After offering a sweet and heartfelt tribute to his late wife, President Gordon B. Hinckley asked Latter-day Saint men to respect their wives — giving encouragement, strength, nurture and love.
"How thankful I am, how thankful we all must be, for the women in our lives," he said.
Speaking in the final moments of the Sunday morning session, President Hinckley recalled sitting with his wife, Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley, when she died April 6, 2004.
"Before I married her, she had been the girl of my dreams, to use the words of a song then popular," he said. "She was my dear companion for more than two-thirds of a century, my equal before the Lord, really my superior. And now in my old age she has again become the girl of my dreams."
President Hinckley expressed gratitude for the tremendous outpouring of love that came from across the world after his wife's death. "We regret that we have been unable to respond individually to these many expressions. And so I now take this occasion to thank you every one for your great kindness. Thank you so very, very much, and please excuse our failure to reply. The task was beyond our capacity, but your expressions have shed an aura of comfort in our time of grief."
Speaking of the long life he shared with his wife, President Hinckley said he cannot remember a serious quarrel.
"I recognize that many of you are similarly blessed, and I compliment you most warmly, for when all is said and done there is no association richer than the companionship of husband and wife, and nothing more portentous for good or evil than the unending consequences of marriage.
"I see those consequences constantly. I see both beauty and tragedy. And so I have chosen to say a few words today on the women in our lives."
Recounting the creation, President Hinckley said Eve became God's final creation, "the grand summation of all of the marvelous work that had gone before."
"Notwithstanding the pre-eminence given the creation of woman, she has so frequently through the ages been relegated to a secondary position. She has been put down. She has been denigrated. She has been enslaved. She has been abused. And yet some few of the greatest characters of scripture have been women of integrity, accomplishment and faith."
Crossing Jesus' life, he said, were Mary and Martha and Mary of Magdala. "She it was who came to the tomb that first Easter morning. And to her, a woman, He first appeared as the resurrected Lord.
"Why is it that even though Jesus placed woman in a position of pre-eminence, so many men, who profess His name, fail to do so?" asked President Hinckley.
He said when God first created man, He created a duality of the sexes. The ennobling expression of that duality is found in marriage.
"There is no other arrangement that meets the divine purposes of the Almighty. Man and woman are His creations. Their duality is His design. Their complementary relationship and functions are fundamental to His purposes. One is incomplete without the other."
There are some men, who in the spirit of arrogance, think they are superior to women, said President Hinckley.
"They do not seem to realize that they would not exist but for the mother who gave them birth. When they assert their superiority they demean her."
Church members are not immune from the degradation of women, said President Hinckley, noting that divorce is one of its results.
"The word 'man' is used in the generic sense, but the fact is that it is predominantly men who bring about the conditions that lead to divorce."
President Hinckley said after dealing with hundreds of divorce situations through the years, he is satisfied that the application of a simple practice could solve this grievous problem.
"If every husband and every wife would constantly do whatever might be possible to ensure the comfort and happiness of his or her companion there would be very little, if any, divorce. Argument would never be heard. Accusations would never be leveled. Angry explosions would not occur. Rather, love and concern would replace abuse and meanness."
Every woman, he said, is a daughter of God. "You cannot offend her without offending Him. I plead with the men of this Church to look for and nurture the divinity that lies within their companions. To the degree that happens there will be harmony, peace, enrichment of family life, nurturing love."
The cure for most marital troubles does not lie in divorce, President Hinckley added. "It lies in repentance and forgiveness, in expressions of kindness and concern. It is to be found in application of the Golden Rule."
President Hinckley asked Latter-day Saints to look for and recognize the divine nature in one another. "We can live together in the God-given pattern of marriage in accomplishing that of which we are capable, if we will exercise discipline of self and refrain from trying to discipline our companion."
He said women are endowed with particular qualities, divine qualities, which cause them to reach out in kindness and with love to those about them. "We can encourage that outreach if we will give them opportunity to give expression to the talents and impulses that lie within them. In our old age my beloved companion said to me quietly one evening, 'You have always given me wings to fly and I have loved you for it.' "
President Hinckley also said his father never hesitated to compliment his mother. "We children knew that he loved her because of the way he treated her. He deferred to her. And I shall ever be profoundly grateful for his example. Many of you have been blessed likewise."
Women, he said, are such a necessary part of the "plan of happiness" which God outlines for His children.
"Brethren, there is too much unhappiness in the world. There is too much of misery and heartbreak and heartache. There are too many tears shed by grieving wives and daughters. There is too much negligence and abuse and unkindness."
Concluding, he said, "God bless (the women in our lives). May His great love distill upon them and crown them with luster and beauty, grace and faith. And may His Spirit distill upon us, as men, and lead us ever to hold them in respect, in gratitude, giving encouragement, strength, nurture, and love, which is the very essence of the gospel of our Redeemer and Lord."
