Can Ye Feel So Now?

Having served my mission in France, I was excited to hear of the call of French native Gérald Caussé to the quorum of the twelve apostles. I decided to read one of his talks in general conference from about a decade ago, and I laughed again at this story he told: “My wife and I had the great joy of rearing our five children near the magnificent city of Paris. During those years we wanted to offer them rich opportunities to discover the marvelous things of this world. Each summer, our family took long trips to visit the most significant monuments, historic sites, and natural wonders of Europe. Finally, after spending 22 years in the Paris area, we were getting ready to move. I still remember the day when my children came to me and said, ‘Dad, it’s absolutely shameful! We’ve lived here all our lives, and we have never been to the Eiffel Tower!’” His point was to not miss the wonders that we have right before our eyes. Sometimes things become so common that we fail to see how incredible they are or to take the time to participate in them. This reminds me of these words from Elder Maxwell: “On a clear night, you and I can see some portions of the Milky Way, but what if a view of sparkling stars occurred only once every thousand years? Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote of how then ‘men [would] believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown!’” Just because the night sky in all its beauty can be seen every night should not diminish the majesty of the heavenly vision we are given. And the same should be true of the timeless truths of the gospel: just because we hear or read or talk of them often should not diminish their power to move us.

               Elder Caussé said this: “To marvel at the wonders of the gospel is a sign of faith. It is to recognize the hand of the Lord in our lives and in everything around us. Our amazement also produces spiritual strength. It gives us the energy to remain anchored in our faith and to engage ourselves in the work of salvation.” He also asked us, “My brothers and sisters, is the gospel still wonderful to you? Can you yet see, hear, feel, and marvel? Or have your spiritual sensors gone into standby mode?” This is similar to what Alma asked the people of Zarahemla: “And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?” (Alma 5:26) There is a risk that once we have had powerful spiritual experiences, we allow the gospel to become too commonplace, thus letting it lose its luster for us. This is what happened to the Nephites after they had seen incredible miracles: “The people began to forget those signs and wonders which they had heard, and began to be less and less astonished at a sign or a wonder from heaven, insomuch that they began to be hard in their hearts, and blind in their minds, and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen” (3 Nephi 2:1). These were people who had seen the night be completely light, even after the sun went down, in fulfillment of Samuel the Lamanite’s prophecy. But they let the power of the miracle fade so much for them that they began to stop feeling what they had once felt.

               Elder Soares spoke a few years ago about our need to have awe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. He said this: “My beloved brothers and sisters, I pray that we will ever stand in awe of Jesus Christ and His complete, infinite, and perfect love. May the remembrance of what our eyes have seen and our hearts have felt increase our amazement at the Savior’s atoning sacrifice, which can heal us of our spiritual and emotional wounds and help us to draw closer to Him. May we marvel at the great promises that the Father has in His hands and that He has prepared for those who are faithful: ‘The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.’”  To me the scripture that helps me to remember the awe we should feel in the gospel and most importantly for the Savior Jesus Christ is this one: “Thus saith the Lord your God, even Jesus Christ, the Great I Am, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the same which looked upon the wide expanse of eternity, and all the seraphic hosts of heaven, before the world was made; The same which knoweth all things, for all things are present before mine eyes; I am the same which spake, and the world was made, and all things came by me. I am the same which have taken the Zion of Enoch into mine own bosom; and verily, I say, even as many as have believed in my name, for I am Christ, and in mine own name, by the virtue of the blood which I have spilt, have I pleaded before the Father for them” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:1-3). That is the God we worship and we should always be in awe of His power and goodness and the blood He spilt for each of us to return home to the Father.