Recognizing the Spirit
During our first Sunday meeting last week, a young man with depression stood at the pulpit and posed this poignant question: How do you learn to trust and recognize the spirit when you cannot trust your own feelings or often do not feel anything at all? I put it to you.
He made reference to Elder Boyd K. Packer's talk "The Witness" and added an additional question. How do we hear the the still small voice of the spirit over the competing voices of the world? Especially when those often negative, depressed, or anxiety ridden voices seem to originate in our own mind or create a deafening silence?
I do not have specific answers to share to these questions at the moment. But it caused me to think--it is hard enough trying to identify and follow the voice of the spirit as it is--how would I help someone or myself in times of anxiety, grief, or depression when the ability to feel is distorted or dulled. Thoughts?
Following promptings
In the new testament, there were men and women (disciples) who walked with and followed the Savior. After teaching the people about his divine mission as the Son of God, the bread of life, we read:
"Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? . . .[and] from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." --John 6:60, 65.
Whenever I read this story I am somewhat surprised. It is easy to think, if I saw the miracles myself or could just see Jesus in person, I would NEVER doubt. And yet, they stood in the company of the living Christ and still chose to go their own way. Why would this happen? Why do we sometimes struggle to follow Him, to keep his commandments or to follow the promptings of the spirit?
I think the answer is in verse 60 above..."This is an hard saying." Or in other words, what you are asking us to accept and do is hard. It is counter to everything the world is telling me. It does not mesh well with my plans for my self. It is hard. What else could this mean? Here's a few things I thought hard could mean for us:
- Uncomfortable or scary
- Inconvenient
- Hard to Understand, Incomprehensible with our current knowledge
- Contrary to our current path or to what is popular
- Difficult to accomplish due to lack of time or ability
A few people in the scriptures realized this and learned to follow promptings with faith. Alma, after being rejected by the people of Ammonihah (where he had been called to preach the gospel) moved on to another city, hoping to find a more welcoming brood. As he left, the lord called him back. He did not murmur or complain (at least that we have record of). He did not question the Lord or remind the Lord "I was just in Ammonihah and they were not interested." The scriptures tell us he "returned speedily." What happened? The Lord prepared Amulek, a local citizen, to welcome, care for, and join Alma. Together they taught and converted a small group of humble people and were met with success in their labors. Nephi, like Alma, went where the Lord commanded "not knowing beforehand what he should do." He also had the way prepared before him.
The Lord teaches that if we follow him, he will "Go before us" and his "angels will be round about you." Those are precious promises for doing seemingly "hard" things.
The apostles thought about these precious promises, I am sure, when they asked the Lord "What is man that you are mindful of him?" Romans 8:16 gives us the answer: "The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits, that ye are the children of God." We are his children and he loves us.
Just say YES
On another note, we were talking in Sunday School about yielding to the Lord. I think we have been taught in our day to feel yucky when we hear the word yield, especially in the context of religion. We pay taxes without a thought, do not engage civically, go through years of education in a broken system and yet we cannot quite accept the idea of yielding to a Divine, perfect being.
We can define the word yield in a few ways:
1. To give way to, surrender, or submit
2. To produce or provide; bear or bring forth
In terms of these definitions, we too often look at yielding only in relation to definition one and only in a negative context. To yield, we think, means to follow blindly or give up our will and wants without thought.
I think an analogy can help us change the way we think about yielding to the Lord. In Utah there are many intersections without traffic lights or stop signs; however, in those settings, one direction of traffic always has signs posted recommending that we yield to the traffic that travels perpendicular to our path. What do you do when you approach these intersections and why? Typically a few things happen for me: (1) I look for and see the signs, (2) I slow down, (3) I look both directions for oncoming traffic, and (4) I yield to drivers who have the right of way. Why do I do this? I do this in order to keep myself and my family safe. I could say, screw that, plow through without a glance and end up in an emergency room or mourning over the tragic loss of a loved one...but I would rather yield!
When we yield to the Lord we are seeing the warning signs he lovingly places in our lives, we are deliberately and wisely slowing things down (to get out of the harried pace of the world and ponder), we are looking out for those who have the right of way (or the right way), and we are choosing to yield to or give way to those with that right. When we give way to the Lord we will be safe. If we choose to follow his path, we will always have the right of way (the right way). When you come to a cross roads in your life, see the signs, slow down, look, and yield to the Lord. Once you get on the path, keep yielding...bear one anothers burdens, bring forth good fruit (service, further education, family development), and lead the way for others to yield and get on the path.
Additionally, in our Sunday school class we talked about how we yield. One of the things that came up was the idea of preparing now for future decisions and being able to "Just say NO." I have worked with adolescents in mental health for the last 5 years. When you just say NO to a child you are teaching them to say NO and usually putting a bad taste in their mouth. I think we should move away from the just say NO model (although their a lot of decision scenarios where this is the appropriate response) and "Just say YES." Say yes when you receive a prompting to help your neighbor. Say yes when your relief society president calls you with an assignment. Say yes when a friend asks you to tell him more about the gospel. We live in a world where it is no longer enough to just say NO. So say YES.
Change your disposition
When we yield to the enticings of the holy spirit and just say yes, a wonderful thing happens; our disposition begins to change. Our disposition reflects our natural inclination and desires. By definition, it is our "usual attitude or mood" or our "our tendency to act or think in a particular way." It does not necessarily reflect our always/absolute behaviors, but it does reflect our "most of the time" behavior. If our disposition is to do good, we will choose to do good most of the time.
When the people of King Benjamin accepted and entered into covenants with Christ, a "mighty change" was wrought in their hearts that they "no longer had a disposition to do evil" and sin became "abhorrent." In other words, when we are obedient, repent, and turn to God it gets easier. Our natural inclination or disposition changes such that our desire and tendency is to do good. My hope is that we will learn to recognize the spirit, do hard things, and let the Lord change us for the better. In my mind, when we yield to the Lord and turn to the Lord we are also turning into the best version of ourselves. Turn away from the world and towards Him and your authentic, best self.
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