Preserves

The Lord says that He shall preserve His people. Preserves are a way to keep fruit from rotting or going bad. The way this work is there is so much sugar added to the fruit that bacteria and other microbes can’t handle the overwhelming sweetness and are unable to spread or multiply. The Lord preserves us in a similar way. When we are so completely filled with the sweetness of the Spirit, Satan and his minions have no way to spread or multiply their miseries in our lives. Both Nephi and Abinadi in the Book of Mormon are examples of being so filled with the Spirit that the wicked could not even touch them without being violently thrown off. The more we immerse ourselves in learning and living the Gospel, the more we invite the Holy Ghost to be our constant companion, the more completely we are filled with the sweet, preserving influence of the Spirit. There are a lot of things in this world that want to steal our happiness, destroy our peace, wound our hearts and poison our minds. Like microscopic bacteria, we may not even notice when the rot first starts to creep in, but unless we are being preserved by the Lord, the rot will soon start to spread until we have become fully corrupt.