Things of the Soul

Elder Rasband gave us seven invitations that represented the things of his soul in the most recent general conference. He summarized them this way: “I close with an invitation for each of you to consider the seven ‘things of my soul’ I have shared today: love God the Father and Jesus Christ, our Savior; love your neighbor; love yourself; keep the commandments; always be worthy of a temple recommend; be joyful and cheerful; and follow God’s living prophet.” As my wife put it, these must be the things that keep him up at night as he worries about the saints and thinks about what we need to focus on. As I see it, all of these are based in love. We are to love God, love our neighbor, and love ourself. Because we love God, we will then keep the commandments and be worthy to enter His holy house. We will follow His prophet’s counsel when we love Him. And as we truly develop love for others and keep His commandments we will find joy just as the Savior taught in mortality: “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (John 15:10-11). These seven invitations are all ways that we can grow in our love for the Savior; as Elder Rasband put it, “They commit us to Jesus Christ, they remind us of our covenants, and they help us feel secure in the arms of the Lord. I testify that He desires that our souls ‘shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled’ with His love as we seek to become His true disciples.”

               Elder Rasband also asked us to extend his list: “I invite you to identify your own eight, nine, and ten.” For me the next one would necessarily be to feast upon the words of the scriptures. The scriptures are the iron rod, and we simply can’t make it through the mists of darkness that surround us and stay on the path if we don’t immerse ourselves in the words of ancient and modern prophets. As Nephi famously invited us, “Feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do” (2 Nephi 32:3). In the Savior’s warnings about the last days He said this, “And whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived” (JSM 1:37). We must feast and treasure His words if we want the protection we will need in the last days. For number nine I would say that we must “pour out [our] soul in prayer and thanksgiving” like Ammon of old (Alma 19:14). So often we have nowhere to turn but to our knees in fervent pleadings to the Lord, and when He comes to our aid we must likewise pour out our hearts in thanksgiving. And that leads to what I would put for the tenth, and it would be simply one word: Remember. Three times in the Book of Mormon we have this earnest plea: “O remember, remember.” After King Benjamin’s marvelous discourse to his people he said, “O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it” (Mosiah 2:41). Alma said to his son, “O remember, remember, my son Helaman, how strict are the commandments of God” (Alma 37:13). Helaman pled with his sons, “O remember, remember, my sons, the words which king Benjamin spake unto his people; yea, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come…. And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation” (Helaman 5:9,12). One of the great challenges we have in mortality is to remember the great things the Lord has done for us and the conviction through the Holy Spirit that we have gained. We must not forget His deliverance and help and tender mercies towards us. As we always remember Him, we have His promise of the Spirit to help us in all ten of these things of the soul.