Check Engine.

My car has served me well since I've gotten it, but it's also needed a fair amount of work. There's been some sizable investments to keep it running. Recently the check engine light has come on and has been accompanied by some other indicators that it's probably close to needing some more work.

This week I've been preparing a lesson on President Uchtdorf's recent Conference talk, "On Being Genuine." Uchtdorf invites us to evaluate the motivations that we have, and to resist the temptation to draw attention to ourselves - to become humble, genuine disciples of Christ. He presents a few hypotheticals where we have an opportunity to check the health of our spirituality and then determine where we must make changes through grace and the Atonement.

I've been thinking about how often in our lives it can be very obvious when things are in need of repair or maintenance - there are warning lights, rumblings, and clunking. It's not always as easy to recognize our own need for spiritual and character repair or maintenance. It's not always as obvious that we are breaking, that we are suffering from character weaknesses, addictions, bad habits, or that our choices are causing damage to our spirituality.

This self-evaluation is necessary since we don't have a check engine light that comes on, and that hooks up to a computer to help us diagnose the issues. It takes humility, self-awareness, patience, introspection, and effort. In a world where we can fill our attention and time with many distractions it is easy to neglect the reflection, meditation, and prayerful hours necessary to evaluate ourselves and understand the changes we must make.

I'm grateful that God is patient with me, and speaks to me when I am willing to listen.