Hearken

For a Sunday, today was a slightly eventful day. I woke up with the worst migraine I've probably ever had, Emily was released from her calling in Young Women today and welcomed to Relief Society even though she's going to continue attending Young Women until she graduates, we went to the Wake's home for dinner and had a great time strengthening our friendship with them, and we've got a family of seven that we just met today staying in our house tonight. But it's late and I'm tired and I didn't take a picture to go along with any of the things that happened. 

Instead, I'm going to share the talk I delivered in church last month. A couple of the speakers in Sacrament Meeting today mentioned things that were similar to what I'd talked about so it was on my mind.  I pulled it up when we got home (yes, I save my talks) and read it. It was good for me to go over it and have the things I learned while preparing it brought to mind again. I thought I'd share it here so I can keep my streak of writing going but get the sleep I desperately need. I'd love to hear about hearkening to the voice of the spirit!

Imagine you and your family are enjoying a picnic on a warm summer’s day—not a cloud in the sky. The weather forecast said the thunderstorms would pass to the south. A gentle rumble from over the mountains catches your ear, but you’re all having too much fun to let it disrupt your day. The rumble persists, enough to cause doubt to wrestle with your desire to stay. Still, you see nothing alarming in the sky. When a large crack jolts through your bones, there is no question what to do anymore—pack up the car and leave.

Imagine you’re driving home from the grocery store and the face of your neighbor pops into your mind’s eye. You haven’t thought of her in weeks, but there she is. You turn up the radio and forget about it, but the image comes back as a persistent thought. Then you find yourself turning down her street. You park your car in front of her house, still wondering why you’re there. The kids will be late for piano lessons, but something tells you this is more important. You ring her doorbell and the second you see her, it becomes clear to you why you are there. She’s been lonely and had been praying for someone to talk to. A few minutes chatting with her make a world of difference for both of you.

Could either of these scenarios have happened to you? Have you felt impressions of warning before? Have you ever had feelings that led you to act in ways you hadn’t considered before? Is it a coincidence that certain feelings precede the moment of action? Of course not. Impressions are something more. 

I speak to you today about the necessity of hearkening to the voice of the Spirit. During my research for this talk, I was surprised to learn, after a quick google search, that the word hearken is considered to be archaic - or old-fashioned and no longer in use. In the church, however, it’s still a word we hear and that is used often. I was always taught that to hearken means more than just to listen or to hear; it means to listen and then to obey. 

The voice of the Spirit is available to all of us. In Doctrine and Covenants 84, the Lord said, “The Spirit enlighteneth every man [and every woman] … that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit.” He further said that “every one that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit cometh unto God, even the Father.” How can we hearken to the voice of the Spirit more fully in our lives and come unto God?

One solution is found in Psalms 46 where we read, “Be still and know that I am God.” It is important to be still so we can listen for and then follow the Spirit. There are simply too many distractions out there to capture our attention, more than at any other time in the history of the world.

I believe that each of us needs time to meditate and contemplate. We read in Matthew 14 that even the Savior of the world found time to be still: “And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.” 

We all need our own mountains or places and times where we can be alone to pray, to study, to ponder, and to listen for the voice of the Spirit. 

In the past, I called myself a runner. And while I can’t currently claim to be a runner, the one thing I do miss about running is the opportunity it gave me to just be alone and think. As I was running, thoughts and impressions would come to my mind that were answers to my prayers. Find your mountain, and go there often so you can really tune into the guidance that Heavenly Father is waiting to give you.

We are often so busy and the world is so loud that it is difficult to hear those heavenly words “Be still, and know that I am God.” Handheld devices, such as smartphones, are a blessing, but they can also distract us from hearing the “still, small voice.” Our challenge is to keep our phones or tablets from blocking out the voice of the Spirit. In a 2014 CES Devotional Elder Ballard shared an example of the difference between technology as a servant and technology as a master. He suggested that if on a Sunday evening you share inspiring thoughts or impressions from church on social media, your smartphone is a servant. But if you randomly surf the Internet, your smartphone is a master.

Because the Spirit of the Lord usually communicates with us in ways that are quiet, delicate, and subtle we are told to be still so we can “hear” how he communicates. The Lord is trying to speak to us. We should listen—in ways that are different from the way we’ve been trained to listen.

When Christ walked with the disciples on earth, he knew he would one day need to leave them. He gave them a promise. “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.”  The Holy Ghost is the third member of the Godhead and he is the comforter whom Jesus spoke of. He is behind the impressions and feelings that direct us to do good. His language touches our minds in different ways than verbal language does.

Training to hear the promptings of the Holy Ghost requires practice. And sometimes we miss it—like what happened to me recently. During the first half of this week thoughts of my mother in law kept coming to my mind. I realized, with some shame, that I hadn’t taken the time to call or contact her for a couple of weeks. But every time I had those thoughts of “I wonder how she’s doing” or “I should really call her” I rationalized that I was too busy or the time difference made it inconvenient or some other nonsense. It wasn’t until Wednesday evening when Jared contacted me saying that he’d been unsuccessfully trying to reach his mother for a couple days and asked if I’d heard from her, that I finally woke up and made the connection. This wasn’t just a thought I was having, this was the Spirit giving me a chance to be there for someone else.

It is only natural to miss promptings at times, or even to doubt them. For me, I allowed rationalizations and a sense of “busyness” to get in the way. While I may know in my mind what impressions feel like, I don’t always follow them. Learning to recognize promptings from the Holy Ghost is the first step. They can come as soft impressions to the mind. You may have a thought to do something or to act in a certain way. I’ve always known that if an impression directs me to do something good, then it was from God.

Knowing that an impression comes from God is one thing. Following those promptings is another and can take practice and discipline. I’ve learned there is a great benefit that comes from following them—the ability to hear them more often and more clearly. Taking the Holy Spirit for our guide is possible and is an important part of our spiritual growth. Having the companionship of the Holy Ghost will help us survive in an increasingly wicked world. 

Sometimes we talk and act as though recognizing the influence of the Holy Ghost in our lives is the rare or exceptional event. In our individual study and church instruction, we often emphasize the importance of recognizing the inspiration and promptings we receive from the Spirit of the Lord. We may say things like “I really felt the Spirit in Sacrament Meeting today during Sister Moran’s talk.” And that’s good and it's right because we should be listening for the voice of the Spirit and responding to those promptings as soon as we recognize them. 

However, I believe that in addition to recognizing when we are feeling the influence of the Holy Ghost we should also be more aware of when we have, as King Benjamin taught in Mosiah 2, “withdrawn ourselves from the Spirit of the Lord, that it may have no place in us to guide us in wisdom’s paths that we may be blessed, prospered, and preserved.”

The promise is that we may always have His Spirit to be with us. This blessing applies to every single member of the Church who has been baptized, confirmed, and told to “receive the Holy Ghost.” Because of this, we should pay attention to and learn from the choices and influences that separate us from the Holy Spirit.

If something we think, see, hear, or do distances us from the Holy Ghost, then we should stop thinking, seeing, hearing, or doing that thing. One thing I’ve found I’ve had to be careful in my own life is entertainment. It’s hard to find books, movies, and television shows that do not move me further away from instead of closer to the Spirit. And it can be hard to turn off the television or put down a book when I know that it’s something I shouldn’t be watching or reading. But because the Spirit cannot abide things that are vulgar, crude, or immodest, then things like that are not things I want to have in my life. Doctrine and Covenants 121:45-46 states, “Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly, then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God and The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion.”

Of course, we might not have the presence of the Holy Ghost with us every second of every minute of every hour of every day. However, the Holy Ghost can be with us much of the time and I would say that the Spirit can be with us more than it is not with us. The more we become tuned in to the Spirit of the Lord, the more we will be able to recognize impressions when they come as well as the influences or events that cause us to withdraw ourselves from the Holy Ghost.

Following the Holy Ghost should be like listening for the starter’s pistol before a race. A runner is ready at the starting line, anticipating the sound of the shot. As soon as it goes off—Boom! The runner takes off. There is no doubt, no question, no turning back. If we live our lives anticipating the feelings and impressions to do good things, we then are like the runners in the race, ready to take off the second the pistol goes off. We go forth into action without hesitation. We should try all our lives to take off running when we hear that starter’s pistol of the Holy Ghost so we never miss an opportunity to do what Heavenly Father needs us to do.

There is an added bonus to following this kind of mindset—the strength that comes from the good habit it creates. Think of the runner who is most prepared, both physically and mentally, the one with the greatest experience and talent. That’s the runner who is most likely to win the race. Before he even hears the gun go off, he is in tune with the sound, the feeling that comes with it, and the way his body needs to instantaneously react when it happens. We can step up to the starter’s line of life by being equally prepared to hear the promptings of the Holy Ghost. We can prepare ourselves spiritually by keeping the commandments of God every day so we always have his spirit to be with us. We can prepare mentally by keeping ourselves well informed and well educated. We can prepare physically by taking care of our bodies with proper eating, sleeping, and exercising habits. Having balance in our life puts us at an advantage when we step up to the starter’s line. 

I know that if we listen to his voice and strive to stay close to the spirit we will recognize promptings when they come, trust those promptings, and follow them without question. The more we hearken to the Holy Ghost the easier it will be to rely on him to guide us to do what is right. I have felt the strength and comfort that comes from making the choice to follow him and I testify that we can grow closer in our relationship to our Father in Heaven and become more like Him when we listen to and obey the voice of the spirit.