The Importance of "Being There"

And here's another family blog post centered around my Old Testament study! :)

One thing that really stood out to me this week during my study was Moses traveling up to Mount Sinai to receive further instruction from the Lord for the Israelites in Exodus 24:12. When the Lord instructs Moses to meet with Him, He says: "be there". I thought about this phrase and I soon realized its significance:

We can physically be present somewhere, and actually not be there. We could be attending a temple session or a sacrament meeting, and our minds could be elsewhere. We could be in the act of reading our scriptures but feel absolutely nothing.

I went to a young adult Valentine's dance last night, and I had the opportunity of speaking to a friend I hadn't seen in almost a year. She spoke about university classes and how crazy it had been for her this past year. She then admitted that school had influenced her negatively. Due to this, she became past feeling to the soft, spiritual promptings that come from the Spirit. Eventually, she didn't feel anything at church. Then she stopped attending. Lately, however, she's been doing better spiritually, and I think she's finally attending church again. My friend had allowed outside influences to bring her to the point where she wasn't there. 

I find it interesting that the Lord told Moses to "be there" as if He were asking him to not just physically meet with Him, but to be spiritually and emotionally prepared to receive the instruction He would give him. Part of that preparation is not allowing outside influences to numb our spiritual and mental sensitivity.

When the Lord calls us forth for something or we're given another responsibility or we need to learn something new, we need to be mentally, emotionally and spiritually "there" to take in what we need to to the fullest extent, and we need to make the effort to get "there". Otherwise, we limit ourselves in our progression and receiving the Lord's guidance. In a way, this limits Him, too. We need to give Him our all if we are to receive all that He wishes to give us. :)

- Madison xxx