My talk is from Elder Uchdorf's conferene talk, Daily Restoration.
According to Elder Uchdorf, we need a restart, a daily infusion of heavenly light, times of refreshing. We as members of the Church strive to do better as human beings in all we do by following Christ. I believe that Elder Uchdorf speaks for all of us that have chosen to live the Gospel when he said it is an honor to walk the straight and narrow path together.
The analogy of walking the straight and narrow path is actually a very focused state. I got thinking back to when I used to go to Aerobic classes at the gym. We, the participants of the class, would get in our regular spots(much like sitting at the same desk in class). I found that during the routine, many people start relocating backwards a little at a time, while I was of the other few who tends to move forward. This can create personal space problems. It was an easy fix. I just always took the front row.
With spiritual and life choices, we can begin to move sideways or even backwards, often without realizing it, getting distracted or choosing to do things we think is not so bad. Before we know it, we are not on the straight and narrow path any longer. Elder Uchdorf talks about the theory that people who are lost will walk in circles. Scientists at the Plank Institute for Biological Cybernetics did an experiment to test this theory. (Quite a scientific university title to be working on proving that we are a bunch of dizzy heads running in circles).
So, some participants were put in a thick forest and told to walk in a straight line. They were given no other instructions, no maps, or landmarks. We learn from this that people do walk in circles. There is still speculation on why this is true but for certain we know that without reliable landmarks, we will drift. This describes us physically as well to our spirituality. As we drift little by little, we can end up where we never intended to be. This happens, not only to us individually, but in our societies and nations. The scriptures are packed with stories that are examples.
In the book of Judges in the Bible, after Joshua died, just one generation following, gave up all his faith in God, despite seeing miracles. Haven't we seen that in our own current history? Don't we see that happen today? We have read the tragic price they paid for those choices.
I have wondered how we as Gods people we can experience miracles and then fall so far away from the Gospel. I had joined the church in Germany when I had met the missionaries there. There is a great deal more to my conversion story but that is for another time and some of you have heard it. We were a small branch of 16 active members at that time. Lots of great experiences there. A few years later, the branch president that we had so many great memories with him, his family, and our branch family, told me he was transferring to Korea, getting excommunicated and divorced. I was thrown. I asked him how he could have the knowledge of the Gospel, a great family, and had experienced the blessings and promises of the temple, could of fallen so far. He explained to me that it was not something that happens overnight. He did not just decide one day to be this other person. It was a process of one step at a time. Seemingly nonsignificant steps, which went to the next and next. He gave me more detail than my brain wanted to hold. But I realized without staying focused on the straight and narrow path, any of us could fall into that trap.
It is a fact; we as human beings tend to wander. But all is not lost! Heavenly Father has given us landmarks and we don't have just to wander. These landmarks are daily prayer, pondering scriptures, using inspired tools such as, Come Follow Me. We have been given and extra Sabbath day hour to study and pray with our families, Or if you are alone extra one on one time with Heavenly Father. If we feel a wandering coming on, we can plead to him daily to keep from drifting.
This is what Elder Uchdorf is talking about, personal daily restoration! We are given a daily chance to have a daily renewal. When dark things of life begin to pull us off the path, turn to the Lord and look to his landmarks that he has provided and get back to the path. Daily! Read about how it takes small rudders to move large ships.
As Elder Uchdorf points out, Heavenly Father is a God of new beginnings and by turning to him we can become new creatures with our new beginnings, get back on that course and receive our daily restoration.