What keeps us from always feeling the Spirit?
Photo by Brian Patrick Tagalog
Recently, I was reading emails and letters that I wrote while I was a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I remembered how I felt as I wrote them—and how I felt all the time when I dedicated all day, every day to serving God. And as I relived that part of my life through the words I’d written, I realized how much I missed feeling confident and supported, like I wasn’t doing anything on my own. Reminiscing about times when I felt so fully guided and influenced by the Spirit made me consider how rarely I feel like that now in my day-to-day life.
It’s true that I’ll probably never feel quite the same as I did as a missionary, when I didn’t face the distractions of school, work, dating, and so forth. But reading “Hitting the Mark,” by Elder F. Enzio Busche, woke me up to the truth: the Spirit I had felt so in tune with on my mission was still with me and could still be my constant companion and greatest influence. For that to happen, I needed to constantly and consciously be striving to be worthy of the Holy Ghost’s companionship—especially by repenting and forgiving.
Elder Busche explains, “There are only two elements that separate us from the Holy Spirit: first, our lack of desire to repent, and second, our lack of desire to forgive.” But how do we overcome these separations? Elder Busche shared a list of ideas that will help us want to repent and forgive, which in turn will help us stay close to the Spirit. Here are a few of his ideas:
- Avoid critical thoughts. It’s okay to have questions, but never allow doubts to take over.
- Avoid hasty and uncontrolled words. “Divine light develops in places of peace and quiet.”
- The pain of sacrifice lasts only one moment. It’s the fear of the pain of sacrifice that makes us hesitate to sacrifice.
My new goal is to review this list every morning and remember that the Spirit is with me—if I make sure to repent and forgive.
Check out the article “Hitting the Mark,” by Elder F. Enzio Busche, for more insights on how to constantly have the companionship of the Holy Ghost. For an expanded list of ways to stay close to the Spirit, read Elder F. Enzio Busche’s address titled “Unleashing the Dormant Spirit.”
Source: New Era
—Anna Rose Smith, Mormon Insights
Find more insights
Listen to Elder David A. Bednar’s talk “Receive the Holy Ghost.”
Read a related Mormon Insights article, “Seeking the Holy Ghost,” by Christy Eck.
Check out President Henry B. Eyring’s devotional “Raise the Bar” to discover how to have the Spirit’s constant companionship.