A Whisper is All We Need

After the amazing power and spiritual strength of last week, this week has felt hurried, harried, stressed, overwhelming and discouraging. I blinked and it was already Wednesday and even though I knew I wanted to be in the temple I spent my entire time there feeling like I was short-changing the Lord because I could only do two names and was late getting there. Then I spent most of my time during the week feeling frustrated by the distractions and work, then I felt bad for feeling frustrated. Needless to say, I needed the reminder from Elder Holland's talk a few conferences ago. I picked out those things that rang the most true for me, and I'll leave the link to the rest of the talk down below.

"My apologies to all the children who are now hiding under the sofa, but the fact of the matter is none of us want tomorrow, or the day after that, to destroy the wonderful feelings we have had this weekend. We want to hold fast to the spiritual impressions we have had and the inspired teachings we have heard. But it is inevitable that after heavenly moments in our lives, we, of necessity, return to earth, so to speak, where sometimes less-than-ideal circumstances again face us.

The author of Hebrews warned us of this when he wrote, “Call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions.”1 That post-illumination affliction can come in many ways, and it can come to all of us. Surely every missionary who has ever served soon realized that life in the field wasn’t going to be quite like the rarefied atmosphere of the missionary training center. So too for all of us upon leaving a sweet session in the temple or concluding a particularly spiritual sacrament meeting.

Remember that when Moses came down from his singular experience on Mount Sinai, he found that his people had “corrupted themselves” and had “turned aside quickly.”2 There they were at the foot of the mountain, busily fashioning a golden calf to worship, in the very hour that Jehovah, at the summit of the mountain, had been telling Moses, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” and “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.”3Moses was not happy with his flock of wandering Israelites that day!

During His earthly ministry, Jesus took Peter, James, and John to the Mount of Transfiguration, where, the scriptures say, “his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.”4 The heavens opened, ancient prophets came, and God the Father spoke.

After such a celestial experience, what does Jesus come down the mountain to find? Well, first He found an argument between His disciples and their antagonists over a failed blessing administered to a young boy. Then He tried to convince the Twelve—unsuccessfully, it turns out—that He would soon be delivered up to local rulers who would kill Him. Then someone mentioned that a tax was due, which was forthrightly paid. Then He had to rebuke some of the brethren because they were arguing about who would be the greatest in His kingdom. All of this led Him at one point to say, “O faithless generation, … how long shall I suffer you?”5 He had occasion to ask that question more than once during His ministry. No wonder He longed for the prayerful solitude of mountaintops!

Realizing that we all have to come down from peak experiences to deal with the regular vicissitudes of life, may I offer this encouragement as general conference concludes.

My brothers and sisters, the first great commandment of all eternity is to love God with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength—that’s the first great commandment. But the first great truth of all eternity is that God loves us with all of His heart, might, mind, and strength. That love is the foundation stone of eternity, and it should be the foundation stone of our daily life. Indeed it is only with that reassurance burning in our soul that we can have the confidence to keep trying to improve, keep seeking forgiveness for our sins, and keep extending that grace to our neighbor." (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/tomorrow-the-lord-will-do-wonders-among-you?lang=eng)

And I would like to add, if at times as you keep working and keep trying and you begin feeling the stirrings of the Spirit once more in your life (after the incredible spiritual feeling and then the "fight of afflictions"). Don't spend your time in mourning that the spiritual high is gone and you haven't returned to it, instead find joy in that spirit and keep asking, seeking and knocking. It doesn't matter whether the spirit comes as a hint or a tidal wave, it is simply a matter of what we do with it once we have it and maybe we need to discover what we will do even when the spirit is a whisper and perhaps in some circumstances a whisper is all we need. After all the hurry, bustle and stress of the last week, how sweet it was to sit in temple prep and have the sweet, quiet impressions of the Spirit enlighten my mind and illuminate to me scriptures in a way I had never thought of them before. It wasn't the excitement and thrill from two weeks ago, but it was a sweet spirit full of healing and hope.