“Keep Thy Soul Diligently”

Remembering spiritual experiences and staying faithful to them doesn’t just happen. It requires intentional effort on our part.

As the children of Israel prepared to enter the promised land, Moses gave them a warning:

Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;

Deuteronomy 4:9

King Benjamin provided similar counsel to his people immediately after they experienced an extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit of the Lord:

If ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish…. Remember, and perish not.

Mosiah 4:30

And in modern times, the Lord has given us similar counsel:

Beware concerning yourselves, to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life.

Doctrine and Covenants 84:43

Elder Ronald A. Rasband has provided specific counsel about how to retain the benefits of spiritual experiences over time:

I encourage you now, to recall, especially in times of crisis, when you felt the Spirit and your testimony was strong; remember the spiritual foundations you have built….

Ponder the scriptures regularly, and remember the thoughts and feelings you experience as you read them…. Attend Church meetings, especially sacrament meeting, and partake of the sacrament and renew covenants, including the promise to always remember the Savior, that His Spirit may ever be with you….

Share your testimony with your family; encourage them to remember how they felt when they recognized the Spirit in their lives and to record those feelings in journals and personal histories so that their own words may, when needed, bring to their remembrance how good the Lord has been to them.

“Lest Thou Forget,” General Conference, October 2016

Today, I will diligently “keep [my] soul.” I will remember experiences in which I have felt close to God. I will strive to act in a way that is consistent with those experiences. I will share those experiences with my children and encourage them to preserve and protect their own spiritual foundation as well.