Feeling It

Hopefully my treatment of this subject is appropriate for the world wide interwebs. My apologies for any light treatment of any of this. I'm hoping to just convey some of what I felt at a meeting last night.

The gift of the Holy Spirit adapts itself to all these organs or attributes. It quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections; and adapts them, by the gift of wisdom, to their lawful use. It inspires, developes, cultivates and matures all the fine toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred feelings and affections of our nature. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness and charity. It developes beauty of person, form and features. It tends to health, vigour, animation and social feeling. It developes and invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. It strengthens, invigorates, and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being.

-Parley P. Pratt

Last night I went to a fireside, and it just about killed me to have to turn down dinner from the Reid's because I don't think there is anything (other than church, I guess) that I enjoy more on Sundays that hanging out with those people. I love you guys more than I can express. I didn't really mean to get into that. Anyway...

This fireside last night was put on by the stake to inform the Irvine YSAs about the upcoming battle to protect traditional marriage. The church is most concerned about the youth because we seem to be the most "tolerant" of those alternative lifestyles, so that was the reason they had a fireside just for the branch. Beverly Rice, who currently serves as the chapter president for United Families International in California, spoke at the meeting. I'll go into the content of the meeting in another post, but what I really wanted to talk about is the feeling of the spirit, hence, the quote leading off the post.

Earlier in the day our sacrament talks were centered on the Proclamation on the Family, and also the debate about marriage that's currently going on in the state. The fireside further highlighted the issue, and also included some more reasons as to why it's important we make our stand on this issue here and now.

Admittedly, I got little out of the sacrament talks. I think it was partly due to the fact that I was feeling a little tired, and I just was having a hard time focusing on the talks. Part of me felt like it was one of those things where I'm already on the right side of the issue, and I'm pretty well-informed with the politics surrounding it, so how much more was I really going to get out of it? At the fireside, however, I thought to myself that if nothing else, I'd like to get a spiritual confirmation of the importance of the message. It came toward the end of the meeting.

Sister Rice retold the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, emphasizing their prominence amongst the people of Babylon, and how obvious it would be when they would not bow down and worship the idol. And then she said something to the effect of that there will come a time that we will be sanctified by the choices that we make. That's when I felt it.

The sensation of the spirit is such a singular experience. I feel like that quote from Parley perfectly describes those feelings better than anything else that I've ever heard. The physical part of it was as obvious to me as if a bucket of water had been dumped on my head. It felt like a chorus of synapses in every cell in my body had been set off to alert me to the enormity of the message. Her message really hit home, and I felt its confirmation through the spirit that I had felt. We will ultimately be sanctified or condemned by the choices that we make. The opportunity is ours to find ourselves on the right side of the issue and although many would have you believe otherwise, there is a right and wrong, no matter how obscured it may be. And it's a more welcome feeling than anything I could ever describe - it really does invigorate and enliven my spirit, more than any concert, sporting event, or workout could ever do. It sounds so trite to even compare those things, but outside of church those are some of the things that get me the most excited, but the feelings associated with those other temporal things cannot even approach the confirmation of the spirit.