Spiritual Debris

The prophet has invited us to remove spiritual debris from our lives. I am reminded of the parable of the sower, who cast some seeds among stony ground, and the seeds quickly withered away because they had no roots due to the stones taking up space. If there are parts of the gospel that we are struggling to accept or even understand, if our testimonies are weak in certain areas, we may need to examine the soil of our souls and identify and remove any stones or weeds that are choking out our faith and spiritual progression. It takes work and courage and hope to take a look at our lives and really determine whether certain of our beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes our in harmony with growing our seeds of faith. Not all of the debris may be sinful or harmful. The prophet was inspired by the work being done on the Salt Lake Temple. At one time the tree roots and pipes that are now being removed as debris were of the highest quality and deemed suitable and lovely enough for the house of the Lord. But time and wear and a renewed vision of what the temple could be has required their removal. Not all of our spiritual debris comes from bad choices or flaws or weaknesses in our character, but as our seed of faith grows greater and greater, we will need to make more and more room. As we grow line upon line, what was one necessary is no longer needed, the old way of doing things is holding us back from a more perfect way. And the lessons we learn today may need to be removed as debris in twenty years as we grow even closer to our Savior.