Spiritual Nutrients

There are many scriptures that compare the word of God to food or nourishment. It may be useful to consider some of the ways that the word of God can provide nutrients to our spirits in much the same way that food provides nutrients to our bodies. When we eat, our body is incapable of absorbing 100% of the energy, vitamins and minerals. A lot of what we eat ends up going to waste. In a similar way, we can't expect that our spirits will be able to absorb 100% of the truths contained in a certain passage of scriptures. We read the same scriptures and teach the same lessons in church over and over for the same reasons that we eat the same kinds of foods over and over. When we eat an apple, we get the same sets of carbohydrates and amino acids every time, but we keep eating apples because we continue to need those nutrients. In the same way, we read John 3:16 or Proverbs 3:5 over and over because our spirits need those same kinds of truths over and over again. In a similar vein, just as every body's metabolism and immune systems are different, to the point that the same food that will make one person feel great will make another curl up into a ball of pain, so too are our spirits' metabolisms all different from each other's. We may struggle with certain doctrines that make total sense to someone else. We may find it easy to keep a commandment that someone else never seems to manage. Just as dealing with lactose intolerance or a peanut allergy doesn't make us a bad person, neither does struggling to understand or obey certain commandments or gospel principles. In the same way that we can be envious of someone who can eat a whole tub of ice cream and never gain a single pound, or on the other hand, beat ourselves up because we eat right and work out but can never seem to put on any muscle, we may just as easily be tempted to envy those who seem to be able to serve in their community or sit through a church service without any visible signs of struggle, or, worse yet, with obvious signs of enjoyment. In the same way that we can't help how our bodies process gluten or potassium, we can't help how our spirits process scriptures on faith or covetousness. Not all scriptures and commandments are going to hit each of us in the same way, but if we can make sure that we are giving our spirits a well balanced meal of the word of God, day after day, we will find the strength to keep following our Savior with our Spirits' full and well nourished.