Is it delicious to me?

When it comes to the gospel of Christ, one of my favourite things it to study the scriptures and find action words. I mean, how privileged are we to be able to learn from prophets from all generations of time as they guide, head and exhort us to follow Christ? And when they do preach, they are not ambiguous about it. They do not leave us guessing as to how to obtain eternal life, they teach us step by step, line upon line, how to become perfected through mortality.

Alma 32: 27 states
“But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can do no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words”

So many action words!
Awake and arouse faculties
Experiment upon the word
Exercise a particle of faith
Desire to believe
Let this desire work within us
Give place for a portion of the word

I have pondered this scripture lots over the past 12 years of membership in the church and this past Sunday I had the privilege to teach about them in Gospel Doctrine class. How beautiful it is to learn and grow together with my brothers and sisters! To glean new insights and ideas from one another! So naturally, I will be sharing my own thoughts plus other thoughts that I am now left to ponder in regards to these truths.

Awaking and arousing our faculties is all about preparedness. It’s about waking up our hearts, arousing our senses and being prepared for what will come as we follow the remaining steps of these action words. As I relate it to something literal - each and every morning I need to wake from my night’s sleep and then arouse my mind and body so I am able take on the day – I am reminded that I need to be doing this spiritually as well. I need to truly open my eyes and open my heart to be anxiously and actively engaged in what I want and need to undertake spiritually. I don’t want to be dragging my butt all day, spiritually lazy and sluggish. I want to be aroused and attentive as I learn and grow.

Now, experiment. Isn’t it all about the experiment? My whole conversion to the Gospel has been an experiment! Everything I have heard and everything I have come to have a testimony on REQUIRED an experiment. I often wonder if people believe that a testimony is just simply given to people…a heavenly gift bestowed upon one privileged soul who has been selected, without any action on the part of the person. Sure, the Holy Ghost can touch our hearts and lead us to truth, but to gain a true testimony, you need to buckle down, apply it to your life and see if it is true. My first experiment in my conversion was with the Book of Mormon itself. In Moroni 10:3-5 he exhorts us to 1)read the Book of Mormon, 2)ponder the words in your heart, 3)ask God if these words are not true, and 4)if our hearts are sincere, the truth will be manifested through the Holy Ghost. (Again, action words!!!! Wanna know if the Book of Mormon is true? Then follow these steps!) I followed these steps and was blessed with a testimony to know that the Book of Mormon contained the word of God, which then lead me to many more experiments and eventually my baptism. And you know what is so beautiful about it all? The experiments never end. At the beginning of 2016, I was preparing to teach from the Book of Mormon for Gospel Doctrine and I read these words from Joseph Smith
“(The Book of Mormon) puts forth the doctrines of the gospel, outlines the plan of salvation and tells men what they must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come..”
“…and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts , than by any other book.”
I wanted (and still do) to be nearer to God! I wanted (and still do) to know how to gain peace in this life! So I put it to the test. I have studied the Book of Mormon in a way I have never before and everything has changed. My testimony and life have been irrevocably altered as I have come to know that the Book of Mormon contains the word of God and that it is 100% truth.

For one to know the results of our experiments as truth, we must exercise faith. In my class, I asked what the first word that popped into their minds was when I said ‘exercise’. Work. Sweat. Hard. Satisfying. Endurance. Effort. All these words apply to our faith. Like mentioned before, our testimony isn’t just given to us…we need to work, sweat, push hard, apply ourselves and endure the pain to be able to grow! Do you know how our muscles grow? When exercising, you literally work your muscles so hard that they begin to tear. Ouch, right? But the beauty is that when the muscle rebuilds, it is stronger, more durable, able to handle heavier weights, more reps, longer intervals. The same goes for our faith!!!! Exercise it, push through the pain and grow.

For all of this to take any affect, we need to believe. Or, as Alma so truthfully put it, we need to desire to believe. What is it that we honestly desire? It’s easy to write out a list of the temporal things we desire, but what about spiritually? What is it that we spiritually desire? I think that is a question that deserves some pondering. I know I need to ponder that more.

Once we desire to believe, let’s let that desire work within us. Like a tiny seedling, let’s nurture it. Let’s tend it, water it, shelter and protect it. Let it not be scorched by the hot sun, blow away in the wind or trampled underfoot. Give it a chance, the best chance, to grow.

And finally, let’s give it a place to grow. Sounds easy enough, but is it? What if you don’t have any room right now? The best way I could relate this to something temporal is how busy we all are. I know for myself, I find most days are like a rat race, just merely trying to tick things off my to-do list and get out alive. So what if you are asked to add something else to your already jammed packed schedule? One may look at it and just honestly believe that it is impossible. And for many of us, that may be true. There are only 24 hours in a day and each moment is precious to get what need to be done, done. But then again, are we really using those 24 hours for things that are good? That will benefit us, our families, our fellow men? Maybe we need to take an honest look at our lives and see what really is of value to us and then we could find some more time. The same goes for our spirituality. If we make it a priority, see it for what it really it, we can make a place in our hearts for it to grow, even if that means removing something else of less worth.

One thing that has been lovingly drilled into my brain since my youth is the truth that every action has a consequence.

Alma 32:28 states
“Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when ye feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves – it must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; ye, it beginneth to enlighten my understating, yes, it beginneth to be delicious unto me.”

YES!!! YES!!!
How beautiful?
A swelling within our breasts
An enlargement of our soul
An enlightening of our understanding
IT WILL BE DELICIOUS TO US!!

Could there be anything more sweet, more precious? For me, no. This is it. This is what I want, what I desire. I want to be full, every whit.

I testify, from the depths of my being, that as we feast upon the words of Christ it will become delicious unto us! I can testify of that truth because I have followed the action steps and received my witness. The scriptures are delicious to me. I crave them, I savour them, I respect them and I love them. If you want that, even if you only have a desire to want that, let that desire work within you and the Lord will bless you. My love and my devotion is to my God as always. I thank Thee, my Lord, for this beautiful life I have. To live. To love. To grow.

In the name of my Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.