Spiritual Development

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday afternoon session of the October 2001 conference.

What a wonderful session with some really great talks. How to choose? Well, I can't narrow it down to just one, so I'll just recap some principles that spoke to my heart.

First, a funny. Elder David B. Haight said, "A few years ago, when Arturo Toscanini was musical director . . . " I looked it up, it was 65 years ago, at that time in 2001. I guess when you're as old as Elder Haight it probably seems like just yesterday.

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin spoke of persevering in our journey through life. ". . . if we will consider the blessings we have, we will forget some of our worries." Wise counsel for any time. He told of a blind man scaling the heights of Mount Everest by taking ". . . each day step by step," and likened it to our climbing higher spiritually.

Our Heavenly Father loves each one of us and understands that this process of climbing higher takes preparation, time and commitment. He understands that we will make mistakes at times, that we will stumble, that we will become discouraged and perhaps even wish to give up and say to ourselves it is not worth the struggle. . . . We don't have to be fast; we simply have to be steady and move in the right direction. . . . We don't have to be perfect today. We don't have to be better than someone else. All we have to do is to be the very best we can. . . . it is my testimony to you that you will be happy and content if you only do your best.

 

Elder L. Whitney Clayton spoke of developing faith.

Each day we decide what we will do and what we will not do, among myriad alternatives. When we choose to obey the commandments cheerfully as our first priority, neither murmuring about nor measuring the things He commands, we become the handmaids of the Lord and fishers of men and cast our nets on the right side of our own ships. We simply go and do the things the Lord has commanded, even when we are weary, trusting that He will help us to do exactly as He asks. . . . These must do things include making room first for the minimum daily requirements of faithful behavior: true obedience, humble prayer, serious scripture study, and selfless service to others. No other daily vitamins strengthen the muscles of our faith as fast as these actions We must remember that genuine fasting fosters strong faith. This is especially important as we faithfully seek to fix deeply embedded character flaws which go "not out but by prayer and fasting."

Elder Walter F. Gonzales added to this theme saying that ". . . maintaining the gospel in our hearts is an ongoing task which requires time. Knowledge alone is not enough. We must take time to apply the principles in our lives. . . . Sometimes we recognize that a principle is true, but we don't change our priorities to make time to live the principle. . . . Making time in our lives to learn, to ponder, and especially to practice gospel principles will bring us the joy and peace which come from the Spirit."

These principles are important to me because I'm still a work in progress. I still need to improve; I still want to climb higher! With the Savior's help I can, and that gives me hope and motivation to keep putting one foot in front of the other, however slowly, to make progress on my mortal journey to the promised land.