What's in your wagon? Pioneer day just past, but with it comes the remembrance of the great sacrifices and faith of the saints who filled their wagons and went westward. What did they put in their wagons that allowed them to make it? Food, tools, clothing? Yes, and those things certainly were used and necessary. But to have made the decision and then to move forward with determination they also had to have faith and a foundation of obedience.
What do we do when the prophet speaks? What motivates us to fill our obedience wagons and move forward? Duty, fear, love, habit? Obedience may not always be easy, it may feel like pushing or pulling a wagon through mud or sand (have you ever tried pushing things in sand?), but it is what gives us what we need physically (food, water, tools) and spiritually (strength, faith, peace, testimony).
I know that when we follow the prophet, we are happy. When we follow the counsel to have a food storage, and a major or minor emergency strikes, we are happy because we can sustain ourselves--if not by the actual food we set aside (because some disasters destroy this) we are at least able to sustain our spiritual strength to move forward. Obedience isn't a one time occasion that automatically propels us into heaven, but rather an enduring attribute and desire associated with faith and action that leads us to do even the hard things day in and day out, during our times of ease as well as times of trial, it means being obedient in all things not just those that seem convenient.
I really like what President Henry B. Eyring had to say about spiritual preparation in the October 2005 General Conference, his whole talk is so wonderful it was hard to shorten it to just the below:
"So, the greatest test of life is to see whether we will hearken to and obey God's commands in the midst of the storms of life. It is not to endure storms, but to choose the right while they rage.
"It will take unshakable faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to choose the way to eternal life. It is by using that faith we can know the will of God. It is by acting on that faith we build the strength to do the will of God. And it is by exercising that faith in Jesus Christ that we can resist temptation and gain forgiveness through the Atonement.
"However much faith to obey God we now have, we will need to strengthen it continually and keep it refreshed constantly. We can do that by deciding now to be more quick to obey and more determined to endure. Learning to start early and to be steady are the keys to spiritual preparation. Procrastination and inconsistency are its mortal enemies.
"Decisions now to exercise faith and be steady in obedience will in time produce great faith and assurance. That is the spiritual preparedness we all will need. And it will qualify us in the moments of crisis to receive the Lord's promise that "if ye are prepared ye shall not fear.'" (Spiritual Preparedness: Start Early and Be Steady, Henry B. Eyring, Ensign Nov 2005)
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