Have you ever walked out of an especially spiritual experience wishing you could hold on to that feeling forever?
My Sunday-self and my Thursday-self are sometimes very different people. I cannot count how many times I’ve walked out of a church meeting on Sunday with a fire in my bones and a resolve to give my all to the Lord, only to find that by Thursday, the coals are cold. I get caught up in the distractions of day-to-day life and find myself yearning for Sunday and the chance to anchor myself again. So what is the secret? How can we keep that conviction even after stepping out of those spiritual havens?
Photo by Steve Johnson
In his general conference talk “Lasting Discipleship,” President Steven J. Lund describes a similar experience young people shared after attending a For the Strength of Youth Conference: “At the end of their week, I liked to ask them, ‘So, how’s it been?’ They sometimes said something like this: ‘Well, on Monday I was so annoyed with my mother because she made me come and do this.… But now it’s Friday, and I just want to stay here. I just want to feel the Spirit in my life. I want to live like this.’” This yearning for God is a shared human experience, and according to President Lund, we can have Him with us always through the gift of the Spirit.
The truth is that many of us are already on the right track; the key is consistency. President Lund explains that as we commit to righteous routines and holy habits, we can keep the flame of the Spirit with us always. Like a beautiful work of art, our life is built by tiny brushstrokes—small decisions that over time lead us to a Spirit-filled life. Not every stroke will be perfect. Sometimes we will falter. But God gives us credit for trying, and he will always be there with arms open wide to celebrate each step we take toward him.
Read Steven J. Lund’s full talk “Lasting Discipleship” for more insight on sustaining and fueling the fires of our faith.
—Rebecca Watkins, Latter-day Saint Insights
Source: General Conference
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Find more insights
Learn how to rely on past spiritual experiences by watching a related BYU devotional titled “Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence” by Elder Holland.
Read more about returning to daily life after strong spiritual experiences in Lydia Mercado’s article “Mindfully Retaining Our Discipleship” on the Latter-Day Saint Insights website.
Thank you for this insight and sharing this talk! It’s very uplifting.