This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday Afternoon Session of the April 2006 Conference.
Elder Bednar must have made such a study of the Holy Ghost. I feel like he's always coming up with good insights about it. The one in his talk this session that stood out to me was this:
As we strive to align our attitudes and actions with righteousness, then the Holy Ghost becomes for us today what the Liahona was for Lehi and his family in their day. The very factors that caused the Liahona to work for Lehi will likewise invite the Holy Ghost into our lives. And the very factors that caused the Liahona not to work anciently will likewise cause us to withdraw ourselves from the Holy Ghost today.
I learned, probably in seminary, that the Liahona was a symbol of the scriptures. And I think ever since then, I've just read the verses about the Liahona and thought, "Yes, it's like the scriptures all right. The scriptures are a small thing that brings to pass great things. The scriptures point the way we should go, and change from time to time according to our diligence." All true, of course, but somehow thinking about the Holy Ghost in those contexts was new to me. Elder Bednar elaborates:
The Liahona was prepared by the Lord and given to Lehi and his family after they left Jerusalem and were traveling in the wilderness. This compass or director pointed the way that Lehi and his caravan should go , even “a straight course to the promised land.” The pointers in the Liahona operated “according to the faith and diligence and heed” of the travelers and failed to work when family members were contentious, rude, slothful, or forgetful.The compass also provided a means whereby Lehi and his family could obtain greater “understanding concerning the ways of the Lord.” Thus, the primary purposes of the Liahona were to provide both direction and instruction during a long and demanding journey. The director was a physical instrument that served as an outward indicator of their inner spiritual standing before God. It worked according to the principles of faith and diligence.…As we each press forward along the pathway of life, we receive direction from the Holy Ghost just as Lehi was directed through the Liahona.…The Holy Ghost operates in our lives precisely as the Liahona did for Lehi and his family, according to our faith and diligence and heed.…And the Holy Ghost provides for us today the means whereby we can receive, “by small and simple things,” increased understanding about the ways of the Lord.…The Spirit of the Lord can be our guide and will bless us with direction, instruction, and spiritual protection during our mortal journey.
Our family is heading off on a tiny journey of our own* (I'm writing these next couple General Conference posts in advance, in fact…sneaky of me), and it's funny how much all the scriptures about journeys and heading off into the wilderness have been resonating with me! As we go into the unknown, I want so much for my children to trust, as I am slowly learning to trust, that the Holy Ghost can guide us whenever we seek it—in spite of our limitations, blind spots, and fears. And that if we show "faith and diligence" toward God's will, we really can learn what each next step in our journey should be. I'm holding onto these truths from this Boyd K. Packer quote I love, which my friend Nancy shared with me just when I needed it several weeks ago (thus self-confirming the promise of the quote itself!):
When the servants of the Lord determine to do as He commands, we move ahead. As we proceed, we are joined at the crossroads by those who have been prepared to help us.They come with skills and abilities precisely suited to our needs. And we find provisions; information, inventions, help of various kinds, set along the way waiting for us to take them up.It is as though someone knew we would be traveling that way. We see the invisible hand of the Almighty providing for us. …When we are ready, there will be revealed whatever we need—we will find it waiting at the crossroads.
*To Quebec for five months. During Sam's sabbatical leave from BYU. I wasn't trying to be cryptic! The details just didn't seem to be relevant to that paragraph. :)
Other posts in this series:
Latter-day Masculinity—by Nathaniel Givens
God Decides—by Rozy
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