Philmont Sunday: The Road to Damascus

In Relief Society today, our teacher spoke in reference to the talk given by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf entitled, “Waiting on the Road to Damascus”.  It is a talk about how we sometimes wait for an experience like the one Saul had in order to take the next step in our spiritual progression, He says,

“Nevertheless, there are some who feel that unless they have an experience similar to Saul’s or Joseph Smith’s, they cannot believe. They stand at the waters of baptism but do not enter. They wait at the threshold of testimony but cannot bring themselves to acknowledge the truth. Instead of taking small steps of faith on the path of discipleship, they want some dramatic event to compel them to believe.”

Our teacher compared Saul’s experience to what happens when you turn on a light. It is immediate and in some cases sufficient but it suffers by comparison to the light of the sun.  She spoke of the difference between an immediate testimony and what she called a “sunrise testimony”, one gained through time, study and effort and or simply by one step at a time in the right direction. She said there are many things that stop us on our spiritual road, like money problems, other interests, worldly pursuits etc. Then she asked what one could do right now, today, to pursue a Sunrise testimony. It was suggested to just do it. Take a step. For some it might be putting the gospel first in their lives, for some it may be giving up something they thought was good for something better. For my family and I it was dropping dance (the most important thing in our lives at the time) packing up our trophies, and moving to a town where the only thing to do, the only thing we could focus on was the gospel. Whatever it is, be brave in the idea that it will be worth it, that happiness  lies  at the end of the road where your feet meet the sunrise. All you have to do is take the next step.