Last night I still had not a clue what to say to you here tonight.  As I got into bed I knelt and prayed for the inspiration that would give me a starting point for my talk.  The little voice in my head said, “Tell them what you've learned as a patriarch.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I said.  “I know what to do now.”

This morning I got up excitedly and began writing.  I wrote all morning, and learned as I wrote.  I love that feeling.

My training materials say that patriarch is a revelatory calling or position.  As a patriarch I can't let myself think ahead of what I might say in a blessing that I give.  This goes counter to my lifetime practice of being prepared, and of avoiding extemporaneous talks and actions.  As a patriarch I must ensure that the blessings do not come from me, but from the Lord, through revelation.

I am, therefore, just as interested as the recipient to hear what his blessing says.  I approach each blessing in the attitude of fasting and prayer (oh, how I pray!), and encourage each recipient to do the same.  I lay my hands upon the person's head, and then proceed to find words to express the thoughts that come.

The first and foremost sensation that I've had in the 200 blessings that I've given is astonishment at the quality, the strength, and the futures of the young people who have come to me.  “Astonished” is the right word to use.  These young people, with just one notable exception, have been astonishingly upright, strong, and full of promise.  Time after time I've said to myself, “I must remember this person,” because he or she is destined for great things.  Despite my wanting to remember the person so that I can watch what happens to him, I immediately forget him or her and what I've said in the blessing.  I don't think that I'm supposed to remember.  The person is in the Lord's hands, and He will shape and direct the person as He sees fit.

Many blessings are similar.  I worried about that for a while, and voiced my concerns to my predecessor, David Bean.  His response was encouraging.  “Well, they should be similar!  The Lord intends to ultimately give the same blessings to every worthy individual.”

But each blessing that I give is also unique.  The second sensation that I've had is a feeling of the intense love that the Savior has for the person.  He knows the person intimately.  His desire to bless the person is intense.  He yearns over the person.  He's like President Nelson who says over and over, “I plead with you to … ”  He wants more than anything to bless this young person with every blessing that He has.

The third thing that I've learned is that the reason these young people are so astonishing is because they've actually been reserved—held back—to come in these late times.  They've literally been held back for thousands of years just so that they could help prepare for the Lord's imminent Second Coming.  They're the best and strongest spirits the Lord has.

Some of my blessings mention the tumultuous times that lie ahead.  These young people are the strong ones, who will endure, and who will endure happily, despite the turmoil around them.  We marvel at the hardships that the pioneers endured, but these young people are going to do more.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “Though we rightly applauded our ancestors for their spiritual achievements … those of us who prevail today will have done no small thing.  The special spirits who have been reserved to live in this time of challenges and who overcome will one day be praised for their stamina by those who pulled handcarts.”

These young people, one and all, consider themselves to be just ordinary people, but they're not.  The fourth thing that I've learned is that the Lord is depending upon them.  Their righteousness, their desires, their missions, their examples, their service, and the families that they'll establish are the things that will prepare the way for, and make possible, the Lord's triumphal return.  These young people are essential to His plan.

The fifth thing that I've learned is that all eternity is focused on these young people.  Their ancestors know them, know their position and condition, and are praying for them.  It's a sobering thought to think that one's grandparents of every generation are praying for you.  Joseph Smith said that “they are not far from us, and know and understand our thoughts, feelings, and motions, and are often pained therewith.”  (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 326).

Not only are our ancestors praying for us, but the future posterity of these young people are praying for them, too.  We're told that before we left our pre-earth state we made covenants with those who would be our ancestors.  That also means that generations yet unborn covenanted with us in a similar fashion.  The future children of these young people are praying for their future parents to be strong, to stay pure, to find their proper mates, and to be sure to give them the chance to come to earth in the family they're supposed to come to.

I repeat my observation that we are essential in the Savior's plan.  We're each essential in the plan for thousands and thousands of people.  What we do matters.  What we do will have an effect upon each of their lives.

A sixth thing that I've learned is that the Lord honors the promises made by His authorized servants.  I, therefore, tell the recipients of my patriarchal blessings that every promise given in their blessings will come to pass, if they faithfully live for them.

I served as a temple ordinance worker for 10 years.  I was aghast at the blessings I was authorized to put upon the heads of the men who came through the initiatory portion of the endowment ceremony.  Ordinary me was setting these men up to become kings, and more.  My wife was on the women's side of the initiatory doing the same thing.  There was no doubt but what every one of those dozens of promises would come to pass if the recipient made himself or herself worthy of them.  The Lord gives this promise:  “Whomsoever you bless I will bless.”  (D&C 132:47).

I was once asked to give a priesthood blessing (not a patriarchal blessing) to a comatose woman in the hospital.  It was a failure.  I'd never had a failure before.  I stuttered and stammered through the blessing, desperately looking for anything sensible to say.  It was terrible.  I felt terrible.  It was nonsensical.  The woman's daughter, who was sitting nearby, said afterward, “So what did that mean?”

I shrugged and fled.  As I drove away from the hospital I was in agony.  Why had I failed?  What had I done wrong?  Wasn't I worthy?

I can show you the exact spot, less than a mile from the hospital, where a voice came into my mind which said simply, “I have no blessing for that woman.”

Suddenly I understood.  The problem wasn't me at all.  Neither was I the one that was supposedly giving the blessing.  It is the Lord, through the Holy Ghost, that gives the blessings.  We're just His authorized servants.

I knew the comatose woman.  She was apostate, negative, had nothing good to say about the Church or its leaders, and had taken her sons out of the Church.

I am grateful for that experience because it taught me Who it is that gives the blessings, and that He honors every promise uttered by His authorized servants.

The seventh thing that I've learned is that a patriarchal blessing can be considered personal scripture.  “A patriarchal blessing might be described as pages from the book of possibilities” to the one receiving it.  (Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, The Patriarch, 8 January 2005, Boyd K. Packer).  President Gordon B. Hinckley called patriarchal blessings “a charter document for (the recipients) to be referred to throughout their lives.”  (Ibid, Gordon B. Hinckley).

The eighth thing that I've learned is that one's posterity will be vast.  One purpose of a patriarchal blessing is to pronounce the person's lineage in the House of Israel.  As a member of Israel's family, all the blessings of Abraham apply to that person.  That means that that person's posterity will be in number as the sands upon the seashore or the stars in the sky.

Again we might ask, “Does what I do matter?”  Again I might point out that each of us is essential to the Lord's plan for millions and billions of people.

As Rebekah left her home and family to go off to marry Abraham's son, a man she'd never met, her father and brother gave her her patriarchal blessing.  She was blessed that she'd become the mother of “thousands of millions.”  (Genesis 24:60).  One thousand million is one billion.  'Thousands of millions” means at least two billion.

Rebekah married Isaac, and endured 20 childless years until she finally bore twin boys.  That's all she had.  I calculated when Rebekah lived.  If each generation amounts to 30 years, and if each couple in Rebekah's descendancy had five children, and if each of those children had five children, I added up over two billion people that today can call Rebekah their ancestor.  Rebekah's patriarchal blessing stands fulfilled.  She is the mother of thousands of millions.

Doctrine and Covenants says that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and their wives—are now exalted and sit upon thrones.  They are kings and queens ruling over their vast posterity.  They are gods.  They are creating other worlds where they are sending their own spirit children to experience mortality.

Each of us is destined to become a king or a queen—if we live for the blessing—and to rule over our posterity.  Our posterity is the only thing we can rule over.  If we are to rule over anything, it will be our posterity.

There is a lie, perpetrated by Satan, that has taken the world by storm.  It is that children are undesirable, that a life without responsibility is the most desirable state, that families should be limited, and that abortion is an acceptable way to remain childless and without burdensome responsibilities.

I have a wild Canada goose setting on five eggs in a nest box on a post that I've provided for her by our pond.  I can look out my kitchen window and watch her.  She and her parents have occupied that nest for several decades.  For 30-35 days she patiently sits there incubating her precious eggs.  Once a day she carefully covers her eggs with nesting material and leaves the nest to get a drink and a quick bite to eat.  She's only off the nest for 15 minutes.  The nesting material is 50% hay that I've put there, and 50% down that she's plucked from her own body.  Nothing is too good for her babies.  No sacrifice is too great.

Her mate patiently waits on the pond.  He watches for danger.  He chases off any intruder, including other geese.  When a crow flies over he sounds off and immediately takes to the air to make sure that marauder doesn't disturb their eggs.

When the babies hatch, their mother leaves the nest and stands below, where both the father and the mother look up at the nest and encourage their babies to jump.  One by one they jump.  They're upside down.  Their little feet point up into the air, and they land on their backs.  They jump up and run to Mom and Dad.  Mom and Dad can count.  When the last baby has jumped, they swim off in a tight, little knot.  Mom leads the way, and Dad follows protectively.  It's extremely cute, and extremely inspiring to watch this couple being parents.

Watching them, it occurred to me that every one of God's creations is focused this spring on keeping the first commandment given to every living thing.  Every bird, human, animal, tree, flower, fish, insect, and every other living thing was told to multiply and replenish the earth and to have joy in their posterity.

That is where joy is located.  Posterity, and keeping the Lord's commandments, is where joy is to be found.

Every living thing is focused upon keeping that commandment—except some people.  Some people have been led to believe the lie that sex outside of marriage is OK.  That childlessness is OK.  That killing one's babies is OK.

Does any other species in all of God's creations kill their own babies?

Which leads me to the ninth thing I've learned as a patriarch.  I've found myself saying words like this:  “The most important purpose for which you have been sent to earth is to become a mother in Zion.”  This is where fulfillment and joy will be found.

It is a joy to be a servant of God in any capacity.

It is a joy to be a disciple of Christ.

It is a joy to hold the Priesthood.

It is a joy to have a loving spouse.

It is a joy to be a parent.

It is a joy to be alive, and to know that these joys can go on forever and ever.

It is a joy to be able to give patriarchal blessings.  These blessings are eternal.  They are not just for this life.  These blessings should become lifetime guides to help you make decisions, and to keep you focused on your future blessings and how to get there.

I love my Savior.  The older I get, the more I realize what He's done for me.  It is mind-boggling.  It is unfathomable.  His Atonement is the most important thing that's ever happened.  I am a recipient.  All I have to do is be good and keep His commandments.  I love Him with all my heart.