(Yes, this could easily be a diatribe about the FOMLs complete inability to turn off a light switch, but it isn’t. Since it is the Sabbath, I’ll try to offer something better… how about a little story?)
At the time of this experience, I was serving as a Stake Missionary and Ward Mission Leader. (For those who don’t know, each stake used to have a Stake Mission President and Stake Missionaries to help the full-time missionaries with the work. That program was disbanded, and remanded to the ward level a few years back. The calling of Stake Missionary was greatly feared, and probably the most refused calling in the church – that and nursery.)
Back to the story: It had been a difficult day at work, and I was in a bad mood when I got in my car. I was already late. I had a 30 minute commute ahead of me, and had to get home, change clothes, and meet the Elders for a missionary lesson. Great. I was not in the mood, and the snarled traffic was only making it worse.
As I got nearer to my home, I started realizing that I was not in a good frame of mind to go to a missionary lesson. I wasn’t feeling the Spirit coursing through my being. At all. So I looked at the clock and decided that I had about 20 minutes left to “flip the switch” and get in a better place spiritually, so that I could be of value at the lesson.
As soon as that thought went through my mind, the Spirit sent a much more important concept through my heart. He said:
“If you are having to flip the switch to ‘turn on’ your spirituality, when exactly did you turn it off?”
Ouch.
That is a tough question. Did I lose the Spirit at work? What chased him away? Contention? Weakness? Sin? For some reason the Spirit had chosen to leave me during the course of the day.
Or did I even have the Spirit with me when I began? Did I read my scriptures that morning? Did I pray? Was I prepared to enter “Babylon” that day?
Or did He leave as I was watching TV the night before? Or reading that novel before I went to sleep?
All tough questions.
Part of my responsibility as a priesthood holder, member of the Church, and father is to be ready.
Ready for what? When?
I dunno. Whatever comes. Whenever it comes. Since it is impossible to schedule the need for spirituality and priesthood power, there is really only one solution:
Don’t turn off the switch.
(Originally published November 20, 2011)
Several things have helped me.. For most of my life my spirituality was an up and down thing. When I started to read in the scritures every night, that helped. When I slways avoided tv, movies, music and books that offended the spirit, that helped. When I started to pray often during the day, gratitude prayers and prayers for people I met or heard about in need, that helped. It seems for me, that many things are necessary for my switch to stay open to the Spirit.
Still struggling to turn my switch back on most days. 🙁
If we search the Old Testament, Book of Mormon, and D&C references which come up for “spirit” and “strive” it appears that although there may be behaviors, places, company, etc that will suddenly/totally switch off the influence of the Spirit, it is not always a strictly binary occurrence. Often (if not usually) It seems to be a “dimmer switch” that we bring into play incrementally by plural/sequential bad choices with cumulative adverse effects, each of which may be so subtly gradual that we fail to perceive the regressive trend. I suspect that Satan is the inventor and promoter of the darkening function of these “dimmer switches”. Fortunately for us, The Lord owns the brightening function, we are warned to “watch yourselves” so as to be always aware of which way we are turning the knob, avoiding the consequences of hardening hearts by repenting as necessary, and we have the promise: “… he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.” It seems our hand is always on the knob, so to speak. Always Turn It Up Brighter!
I often felt this way as a missionary. I would be called upon to bear testimony at times when I normally would not have felt “in the Spirit”. But I found that the moment that you begin to do something that invites the Spirit, it comes. As I bore testimony of truth, the Spirit did His job and testified to us all.
Thanks for the humor I also read into this. It is good to laugh.
“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”
Happy Sabbath MMM