03. Rising Above Spiritual Mediocrity

Note: This is one of a series of posts devoted to the study of D&C 93:1, and the third examining the phrase "calleth on my name".

Years ago, I watched kind of a corny movie named The Singles Ward.  In it, one of the secondary characters always carried around a planner.  I wouldn't be surprised if he took it into the shower with him.  To give him credit, though, he did seem impeccably organized.

When it comes to spiritual development, I've always been a big proponent of throwing away the planner.  Planners seem so..."Mosiac".  As Christians, we can and ought to do better.

Instead, you should be asking the Holy Ghost what your top "spiritual development" priority should be.  Sometimes, I'm told a priority I hadn't even considered that would never have made it into my virtual (or even literal) to-do list.

So, I invite you -- today -- to do something simple:

1. Just find a quiet time and place sometime, and say a prayer.  Ask God for one word or phrase -- just one -- that summarizes your top spiritual development priority. 
2. Next, study the story of the Brother of Jared (Ether 2-3) as well as D&C 9:7-9.  Develop a plan to turn that weakness into a strength.  Note: Your plan doesn't need to be perfect, but should reflect the best you can devise.
3. Pray again.  Present your plan to God.  Listen to what He says about it.
4. Finally, write down your impressions.  

"As we seek answers from God, we feel the still, small voice whisper to our spirits. These feelings—these impressions—are so natural and so subtle that we may overlook them or attribute them to reason or intuition. These individualized messages testify of God’s personal love and concern for each of His children and their personal mortal missions. Daily reflecting upon and recording the impressions that come from the Spirit serve the dual purposes of helping us (1) to recognize our personal encounters with the divine and (2) to preserve them for ourselves and our posterity." (Paul B. Pieper, "To Hold Sacred," April 2012 General Conference).

I believe that the process of awaking and arising to a level where you're aligned with your privileges (with respect to the Holy Ghost) is simple; it's we mortals who do a bang up job of complicating it. 

Proceed simply.  Confidently.

And feel free to let us know how your session went, either by posting a comment (below) or anonymously (here).

In my next post, we'll talk about one of the greatest ways to spiritually awake and arise (with the influence of the Holy Ghost being fully utilized) that you've probably seldom heard of, nor even utilized.