Part I: Did Not I Speak Peace to Your Mind?

Over the past 3 years the purpose of this blog has been to share spiritual insights and thoughts I've had. I've stayed away from lengthy posts and "sensitive" topics. However, I've had many things on my mind for a long time about my generation and the challenges we seem to face. I've written a few posts, the first of which follows:

Part I: Did Not I Speak Peace to Your Mind?

I want you to think back on your earliest memory of receiving a witness by the Holy Ghost of the truthfulness of some facet of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Is that experience still a vivid memory? How often do you think back on it? Now compare your “spiritual maturity” at that time to where you feel you are at now. How have you changed? Have you grown? Have you progressed?

The purpose of this life is to grow, right? We're to gain experiences; learn how to master the natural man, find joy in relationships and service, accept Christ, and live His teachings. What is an intrinsic aspect of growth? I would say that it is an increasing level of difficulty. Think on your educational, physical, intellectual, or professional advancements. My experience in college was definitely more challenging than my high school experience, and consequentially much more rewarding and enjoyable for me. Similar parallels can be drawn regarding progress in the areas previously mentioned.

When we first started out on these journeys we began with the basics; we created foundations through our experiences to build on. We probably still continue to build on them, but in most cases, to keep growing we must continually increase our effort and dedication. It requires more effort to keep progressing.

Now back to your first experience with the Holy Ghost. I would say that for a majority of us that first witness was fairly simple. It may have been an overwhelming feeling of peace or love. That “simple witness” was the foundation for our testimony. We felt something, and it pushed us to act on the things we were being taught and try and live that life we felt God wanted for us. I'm not trying to generalize everyone's spiritual life and experiences, but I am saying that the level of effort it took to get those first witnesses won't be enough if we are to continue progressing.

Heavenly Father wanted to give us what we needed to start on our spiritual journey, but it's likely been years since then and He's probably hoping we've grown up a little in the meantime. Casual experiences with the Gospel or the minimal effort won't lead us to any kind of revelatory or edifying experiences. And we need those experiences to grow. God wants us to move past that initial foundation and keep building upward. He wants us to be agents to ourselves and to be the impetus in our own spiritual growth. He doesn't want to have to hold our hand through ever single little thing. He requires much more effort from us.

Today's generation faces a strange environment. The demand on our attention is intensely divided and our ability to focus on a singular thing is stunted. We switch been apps constantly, refreshing to see if there are new notifications, reading headlines and the first paragraph of news articles before jumping to a YouTube video that is 4 minutes long (waaaaay too long, I don't have time for that – I've got important things to do like sift through all the crap on my timeline) and jumping back to send a Snap that will disappear after 5 seconds. We struggle to unplug and meditate, to ponder, or give ourselves entirely to one thing. I've sat in a room full of friends where every single person in the room is checking something on their phone. We replace real experiences with digital interactions. Social media can be used for great good, and I'm not here to condemn it, but I am saying that our generation - the “Millennials” - faces a unique set of challenges and struggles that are woven into the fiber of our society and environment, and there is no getting around that.

So combine our stunted attention spans with the increased effort required to grow in the Gospel and we've got a difficult situation on our hands. Many of us are not truly dedicating the time and effort it takes to have spiritual experiences and commune with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. And because of that we second guess or marginalize our first or past experiences with truth and the Holy Ghost. So when we're not feeling the Spirit like we used to, and we're not relying on our foundations, and we come across something we “don't like” or “makes us uncomfortable” in the Gospel, we lean towards doubt and criticism. Feel free to disagree with me – I don't think I'm 100% right, or that this applies to every individual – but I'm trying to make sense of the struggles my generation faces. There are obviously other factors that play into this, and lead people to turn away from the Gospel.

But I feel like if we would discipline ourselves and sacrifice the time and effort it takes to have real experiences with the Gospel (attending the temple, fulfilling callings, actually studying the scriptures, having real conversations with God), remember the peace that God has spoken to us in the past, and rely on those answers when faced with doubt, we would be able to shake off the spiritual numbness we're experiencing. We could keep progressing, we could find greater happiness, and we could find many of the answers we seek.

In D&C 6 the Lord says to Oliver Cowdery, “cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things. Did not I speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?. . . Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”

I want us to have lives filled with happiness, and I believe that it is through living the Gospel we are able to do that. Remember how you felt, lean on that when you are doubting; dedicate your time, your heart, and yourself to finding answers; build on that first testimony and don't give up or think that God has forgotten you or that you tricked yourself into believing he exists. He is there and he will answer your prayers.