After my brother Alan’s funeral services (which I know many of you were able to watch over the internet), so many things were said about my amazing brother. And wasn’t it an amazing tribute that his sons gave him? ♥️ I know my brother was very happy watching from the other side of the veil.
A few days later, I spent some time with my son Matthew. He’s retiring from teaching at the seminary. Matthew is finishing up school to get his master's degree!!🎓 I’m so proud of him! But he is also concluding his teaching after four years, which is bittersweet for him. He has loved helping these incredible teenagers understand and love their Savior, Jesus Christ.
I have been blessed to be a part of my son's teaching in a very small way over the years. From time to time, Matthew has invited me to visit with his students and tell stories about my life. From these pictures, you can tell what amazing kids they are! That’s me soaking up their spirit and loving their light and all their questions.😁
Interestingly, there is always a theme among the young women and men I talk to. This time, their questions from each of the different classes seem to follow a pattern: “How do I know and feel the spirit?”
I believe everyone, at different times in their life, wants to know whether they are getting an answer to a prayer or just heartburn from too much pizza the night before.🤣 The truth is, we all feel it differently! But we all can feel it. We want to know that God loves us, hears our prayers, and is directly involved in the details of our lives.
I told them that most of the amazing stories in my life always seem to lead back to the lessons I learned from the Parable of the 10 Virgins (Matthew 13:1-13). It's about the oil in their lamps. The oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit lighting our path in this life, and that we need to fill our lamps daily (drop by drop) through prayer, study, and obedience to God's laws to feel it. It’s about our:
Spiritual preparedness
Individual faith
Conversion, and
Testimony
I told them the Holy Ghost is like a muscle: the more you listen and act on the promptings, the stronger it becomes, and you will recognize it! That sweet voice/feeling has protected and guided me throughout my life.♥️
I told them that recently, I was prompted to step away from the world of entertainment, not knowing why. I have learned over the years that the Savior is in the details of my life! I know He can be in the details of your lives, too. He doesn’t care what we do for a career. He doesn’t care about our status. He doesn’t love one of us more than another … how could a loving parent even do that? He just cares about how we treat each other at home and at work, and that we listen to His promptings so He can guide us through life's obstacles. I’m so grateful that, as a young girl (at these kids’ age), I learned the necessity of adding daily drops of oil to my lamp so I could learn how the Holy Ghost speaks to me. And I’m SO grateful that I listened to His prompting recently to step away for a bit! I thought I knew why, but it was so much more! He asked me to have faith to be on a different kind of stage. It’s quite the story, but that’s for another time.❤️
On Temple Square, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently placed a beautiful statue of the 10 virgins. There’s great symbolism here.
The parable of the 10 Virgins is about spiritual survival in the last days. All 10 virgins heard the same teachings. But the five wise ones were not wiser because they understood more; it was because they “acted” upon their impressions from the Holy Ghost rather than be “acted upon.”
The 5 wise virgins received truth with humility and obedience. They were wise because they listened to the Holy Ghost and were not distracted or deceived by the world's confusion.
Hearing the Spirit requires humility and obedience. It requires the humility to be taught and corrected. It requires the ability to trust and obey God's revelation over personal desires, cultural assumptions, private habits, intellectual vanity, and all prideful ways. In scripture, foolishness is often tied to pride. Though the foolish people in this parable do not deny the truth or information, or even necessarily act wickedly, their efforts end in procrastination, as they make excuses instead of acting or following through with what they know they should do.
The Savior taught the same principle in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew chapter 7:24-27.
“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”
As you read this story in the Bible, notice from these verses that both men heard the sayings of Jesus. Once again, the wisemen were not wise because they heard more words; they were wise because they “acted” and built on the rock (Jesus Christ), which requires humility and obedience to the word or gospel. It requires submitting to the pattern the Lord set for us to follow before the storm arrives, which is a theme very similar to the 10 Virgins. Spiritual oil cannot be borrowed. It requires our daily effort, drop by drop, to keep our lamps filled. This helps our houses, built on a sturdy foundation, survive life’s storms. Not on sand to crumble and fall.
We can’t rely on others' testimonies or their opinions to know the truth. We need to know for ourselves what God desires for us! These kids' testimonies are strong! And as the Spirit conveyed to my heart to encourage them to dig deeper every day to know their Savior and feel the Spirit guide them, I know they will survive the world's confusion.
As we ask ourselves whether our relationship with Christ is real enough that, before He comes and while there’s still time, have we all gathered enough oil for our lamps so we can go through the doors and humbly enter into the wedding feast when He comes again!
We’ve been given the instructions, and as we stay on His lighted path homeward, to study His words and the words of the prophets and keep them, we can repair our lives and our homes, making them holy places where we forgive and become peacemakers. And as we strive to do this, we will become more holy, guided, and have the faith to let Jesus be our rock!
I believe our Savior is preparing all of us now, in profound ways, for what is coming so that we can be filled with His light.
Well, there you have it, that’s basically what we talked about.☺️ I would love to hear from you! To hear how you have felt the Spirit in your life recently. I enjoy reading your messages back to me. I miss connecting with all of you on stage, but I can still connect with you this way. I have known many of you for six and a half decades. Life is short, so today, I just wanted all of you who have been so kind to me through the years to know that I love you all very much!!! I hope you all have a wonderful Sabbath day.♥️😘
By the way, I’m studying the Old Testament this year, and I am just concluding the book of Daniel. It’s so good! If you get a chance, just read the Book of Daniel.