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TheDiscipleMD

On occasion I copy my messages to an old missionary companion, Lloyd Newell. Such was the case a few years ago when I shared with him my message of the day. He warmly responded back and sent me a rough copy of an article that was going to be published, entitled “Inviting an Inward Stillness: Making Room for Moral Sensitivity”. His thoughts tied in very nicely with the message of that day regarding making room for the influence of the spirit on our lives. I quote some of his remarks:

” My wife remembers earlier years when she had just given birth to our third child. We had two other small children, and her every moment was filled with the details and demands of busy motherhood. At times she felt completely exhausted, worn out, overwhelmed. One cold but blessed December day, she got all three children down for a nap at the same time. She wanted to sleep, to rest her tired body. But even more she wanted silence, peace, tranquility. She needed to rest her mind, her heart. She wanted—needed—some inward stillness. Instead of taking a much-deserved nap, she decided to sit quietly. She read the scriptures, an article in the Ensign; she pondered and prayed for a moment; she sat down and gratefully considered her blessings and her precious children. She meditated. When the kids awoke, she felt renewed and strengthened to continue on with her sacred stewardship. She said,’A good nap goes a long way, but a little quiet time goes even further!'”

The above story reminded me of an experience that I had while on a church assignment. On this occasion my wife was available and desired to go with me. I told her that I would be a couple of hours in the building. She said that would be fine as she brought her scriptures and would read them during that time. I left her in the car, did my duties and returned to find her engrossed in reading. As we drove away she said to me that she had a wonderful spiritual experience reading the scriptures in the privacy of the car. In fact, as I recall, she told me that she had gotten more spiritually out of that two hours than if she had attended her church meetings.

Now of course, we need to, and have been commanded to go to our church meetings, but this experience illustrates how spiritually “starved” we can become when our lives are so full that we don’t take the needed time to meditate on the richness of the eternities. Often as members of the church our lives are “filled” with good things. But repeating the message of Dallin Oaks a few years back, there are things “good, better, and best” and there is no question in my mind that taking time to ponder and meditate is something we should consider ‘best.’

All of us need to make room for moral sensitivity.