Ships and Prairie Dogs

Sister Blair taught the lesson in Relief Society today and shared a poem that her mother had tacked up in the bathroom when she was growing up.  I really liked it! I'm sharing it from memory, so I hope she'll forgive me if I get a word or two wrong, but it went like this:

All the water in all the world
No matter how it tried,
Could never sink the smallest ship
Unless it got inside.

The lesson was about repentance and she related how that poem compares to sin.  All the wickedness in the world can't bring us down unless it gets inside us.

Last week as I was driving on Highway 67, I took particular notice of the prairie dogs.  Some of them have holes far away in the fields, but some of them have made their homes very near the road.  They sit by their holes at the edge of the highway and watch the cars go by.  I thought about the fact that I drive that stretch of road almost every day, and there is almost always a dead prairie dog on it somewhere.  I considered how that compares to our lives and how much safer we'll be if we live far away from the edge of the road, so to speak.  We can't live on the edge, watching the ways of the world and daring to dash into the road from time to time.  It's a deadly game.

Elder Robert D. Hales gave a talk, “Out of Darkness into His Marvelous Light,” Ensign, May 2002, 69
Here is a portion of it:

"This past winter I had the opportunity to learn more about my lungs. I became very aware that we cannot store oxygen. We cannot save the air we need to breathe, no matter how hard we try. Moment by moment, breath by breath, our lives are granted to us and are renewed. So it is with spiritual light. It must be renewed in us on a regular basis. We must generate it day by day, thought by thought, and with daily righteous action if we are to keep the darkness of the adversary away.
When I was a boy, I used to ride my bicycle home from basketball practice at night. I would connect a small pear-shaped generator to my bicycle tire. Then as I pedaled, the tire would turn a tiny rotor, which produced electricity and emitted a single, welcome beam of light. It was a simple but effective mechanism. But I had to pedal to make it work! I learned quickly that if I stopped pedaling my bicycle, the light would go out. I also learned that when I was “anxiously engaged” 17 in pedaling, the light would become brighter and the darkness in front of me would be dispelled.
The generation of spiritual light comes from daily spiritual pedaling. It comes from praying, studying the scriptures, fasting, and serving—from living the gospel and obeying the commandments. “He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light,” 18 said the Lord, “and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.” 19 My brothers and sisters, that perfect day will be when we will stand in the presence of God the Father and Jesus Christ.
Sometimes people ask, “Why do I have to go to sacrament meeting?” or “Why do I have to live the Word of Wisdom, pay tithing? Why can’t I have one foot in Babylon?” May I tell you why? Because spiritual pedaling takes both feet! Unless you are fully engaged in living the gospel—living it with all of your “heart, might, mind and strength” 20—you cannot generate enough spiritual light to push back the darkness.
And in this world, the darkness is never far away. In fact, it is always just around the corner, waiting for an opportunity to come in. “If thou doest not well,” the Lord said, “sin lieth at the door.” 21
It is as predictable as any physical law: if we let the light of the Spirit flicker or fade by failing to keep the commandments or by not partaking of the sacrament or praying or studying the scriptures, the darkness of the adversary will surely come in. “That wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience.” 22
In the scriptures we read that some individuals “grope in the dark without light” and “stagger like a drunken man.” 23 Stumbling along, we may become accustomed to the dimness of our surroundings and forget how glorious it is to walk in the light"

We can't live with one foot in Babylon or our ships will sink!  Thankfully, there is repentance for when we have let sin in.  If you missed the lesson today, you can find it by clicking here.