Scripture Squiggle: 2 Nephi 28:30

"For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have."

I walk up the stairs in my house multiple times in a day, often carrying a sturdy two-year old, and I've done this now for over a year.  So, why don't my legs feel any stronger?  Why do I still struggle up all fifteen steps when my little boy decides he needs a free ride?

The answer, I believe, comes from laziness.  Yes, I climb those darn stairs A LOT!  But I only climb them when I have to.  What would happen if I pushed myself a little and threw in an extra trip down and up every time a task required me to move from one floor to the next?  

Well, for one thing, my thighs and buttocks would scream at me the next morning.  And they would protest each step I took the next day.  But if were to challenge my body by continuing the extra trips, soon my legs would get stronger and I could totally handle it.  However, if I didn't continue to challenge myself, adding even more journeys down and up, my strength would again plateau.

Spiritually, we are much the same.  If we try to glide through life on the basic primary answers--say your prayers, go to church and read your scriptures--we will be stuck, our spiritual growth will stagnate.  Climbing the spiritual stairs of prayer, scripture study, and meeting attendance will take all of our energy and never get any easier.

Instead, we must challenge ourselves spiritually: stay on our knees longer, read another verse, try to apply something we learned on Sunday to our lives.  

Spiritual strength doesn't just happen any more than physical strength does.  

One of my favorite quotes is: If you don't feel close to the Lord, who moved?

Start climbing those steps back to Him.  

Scripture Squiggle: Doctrine and Covenants 68:28

"And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord."


Most nights I don't feel like I'm teaching my two youngest boys anything about prayer.  Even when I do manage to convince them to get on their knees and fold their arms, they start driving toy cars around the living room or tackling each other as soon as the prayer starts.

But Wednesday night, my five-year old proved to me that he is indeed learning.

We discovered on Monday that our home's well water was contaminated so my husband and our neighbor had to clean the well and treat it with chlorine.  On Tuesday we were able to turn the water back on, but the water had too much chlorine in it to consume. As my husband and I were headed out to celebrate my birthday, we gave our children strict instructions to only drink from the water bottles we had filled at my parents' house.

When we arrived home, in the madness of getting our children ready for bed, Cyrus came running to me, a look of sheer panic on his face.

"I accidentally drank some of the yucky water!"

I assured him that a little bit, especially since it had come out of our filtered water spout, wouldn't hurt him.  He'd be fine.

Later that night, after Cy had fallen asleep, I learned that his older brother had told him and the other young boys that if they drank the water, they'd die.  No wonder Cy was scared to death.  But since he seemed okay with things, I dismissed the thought.

Until Wednesday evening when Cy again approached me.

"Mom.  Sometimes Secada prays."

"That's good." I didn't turn away from my computer screen.

"Sometimes I pray.  I prayed last night."

"Oh.  What did you pray for?"  Again, I gave him only a small portion of my attention.

"That I wouldn't die."

That got my attention.  My little Cy-Cy had been afraid he was going to die, and in his fear, he knew enough to turn to his Heavenly Father.  I wrapped him in a hug and tried not to let him see my tears.

Scripture Squiggle: Alma 34:19

"Yea, humble yourselves, and continue in prayer unto him."

Being humble in prayer can easily be forgotten, even when we are faithful in holding daily personal or family prayer. As a mother, I've found many excuses for not getting on my knees: the baby is on my lap, I don't want to disturb him; my back hurts from toting kids all day, my knees hurt from scrubbing floors all day; I'm just too tired. For a long time, my husband and I justified not getting on our knees even while we made the kids do it.

Then one evening, at a Young Women's activity, I received a powerful reminder. As we finished up the activity, a young woman was asked to say the closing prayer; she responded that she would, but then asked if she needed to stand. One of the leaders told her that the person praying stands so that the rest of the people can remain seated, otherwise, everyone should kneel.

Another young woman shared with us that she had been spending time with her grandmother recently, a woman in her nineties, and that every night, despite the elderly woman's pains and infirmities, she knelt for prayer. The young woman bore her testimony to us of the lesson she had learned from her grandmother's example of the importance of being humble, both spiritually and physically, when we pray.

After hearing this story, the young woman who was asked to say the prayer walked to the front of the room and knelt down. Everyone else got down on their knees. A greater feeling of reverence and peace filled that room during that prayer.

Now, no matter how tired, sore or lazy we are feeling, my husband and I make sure we are on our knees for family prayer. And that same feeling of reverence and peace has been infused into our home.

Scripture Sguiggle: 3 Nephi 14:7

"Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

Sounds easy enough, doesn't it? All you have to do is ask, seek or knock and you get whatever it is that you need. All of the scriptures on prayer make it seem so easy. You have faith, you pray, you get an answer. Simple.

Not so simple. My husband and I have been praying for months for an answer to something we feel is very important, but an answer is not forthcoming. Sometimes we think we get an answer--then we start to question it. Is this coming from me because it's what I want? How do we know the answer comes from the Lord and not ourselves? How do we know Satan isn't planting ideas in our minds--he can be tricky like that?

I suppose that's why the Lord tells us that it is important to be like little children. Not like my toddler and preschooler who tear through the house like cyclones, but like my nine year old who was afraid she'd have to drop craft club because of her grades, so she fasted and prayed last fast Sunday that she could improve her grade. Guess what? She's still in the club.

As we get older, we learn a lot more about how the world works; we learn Santa doesn't really exist, magic is all about illusion, and unicorns are only a myth. These worldly truths make believing in the miracles of the Lord difficult sometimes. But the Lord has given us a more wondrous gift than we could ever have hoped to get from Santa Claus. The gift of his Son should mean far more to us than any earthly gift we've ever received. What could be more magical than the power of the priesthood in our lives? The priesthood can do so much more than pull a rabbit out of a hat--what about curing illnesses and healing hearts? And unicorns--maybe someday I'll be privileged to create a world where horned and winged horses play.

So, as my husband and I seek for an answer, maybe our solution is to become more childlike, and in doing so we will find the answer we need.

Scripture Squiggle: 1 Nephi 17:41

"And he did straiten them in the wilderness with his rod; for they hardened their hearts, even as ye have; and the Lord straitened them because of their iniquity. He sent fiery flying serpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished."

Up until a baptism I attended a few weeks ago, I had always thought that "straiten" meant that the Lord got them back on a straight path, figuring that the missing "gh" was some strange biblical spelling. But at this baptism, someone pointed out that "straiten" means to put in a difficult situation, to narrow or confine. The iniquity of the Israelites caused the Lord to straiten them; He sent serpents that made their lives difficult. Such is the nature of sin. When we stray from the path that the Lord has set for us, we actually limit our freedom and "straiten" ourselves by creating more difficult circumstances for ourselves than we would have faced without the sin. But just as the Lord provided a way to free the Israelites from the serpents' bites, He provided a way for us to be freed from our sins--the atonement of Jesus Christ.

To be cured, the Israelites had to do no more than look upon the brass serpent that the Lord had commanded Moses to make. They didn't have to profess belief, change their ways, dye their hair, build a monument...they just had to look upon it.

Bishop H. Burke Peterson said, "May I suggest that the steps we can take to dispel fear and bring peace and power are really very simple. The teachings of the gospel are not complicated. They are not hard to understand. They need not be confusing" (Ensign May 1975)

We tend to make the gospel more complicated than it really is; we get caught up in activities, meetings, scouts, choirs, etc. and forget the simple cure that comes from reading our scriptures, praying, and striving to know Jesus.

Elder Rex D. Pinegar counseled, "Just as a few simple elements combined in a proper way form a sturdy foundation for a house, so do the simple teachings of the gospel bond together to make a strong foundation for our lives" (Ensign Nov. 1994)