The way to draw closer

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday Morning Session of the April 1991 Conference.

President Eyring's talks always speak to me, and this one was on a topic I can't hear enough of: growing closer to God. I loved so many parts. Here are some:

God is our ancestor, not distant but close. He is the Father of our spirits; we are his children. But…we all at times feel far removed from him. …If we are to have the words of the gospel of Jesus Christ touch us, then we must believe in God. We must want to be with him. And we must sense our need to be purified to be with him again.

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We need to feel now that God knows us and loves us as individuals. There are times you have felt the closeness of God, your Father, and that you are his child. Those times can come more often. There is a simple way to think about it:

If you want to stay close to someone who has been dear to you, but from whom you are separated, you know how to do it. You would find a way to speak to them, you would listen to them, and you would discover ways to do things for each other. The more often that happened, the longer it went on, the deeper would be the bond of affection. If much time passed without the speaking, the listening, and the doing, the bond would weaken.

God is perfect and omnipotent, and you and I are mortal. But he is our Father, he loves us, and he offers the same opportunity to draw closer to him as would a loving friend. And you will do it in much the same way: speaking, listening, and doing.

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It is clear how often we should speak to God: regularly in words, continually in feelings. 

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As you have listened to God’s servants here, you have felt pricked in your heart to do something. You could react with a hard heart: “Why is an imperfect man telling me to repent?” Or you could hear instead the loving invitation of your Heavenly Father, who delighted in you when you were with him, and delights in the prospect that you will accept his loving correction.

You will find something else in the pattern of correction you have felt. Do you notice how much of it is an urging to do something for someone else? That is no surprise. God loves his children. They have great needs. Everything belongs to God, so there is not much you can give him, after you have given him a repentant heart. But you can give kindness to his children. If you were my earthly friend, you would win my heart by being kind to my children. God loves his children more than any earthly parent, so think what your kindness to his children means to him.

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Now, even the Savior of the world, when he was on the cross, felt his Father far from him. You will have moments, perhaps long moments, of feelings of separation. …You will still be startled, as President Benson said you would be, to realize how familiar the face of our Heavenly Father is. But when you see him, you will know his voice, because you will have prayed, listened, obeyed, and come to share the thoughts and intents of his heart. You will have drawn nearer to him.

Other posts in this series:

Marriage is beautiful; divorce ugly—by G.

Marriage is an eternal concept—by Jan Tolman