[♪ Music. The
Music and Voice Over.
Welcome to Closer to Christ through General Conference, where two friends who love Jesus
share our own approach to studying the most recent General Conference talks. This is Abby
and Amy. Let's jump into it.
Today we get to enjoy the Talk, Seek Him With All Your Heart, by Bishop L. Todd Budge, second
counselor and the presiding bishopric.
Let's start it out with one of his openers.
During a visit to our mission by then elder Russell M. Nelson, one of the missionaries
asked him how best to respond when a person tells them that they're too busy to listen
to them.
With little hesitation, Elder Nelson said, I would ask if they were too busy to eat lunch
that day, and then I teach them that they have both a body and a spirit, and just as
their body will die if not nourished, so will their spirit if not nourished by the good
will, a good word of God.
That's a great opener.
I know, right?
Missionaries, I know they can't listen to this podcast, but if you have a missionary
kid out there, share that with them.
You don't have time for lunch?
Exactly.
So, Abby, I love this quote, and for me the most important part is the teaching each of
us that we both, that we have both a body and a spirit.
I would say that those of us on earth right now are the most disconnected generation thus
far, and the Lord is calling on us to wake up when we are connected, body and spirit.
Abby, the most important part of that for me is teaching each of us that we have both
a body and a spirit.
I would say that those of us on earth right now are the most disconnected generation thus
far, and I feel like the Lord is calling on us to wake up when we are connected, body
and spirit, and then we choose to connect to God, our abilities soar, and our potential
is limitless.
I feel like that's kind of, let's stop and pause on what you say disconnected generation.
What do you mean by that?
I mean our spirit and our body are not connected.
Okay.
And we're on autopilot.
And you think that something like technology has something to do with that?
Every distraction, but yes.
Because there's too many things to distract us.
Totally.
It seems like it was a well-intentioned plan to do that.
Right.
Because when you're at war, you charge, what is it?
You do something to the signals.
You jam the signals, right?
So you can't get the messages that need to come through, and that would be from heaven.
So the first thing I would ask about teaching that we have a body and a spirit is this,
what are we doing in our body right now so that your spirit wants to stick around?
And by that I just mean, are some of your habits offensive to your spirit?
Do we take physical care of our body so that our brain can function?
What things do we do that invite the Holy Ghost?
And there might be some room for gentle returning to the Lord in this or like a gentle correction
if we're not doing things that.
So a lot of those things that you're mentioning are things that we affect on our physical
body to free up what we need to for the spiritual space.
Yes, space.
And to connect them.
Now I have one.
So this is a good one, Abby.
So if you can picture your spirit in your body, have there been times when your body
pushes forward without much regard to what your spirit needs?
This would look like powering through a busy day without turning to God in prayer or scripture
study.
Our spirit yearns for its home with heavenly parents.
It yearns for a connection to God.
Do we have times when we're not getting enough sleep or eating, we just passed the holidays,
eating foods that might not fuel our bodies properly or relying on caffeine for energy.
Each of these things can cause our body and our brain to feel like it's in a fog and these
actions cause a disconnect.
And it's all in the name of getting stuff done.
So having your body in charge might feel best to us sometimes, but there's a better way.
And then on the flip side, have there been times when your spirit feels like it's in
charge but maybe more like it's dragging your body up a hill?
This could look like sticking to our spiritual goals and not resting our body or mind as
needed and you just push forward, push toward them.
Getting things done and having your spirit in charge may be what feels best for us, but
there is a better way.
You know what that makes me think of?
What?
Burying your weapons of rebellion.
Oh, that's awesome.
Yeah.
Did you think of that talk at all?
No, but just when you said that, I mean, that's fantastic.
That one hit me so hard because all like both of those scenarios, it's good to be a get
done person and it's good to have spiritual goals, but not when it's out of balance.
Exactly.
That's exactly what I was thinking.
So now, so both of those were out of balance.
Yes.
Now, imagine your spirit and your body as friends and equal partners, much like the
Godhead.
Maybe you could see them as equally yoked.
Neither one buys for attention.
Neither one has a role that is dragging the other into eternal progression and glory.
They have a mutual respect for one another and they value each role that the other plays.
Notice I'm saying they, like you have two-
Split personalities.
It's a glove in the hand, right?
It is a glove in the hand and it is like something that you have to-
Personify, because I did just personify it.
You're right.
Gain control over.
It's not like our natural inclination to have perfect control over-
Or perfect balance.
It's always striving for that, right?
So yes, they both opt in.
It's a beautiful reciprocal and balanced working relationship.
This is what I hear when I hear President Nelson say, then teach them that they have
both a body and a spirit.
It's not something we think about often.
The Lord knew in this fast-paced world that is full of distractions and commotion that
making quality time for him would be one of the major challenges of our day.
Yeah.
So the question we might ask is why is it so important to slow down?
Yeah.
He did address this.
He said, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord provided these words of counsel and
also caution, which can be likened under the tumultuous days in which we live.
He said this, in returning and rest shall ye be saved, in quietness and in confidence
shall be your strength.
Then he says, and you would not.
This returning means returning to him, God.
This rest is mental, physical, and also spiritual rest.
He knew that we needed all of them as we experience different types of exhaustion.
And then at the end he says, and ye would not.
Can he not be speaking any clearer to our day?
So this is another quote from this, which I love.
As we concentrate our hearts, and I'm just adding another way to say spirit, and our
minds, that's part of our body, on Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and listen to the
still small voice of the Holy Ghost, we will have greater clarity about what is most needful,
develop deeper compassion, and find rest and strengthen him.
Also helping God hasten his work of salvation and exaltation may require that we slow down.
Being always in motion may be adding to the commotion in our lives and robbing us of the
peace we seek.
And it always is worth mentioning when we talk about the unity between our minds and
our bodies, that is the definition of perfection.
Yeah.
Like when we're like, oh, like in the resurrection.
We're expecting us to be perfect.
And like, that's not what you think it means.
It means being able to unify these two things.
Yeah, right.
They don't have to always be in disconnect or discord with each other, but often we're
fighting that battle until we get control over it and we can let them be at peace in
the same moment, in the same space and time.
Honestly.
And Abby, I used to think that like I was winning in life when my spirit dominated my
body.
I feel like I've heard that a lot.
Because I've overcome the natural man.
Yeah.
It is kind of like when I had cancer, that's when I started thinking about it.
I was like, you know what?
Wow.
I want them to actually be equally yoked and partners like the Godhead is.
That was the first time I ever thought that maybe my spirit shouldn't be cracking a whip
to my body.
That is a fact because the way that you articulated that before that it's like your body was asking
for a moment to catch its breath and your spiritual side's like, no, you've got to push
forward.
You've got to do this thing.
Right?
That wasn't getting over it.
You missed the lesson.
If you couldn't stop in the stillness, find that it was okay to catch your breath for
a second.
Yeah.
Interesting, huh?
So what, the word still, that's popping out here.
What does that mean to you?
So I'll let you think about it so I don't just throw you under the bus on it.
But the reason that I'm asking is because he was talking about a word spoken in Japanese
and I'll do this terribly.
I know, right?
M-U-I-Mui.
That's what I would say.
I'm so sorry to our listeners if you're like, that was terrible.
But it's two characters put together.
It is nothingness and doing.
So in doing, so it is non-doing.
Much like stillness isn't just sitting without moving, non-doing is more than doing nothing.
It's stillness.
It's quiet reflection.
It's aligning our heart and our mind and our spirit and body and then aligning with God.
Love that.
Being still requires more than just making time for the Lord.
It requires letting go of our doubtful and fearful thoughts and focusing our hearts and
minds on Him.
Elder Bednar taught the Lord's admonition to be still.
Love that talk.
And entails much more than simply not talking or not moving.
Was that a whole conference ago or was it this conference?
Oh, that was a while ago.
To be still, he suggested, may be a way of reminding us to focus upon the Savior unfailingly.
Yes.
I know, right?
Those words that he taught, they're still in my heart.
I need to look back and see when he did that.
Being still is an act of faith and requires effort.
Lectures on faith states that when a man works by faith, he works by mental exertion.
President Nelson declared, our focus must be riveted on the Savior and His gospel.
It is mentally rigorous to strive to look unto Him in every thought, but when we do
our doubts and fears, flee.
And then he also said, speaking of this need to focusing of our minds, President David
O. McKay said this, so clearly since it's David O. McKay, this has been decades since
this was said.
I think we pay too little attention to the value of meditation, a principle of devotion.
Meditation is one of the most sacred doors through which we pass into the presence of
the Lord.
It's interesting too, you know, we were talking about what stillness isn't.
So number one, it requires time, making time for the Lord.
It's an act of faith.
It requires effort.
It's mental exertion.
I mean, this isn't just a passive thing, right?
This is actually putting a full body experience.
It really is.
What generation was McKay?
70s.
That's what I was thinking of.
I came to mind 70s, 50 years ago.
It's been a while.
As much as he desires our attention, the Lord, he will not force us to come to him.
He says these words, how oft will I gather you as a hen gather her chickens under a wing.
How oft will I gather you as a hen gather her chickens under her wings if you will repent
and return unto me with full purpose of heart.
That's a good little line.
How oft will I?
How oft would I?
How oft would I have?
Right, both of them.
He put all of those in there.
He did.
He asked in a question form because we are the deciding factor in this equation.
What does it look like to return often to the Lord with full purpose of heart?
You know what?
I love this talk again because he just reminds us that the gospel of Jesus Christ gives us
opportunities to return to him often.
And when I think of these things more as opportunities to return to Christ, it feels so much better
to me than just a list of suggestions to do just for the sake of doing and checking them
off.
So these opportunities include daily prayers, scripture study, the sacrament ordinance,
the Sabbath day, and also temple worship.
And I love this.
What if we were to take these sacred opportunities off our to-do lists and put them on our non-doing
lists, he says, meaning to approach them with mindfulness and focus.
So good, right?
A way different experience if they're not a check the box opportunity.
They're just a way of being.
And then we'll know when to make time for them or when there's other things that are
more needful.
That's so, you know what?
That's perfect.
We do hit on that in a little minute.
That's definitely part of it.
He goes on to say you may be thinking.
I love this part.
I don't have time for that.
I have often felt the same, he says, but let me suggest that what may be needed is not
necessarily more time, but more awareness of and focus on God during the times that
we already set aside for him.
So he's not asking us like I'm 100% on board with this.
He's suggesting we connect our mind and our body and then connect with God.
It's not that we need more things to do to feel connected, to have a covenantal connection
or even more time to do them.
It's that we are focused and mindful in the stuff we're already doing.
I love that.
That's just a shift, right?
I love this talk.
And I love that you brought that piece of it out because I'm like, I didn't zero in
on that in my passing of it, but I'm like, thank you.
You've made it possible for me to achieve that.
Just do a little better on the things I'm already doing.
Absolutely.
In a more mindful way.
Yes.
Don't try to make 26 hours out of a 24 hour day.
Amen.
Then you're just getting more tired, your body.
I think you're the expert on this question.
How could we more fully focus on God during times we already set aside for him?
Give me some how Amy has achieved this in her life.
Well, you know what?
I'm actually taking this directly from, it is so good.
Even better.
Honestly.
Just add your testimony to what he says.
He is serious.
He has five things and I feel like he hit them so perfectly.
Number one prayer.
He says when praying, what if we were to spend less time talking and more time just being
with God and when we were to speak to give more heartfelt and specific expressions of
gratitude and love, that is a way to deepen your connection during prayer.
It's not just saying prayers.
It is connecting with God.
Number two scriptures.
President Nelson has counseled that we not just read the scriptures, but savor them.
When he asks us what difference would it make if we were to do less reading and more savoring?
I love that.
What does that look like?
I don't know.
Maybe it looks like you liked a certain phrase and it you decide to take that phrase and
something you just read and you really do a deep dive in that because it seems very
pertinent to your life right then.
And that's definitely happened to me because I feel like the Lord put scriptures in our
path that are perfectly aligned with what we're going through right then.
Number three sacrament.
He asks what if we were to do more to prepare our minds to partake of the sacrament and
joyfully ponder on the blessings of the atonement of Jesus Christ during the sacred ordinance?
The fourth one Sabbath on the Sabbath, which in Hebrew means rest.
What if we were to rest from other cares and take time to sit quietly with the Lord to
pay our devotions unto him?
And then the fifth one, the temple.
During our temple worship, what if we were to make a more disciplined effort to pay attention
or if we lingered a little longer in the celestial room in quiet reflection?
That answer came to me about the temple.
I did ask the question how I could improve my temple worship and he reminded me of shortened
things and you have, you know, like you go and you don't want to be away from your kids
too long.
You have other pressures in the day.
Use that extra few minutes to just be with me in the celestial room.
Amen.
And it's been great.
That's awesome, Abby.
I love that.
Are there components of finding peace and stillness?
Like what's our part in this process?
So this is, I feel like that's a great question.
I'm still a student in this and one thing I've learned is that two things are necessary
for true connection to God and if we skip one of them, it just kind of doesn't work.
I feel like the first one is we need to connect our heart and our mind and then we connect
to God.
So when we do this properly, so it's just kind of saying the reason we connect to our
heart and our mind is so that we become centered in ourselves and then we go to God.
And I'll say what I think you're saying, you're calling me out on this, that I'm like, I opened
the scriptures and I'm like, I've opened the scriptures, I've done my part, now teach me.
When really there's more of a process of like, I've made time for this, I am ready to be
tutored.
I don't know, that kind of sounds like the same thing, but I'm feeling that it's different.
I'm having a hard time articulating.
I think it's just being present and not being on autopilot.
I do so many things in my life on autopilot.
There are sometimes I'll get to the grocery store and I'm like, wow, I don't remember even
making a left turn, here I am.
Do you know what I mean?
And so when we read our scriptures on autopilot, it just kind of doesn't work as well.
Which is a hard thing because a lot of us have to be scheduled like the first thing
that you do in the morning, it's a prayer or it's a scripture.
Oh, and you still do it.
And yeah, just to like get control over my natural mind tendency to like go about and
be doing a million other things than if I schedule it, then I'm doing it that way.
But then it becomes more checkboxy.
Totally.
And actually that's what we're going to be really there to be tutored.
I'm just doing it.
Yeah, needed to be done.
Yeah.
And then things like blessings are still going to come from reading the scripture.
Somehow it's going to come up.
But you're telling me that he's telling us that when we can make that connection with
the heart and mind first, there's much more power that can be unlocked here.
That's what I've learned in my life.
That's where I am right now.
When done properly, we cannot help but feel peace because we have connected to the true
source of peace at that point.
And President Nelson has said repeatedly, he's pled with us to make time for the Lord
in our lives each and every day.
He reminds us that quiet time is sacred time and that it will facilitate personal revelation
and instill peace.
But to hear the still small voice or the voice of the Lord, he counseled you to must be still.
How are we going to do this?
This sounds like action item time.
It does.
So, okay.
One of the ways to do this is through breath.
A beautiful way to connect our mind and body and our spirit is to take three deep breaths
in before praying or reading scriptures.
That's a great idea.
This slows us physically and mentally.
And also the breath is the bridge from the spiritual body to the physical body.
So it literally does connect them.
Then we connect to God through prayer or scripture study.
And I would like to add this is a very acceptable thing to do in a group setting or congregation
because it's just for you and nobody notices it.
The second way you could do is take one hand and put it on your heart, the other hand and
put it on your belly and breathe in a few times.
This is a physical way of asking the body and mind to be in sync.
And it helps to be mindful and focused in our next task.
Now this might sound totally funny.
I know like 10 years ago me would be like, what are you even talking about?
But it really can't hurt.
And just give it a try next time you sit down for personal scripture reading or personal
prayer and see if you notice a difference.
Another idea is pondering or meditation.
This would be pondering on a scripture that you read, a general conference talk or a line
in your own patriarchal blessing.
Maybe there's a teaching you'd love to understand on a deeper level.
You could sit quietly with hymns or instrumental music playing and take a few breaths, start
with a prayer to help your own thoughts move out of the forefront and open your minds to
God's will and His direction.
Then hold the line or the question in your mind and see what comes to your heart.
And taking this from Elder Scott, I have a pencil or note tabs, a note app nearby to
capture what the spirit teaches you in this quiet moment of returning to God.
And notes app if you're using electronic, but I really was thinking like a little post-it
note with a question in mind before I go into the scriptures.
Love that.
It could be a game changer.
Oh yeah.
Because if I'm maybe working my way through the Doctrine and Covenants this year or I'm
popping back into the Book of Mormon, whatever answer I'm looking for can be on whatever
page that he wants to lead me to.
But it's more special when you've asked the question in advance and then he leads you
to the answer.
I agree.
And as we're studying the Doctrine and Covenants that remember these revelations came because
of good questions.
Exactly.
And you know what's so interesting that you say this Abby, just today I was reminded,
I was taught this years and years ago, maybe it's been a decade, I don't remember.
But when Elder Bednar said, ask inspired questions, that's what it is.
It's when we're quiet and reflective, then the spirit can help us like you said with
that inspired question on the note tab.
And then there's just a beautiful connection that happens with that, right?
Because first the spirit touches your heart and you ask the question, then the Lord answers
you and it's just...
He's a masterful teacher and what I've learned from him over the years is like, that's true.
We should ask inspired questions, but sometimes just ask a crappy question.
Start with that.
And demonstrate your willingness to know the process and how that's going to work.
I love that.
And I would wager a good bet that the questions that you start asking aren't going to be the
questions you end with.
That will lead to further better questions.
Start somewhere.
Totally.
That's awesome, Abby.
I really like that.
Crappy questions are great.
I'm asking them all the time.
Start somewhere, right?
Yes, I do too.
And then the last one is just a guided meditation app.
It's great because...
Or a visualization.
Because it's a great way to be gently directed in your thought process.
It leaves part of your brain open to listening to the recorded words that someone's guiding
you through while also leaving part of your brain open to receiving inspiration and to
dream from the Holy Ghost.
So like the one before I talked about, that's all on you.
This one, there's a little bit of help.
I would say you actually are an expert on this stuff.
You've taken extra courses on it.
You've shared this gift with a lot of people.
And I feel like we've kind of steered clear of that skill set that you have.
We've stuck to this podcast as being for current general conference talks and what it will
do to bring us closer to Jesus Christ.
But I've watched the Spirit work on you and the skill set that you have, and He's impressed
you to write some meditations.
And we've shared that that exists in the podcast world, closer to Christ through guided visualizations
is what we call it.
And trying to take that terminology that we're hearing being spoken over the pulpit.
And I know that when we've mentioned meditations in the past, we've said, you know, if that
seems kind of woo-woo to you, put it on a metaphorical bookshelf, and if the time ever
feels right to kind of pick that back up.
But I'm hearing it more and more, think you're hearing it more and more.
It's definitely something, it's time in this chaotic, wild, crazy world to slow down a
little bit more.
This is something that has been spoken about since the 70s by Elder McKay.
But it's kind of, I feel like the lever has been flipped on.
That's a tool that we all can benefit from to have in our arsenal right now, because
it calms the storm in a very chaotic, fast paced world.
So, a plug.
Amy's podcast is amazing.
And she's got, I mean, would you say this talk itself inspired quite a few meditations?
Oh, yeah, I could definitely defy from this.
Yeah.
So good.
So stay tuned for the ones, like what were you thinking they would be maybe on prayer?
Yes, the prayer scriptures, sacrament, Sabbath and temple.
And you have a beautiful one in there on the sacrament already, but it'll be a little different
take on that.
All kind of preparatory to going into those experiences.
And if you've never done a meditation before, or it's just not your thing, I would just
say like that would be my action item to you is to give it a roll.
I will put a link to like, I don't know, whichever one I think is most pertinent to this particular
talk.
But that'll be in the show notes and that'll link you over to the podcast.
And if it's something that you find value in, then you follow that show and then you'll
know as things come up.
The way that guided visualizations work is that you tend to use the same ones over and
over again, maybe to the point where you can kind of walk yourself through.
But like the music and stuff that's behind it is helpful in calming your breathing, finding
yourself in the present and then opening your mind to like what I would consider a more
direct channel to God.
Love that Abby.
And you know, also in thinking, you know, you said we've been talking about this since
the 70s.
You know, the quote we have from Elder McKay or President McKay was from then, if you take
it all the way back to Adam and Eve, I am pretty certain that Heavenly Father wanted
them to have a mind and a body that were connected.
That's the whole reason we came to earth.
The whole reason that this earth was provided for us is so that we could come and have an
actual body experience.
Whereas before in the pre-mortal existence, all of it was great ideas.
It was all theoretically wonderful.
But when you have a body, it just takes it to the next level.
And it also makes it more difficult because you have two things that you're trying to
get in sync before you just had the spirit.
So I love that part of it.
That's an internal concept, because when we have the resurrection, that's going to be
part of it as well.
We need to all be together.
Any last thoughts?
So when we focus as less on doing and more on strengthening our covenant connection with
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, this is his testimony.
He says, I testify that sacred moments will be enriched and we will receive the guidance
needed in our personal lives.
Like Martha and the account in Luke, are often careful, oh sorry, we like Martha in the account
of Luke, are often careful and troubled about many things.
However, as we commune with the Lord each day, He will help us to know what is most
needful, just like you said earlier.
The Savior took time from His ministry to be still.
He says the scriptures are replete with examples.
And I clicked on that reference.
He referenced eight different accounts of this in the scriptures, where the Lord retreated
to a solitary place, a mountain, the wilderness, a desert place, or going a little way off
to pray to the Father.
If Jesus Christ sought quiet time to commune with God and to be strengthened by Him, it
would be wise for us to do the same.
That's it.
That's a wrap.
That's a lot to think about.
But we hope you have the opportunity to invite the Holy Ghost to distill in your mind, like
what pieces and parts are there for you right now.
We'll catch you on the next one.
See you next time.
God bless you.