'Divine potential'
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At the direction of Elder John M. Madsen of the Seventy, a photograph of a bronze sculpture, "Deacon's Bench!" was displayed on television monitors during his priesthood session address. It is a whimsical depiction of five deacons Elder Madsen described as "caught in a candid moment while seated on a bench in Church."
"As you look at these five 'deacons,' what do you see?" Elder Madsen asked. "Now, as I read statements by two former presidents of the Church, I will ask the question a little differently: What can you see?"
The statements by Presidents Joseph Fielding Smith and Spencer W. Kimball expressed the nobility and divine potential of young people in the Church.
"In light of these prophetic declarations, if we expand our vision beyond five deacons on a bench to include all of the young men of the Aaronic Priesthood, then, what can you see?" Elder Madsen asked. "I trust and pray that we can all see their 'divine' potential; that we can see them going forth as bearers of the Holy Priesthood, and as missionaries preaching the everlasting gospel by the Spirit to the nations of the earth; that we can see them as faithful husbands and fathers, and as valiant servants in and leaders of the Church and kingdom of God in these latter days."
Elder Madsen spoke of the 12-year-old Jesus and the incident at the feast of the Passover to "more clearly envision the divine destiny of this chosen and royal generation."
"That each one of us as sons of God," he said, "can fulfill his mission and destiny is made plain by these words of the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith: 'Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments ... may come unto the Father in my name and in due time receive of his fulness"' (Doctrine and Covenants 93: 1, 19-20).
