taking the lives of her mother, father and two brothers. The nine remaining orphaned children and the husband of one older sister reached the Salt Lake Valley in 1850.

"I owe such a debt of gratitude of these and other noble forebears who loved the gospel and who loved the Lord so deeply that they were willing to sacrifice all they had, including their very lives, for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. How grateful I am for the temple ordinances which bind us together for all eternity. I emphasize how essential is the work we do in the temples of the Lord for our kindred dead."

President Monson then related how years ago, while attending a religion class at BYU, his son Clark was asked by the instructor, "What is an example of life with your father that you best remember?"

The instructor later wrote President Monson about his son's response. Clark had recalled how when he was a deacon he had been pheasant hunting with his father when his father suggested they unload their guns, lay them aside, and kneel together in prayer. Wrote Clark, "My father explained to me that Elder Richard L. Evans of the Quorum of the Twelve was gravely ill and that at 12 noon on that particular Monday the members of the Quorum of the Twelve — wherever they may be at the time — were to kneel and, in a way, together unite in a fervent prayer of faith for Elder Evans."

President Monson, speaking of that day, said, "I well remember the occasion, but I never dreamed a son was watching, was learning, was building his own testimony."

Continuing, President Monson recalled how several years ago their paper boy's supervisors received a petition of complaint from some of those on his paper route — a petition Sister Frances Monson had refused to sign. Later, the boy, evidently unable to handle the criticism, took his own life.

"What a vivid lesson this has always been regarding the importance of being non-judgmental and treating everyone with kindness."

In his concluding remarks, President Monson said: "May we ever follow the Prince of Peace, who literally showed for us the way to follow, for by doing so, we will survive these turbulent times."