For me it is a gradual process; the stuff of daily life often tells me I have ‘distance to travel’ until my own nature yields consistently to Christ’s influence. He then has priority over all worldly influences I am subject to. If I could ‘live in a bubble’, protected from those negative and distracting influences, it would be easy, but there is no growth when life has no challenges. By my continuing to look to Jesus Christ, inviting his influence, praying and striving to live my life as he lived his (understanding it may never be in this life) … I am different now, in ways that lift me and those around me. Prayer, fasting, becoming increasingly His in making those choices that embrace his example become a delicious part of it all. kdm
Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson, Young Women General President, said: “We all need to seek to have our hearts and very natures changed so that we no longer have a desire to follow the ways of the world but to please God. True conversion is a process that takes place over a period of time and involves a willingness to exercise faith. It comes when we search the scriptures, instead of the Internet. It comes when we are obedient to the commandments of God. Conversion comes when we serve those around us. It comes from earnest prayer, regular temple attendance, and faithful fulfillment of our God-given responsibilities. It takes consistency and daily effort.
I am often asked, “What is the greatest challenge our youth face today?” I answer that I believe it is the ever-present influence of the “great and spacious building” in their lives. If the Book of Mormon was written specifically for our day, then surely we cannot miss the relevance for all of us of the messages in Lehi’s vision of the tree of life and the effect of those pointing their fingers and taunting from the great and spacious building.[i] 1 Nephi 8:26 (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/8.26?lang=eng#25)
What is most heartrending to me is the description of those who have already fought their way through the mists of darkness on the strait and narrow path, have clung to the rod of iron, have reached their goal, and have begun tasting of the pure and delicious fruit of the tree of life. Then the scripture says that those finely dressed people in the great and spacious building “were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking of the fruit.
“And after they had tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost.” Sister Oscarsons powerful talk can be found at… [ii] ‘Do I Believe?’ https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/do-i-believe?lang=eng
