Spiritual Vision

Today’s topic is pulled from the recent talk given by Elder Massimo De Feo titled 'Rise. He Calleth Thee.'  Have you ever felt a tug at your heart, calling you to a clearer spiritual path, but you just couldn't see the way forward? That's where our conversation starts as Cydni and Sher share their favorite insights from the talk. How could the blind man see what others could not?  How could he recognize Christ when others could not?  How could he faithfully throw off his beggar's coat before he was healed?  It was through his spiritual sight. Today’s topic is 'Spiritual Vision,' and we are so glad you are here!

This Week's Challenge
Our challenge this week is to do something to improve your spiritual vision, whether it's spending time reading the scriptures or spending time in true prayer with God. Just like the man was required to ask of Christ what was obvious, we challenge you to also go in prayer and ask what you need, even if it feels obvious.

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Show Notes

Drip-Drip Drop, Words and  Music by  Matt Hoiland
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Transcript

Sher: 0:01

This is Cydni and I'm Sher, and each week we get together to share with you a message of hope.

Cydni: 0:06

It is through our own study and our personal experiences that we offer the reminder to not only seek the light, but be the light, you can find peace and there is hope and as long as one of us is slightly caffeinated, there will be laughter. This week's episode is Spiritual Vision, and we're so glad you're here.

Sher: 0:35

Al right, Cydni. Tod ay we're going to talk about spiritual vision, and we got this idea from the talk by Elder DeFeo entitled Rise. He Calleth Thee and he separated his talk into three parts. The first one is focus on Jesus Christ and stay true to what we know to be true. The second is leave the natural man behind, repent, begin a new life in Christ. The third is hear the voice of the Lord and allow him to guide us. So we're going to go ahead and start with the first one, which is focus on Jesus Christ. Sydney, take it away.

Cydni: 1:05

Well, I did love the beginning of his talk because he starts with asking his wife hey, how is it that we've never had any big challenges? And she said well, honey, it's because you have a terrible memory.

Cydni: 1:17

And I loved that one because I related to it, and then I also thought, oh, he's living in spiritual denial and I felt like I might know more about spiritual denial than spiritual vision, because I have such horrible allergies that my eyes, when I wake up, are very, very, very blurry and I've always had 20-20 vision, never a problem. But the last two days I try to open up my dry, allergied eyes and I look over at our clock and I can't really see the time too well, and so I've gotten up two days in a row about an hour and a half earlier than I needed to.

Cydni: 1:51

And that's funny. I think it's hilarious, and nobody's nicer than me when I get up too early and I'm lacking sleep. I'm just a ball of joy, a total ray of sunshine. My poor, poor family. So I thought vision it's important, especially when you don't want to get up too early. But I've been getting up too early. I kid you, I go back to bed and I wake up late. Okay, I did love this talk.

Sher: 2:16

Yeah, that's why we're doing this, is because you're like I love this talk. I didn't even have a choice, she just bulldozed me. Didn't even have a choice, she just bulldozed me. I said okay, sydney, whatever you want.

Cydni: 2:30

I was like an angel appeared to me in my imagination and this is what he said to me. To do this All right, I think that it would be wise to start with the story that he talks about the blind man that is found in Mark 10. The story is about Bartimaeus, who is blind, and he's just sitting on this highway side begging, and this is what it says. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace. But he cried the more, a great deal. Thou, son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man, saying unto him be of good comfort, rise. He calleth thee and he, casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered him and said unto him what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way.

Cydni: 3:30

I wasn't planning on reading the whole thing there, but it's a good story. So I did. Can I just share this thought? As I have been learning more about podcasting and preparing, I have found it incredibly valuable that if someone shares the verse or a story from the scriptures, if you go read it for yourself as we've just talked about the power in the scriptures there really is a real power and so many things open up to your mind personally, and if the story sticks out to you, it's for a reason. To me, I believe, it's a call to go read it.

Cydni: 3:59

This whole talk stuck out to me and I went and I've read the story three times now and so many thoughts have come to my mind personally that have made this even more personal and I wanted to share a few. One is the thought that Elder DeFeo shares. He says thou son of David, he doesn't say son of Joseph. So what he's saying is that the blind man knew it was Christ.

Cydni: 4:21

I loved that point. I also love so much this sentence be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. And I thought, just for our own personal life, remembering be of good comfort, rise he calleth thee, to remember that Christ is calling us in our own personal way, in our own personal life, that he is calling to us personally, and then I love that he cast away his garment. That's what the whole talk is about is throwing off your beggar's cloak that he had so much faith that he said I am done with this, I'm done with the old me, I'm throwing it off. And he did that before he was healed. How does that make you feel that is a lot of faith.

Sher: 5:00

He had so much faith. He knew it was Christ and he knew he could be healed. He got rid of the old him before he could see.

Cydni: 5:06

Christ Exactly, and I felt so much hesitation and fear actually when I read it, because I know that's not my strength. I'm more of a well, I don't know. Let me just keep this cloak on stay warm a little longer.

Cydni: 5:19

Let's just see how it goes. He was so faithful to be willing to throw off his cloak before he's even healed and before he could see Christ. He knew it was Christ. And the final takeaway that I had, before we get really into this talk, was that we are told over and over to ask and we will receive. What I found interesting is that I am very confident that Christ knew he did not have a sight and yet he still asked the man what wilt thou have me do? And I feel like this is a really important lesson for us to think about, because so many times I think we want to be healed of something and it feels like God already knows what it is, but we are told to ask. We are told to ask and ask again so many times. And then it's proven right here that Christ sees a blind man and he says hey, what do you want from me? What's he going to say? Like, I need a new pair of shoes. It's obvious. This was a really important lesson for me to think about. When is the last time that I've actually asked for something that may have felt obvious?

Cydni: 6:22

Those are my biggest takeaways, but in my studying I did have the thought how do we strengthen our physical eyes as it is? So I watched a very long YouTube video of an eye doctor explaining how to improve your physical eyesight and I thought, first off, who does that if you don't need to? But that was the point of this, is that sometimes we don't do things until it's maybe too late. And so I felt that way, just with our spiritual vision, that sometimes we don't think about improving it until you're in the dark. So here's a few thoughts that I have, because he shared four things to do to improve your physical eyes.

Cydni: 6:59

First thing, he said go to a real doctor. If you go to a place where they're selling glasses, chances are you're going to leave with glasses because they want you to buy glasses, and so I really thought that was so funny to go to a real eye doctor. He said it will take longer, but it will be a real appointment and you won't leave with glasses if you don't need to. So I loved that. He also said whatever your prescription is, to go a little bit beneath it. I don't know eye numbers, but if, let's say, the prescription is 0.75, he said to go to 0.5. Really, the reason is that if you rely on and this is just one eye doctor, so talk to your real eye doctor. He said that if you go lower, then your eye muscles will keep working and you could improve your eyesight. If you don't, they get weaker and then you'll go up in prescription.

Sher: 7:49

Isn't that interesting it is. I've gone up in prescription since I was in third grade, so it might be true.

Cydni: 7:53

Keep it coming, he said, to install an eye chart in your home and practice. And the last one, he said, was to sleep in the dark. He said there was a study done at the University of Pennsylvania where they did sleep studies on children. If there was a nightlight or the door was cracked open just a little bit for light coming in, there was a higher percentage of all of those children needing glasses in the future. But if they slept in the dark it was phenomenal for their vision. What Is this? A bunch of baloney. It's on YouTube, so it must be true. In his title.

Sher: 8:26

If it is true, apparently I blew all of them and it has nothing to do with genetics, because we're all blind. Yes, you should have slept in the dark more.

Cydni: 8:33

Get that nightlight out of your room.

Sher: 8:34

I thought I did. I didn't have a nightlight.

Cydni: 8:38

You know what, maybe he's not even a real doctor. Maybe he is. But that point here is that I was trying to listen to this while thinking about improving our spiritual vision and I thought, okay, go to a real doctor. What does that mean spiritually? That means go to the real source of peace. I feel like there's so many options out there and there's good options like podcast, follow us on social media. So there are good options. But if you're spending all your time you're not going to be able to do that watching YouTube and listening to podcasts and not going to the real source, not spending time in your real prayer, not spending time in your own scripture study, then you're missing out. So go to a real source of your own personal, real testimony and real relationship with God. Then he said go beneath your prescription.

Cydni: 9:25

To me, that thought understand that you're going to be challenged spiritually. Things are not going to just be easy at the exact temperature that you want. All of the time You're going to be stretched. But understand that's for your ultimate good, long-term Install a chart. To me, I thought that means spend time in your scriptures, spend time practicing for times when you will be in the dark and finally, I love the sleep in the dark so much I thought if he says that the dark is phenomenal for your vision, then the dark has to be phenomenal for our very souls. I think we are put in the dark on purpose, to help us improve our testimonies and help us rely on God. I believe it's when we cannot see anything that our testimonies grow, see anything, that our testimonies grow, that we start to rely on God's footsteps and his hands in our life, because we don't have a different choice. And that reminds me of a quote that I remember I printed on paper that had clouds in the background. Do you remember that paper? Of course.

Cydni: 10:25

Like every teen had it, the soft blue paper with clouds. This is what I printed at my friend's house.

Cydni: 10:30

When you come to the edge of all the light you've known and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown. Faith is knowing. One of two things will happen you will have something solid to stand on or you will be taught how to fly. I've always loved that thought for faith. Sometimes I just want things to happen and I just want oh no, not. Sometimes I always just want things to just happen the way I want them to happen and I want an angel to appear to me and just tell me what I need to do and the choices that I need to make. I feel like that would be so much easier. It would be easier. That is not how our faith is going to improve. Our faith is going to improve when we are in the dark and we have to rely on God and we have to rely on his plan and we have to follow him.

Sher: 11:11

I think it's interesting too when you're talking about sleeping in the dark or being in the dark. The doctor said it will help your vision when you're older. It made me think about how, when you're younger, you start building that foundation and as you get older and your foundation starts to be rocked a little bit, it's not just going to crumble, because you started it from when you were a child. Now I know not everyone has had the opportunity to be a follower of Christ since they were young, Maybe it's older. But whenever it starts, whenever the darkness starts to peel off your eyes and you start to see that light, that's when your foundation is starting and I think that's really important to continue to work on that throughout your life, no matter your age, so that you can continue to grow, so when trials happen or darkness happens, that you will be able to see your way through it.

Cydni: 11:59

I love that so much and I had the thought as well that it doesn't have to be when you're a child to start these things. They're all meant to start wherever you are. You can start praying to God now. You can start practicing your faith and practicing connecting and reading one verse now, and so everything that was listed you can start now. Even if it's just an attitude of I accept that I'm in the dark right now and I'm not receiving answers. I accept that I am placed here and what am I to learn? No matter where you're at in your life, you could do things to improve your physical eye muscles. You could also improve your spiritual vision as well, no matter where you are in your life.

Sher: 12:38

This leads us to our next one, which is leave the natural man behind, repent and begin a new life in Christ. I thought this was kind of funny because when I was growing up and we would learn at church about the natural man, the scripture that always popped into my mind was in Mosiah, chapter 3, verse 19. And it says for the natural man is an enemy to God and has been from the fall of Adam and will be forever and ever. And that's about as far as I'd get in the scripture, because then my mind would wander off and I would always think to myself why is the natural man an enemy to God? I thought that was just so mean that God didn't like the natural man. Because in my brain natural man meant authentic or genuine, and so I never got past the rest of that scripture. I was always stuck on why does God not like authentic, natural, genuine people?

Sher: 13:25

But the rest of the scripture is what's important.

Sher: 13:28

It explains what God wants us to get rid of, and it is the natural man is an enemy of God, unless I didn't get to the unless part unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ, the Lord, and becometh, as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child does submit to his father.

Sher: 13:57

So natural man means you're getting rid of all the worldly baggage that you're carrying around and you're turning your life and your soul and your trust and your faith. You're turning it all over to God. And in the story of Bartimaeus the beggar's coat is symbolizing the natural man. Notice, as Sidney pointed out, that before he was healed he threw off that beggar's coat. He needed to get rid of that coat so that he could become something better. He knew when he turned his life over to Christ he was not only going to be able to see physically, but his whole entire life was going to become better and changed.

Cydni: 14:34

I love that and I thought that it's interesting, the whole story that Christ is there and the man calls to Christ. Christ answers, then the man runs to him. I feel that has to be the same for us. He is there for us. We are the ones that need to call out and he will answer, and then we need to run to him.

Sher: 14:53

Yeah, absolutely, and I think that's why that story stuck with us both. So much is because the whole symbolism is so beautiful. As I was reading about the natural man and repenting and starting a new life with Christ, I thought of two things. The first one is we are sent here on earth to get control over ourselves. In a previous episode I talked about George Washington and his rules of civility. So at the age of 14, George Washington felt that he was too rebellious and he wasn't disciplined enough. At 14, that is amazing to me.

Cydni: 15:24

I know because I have a 14 year old. So what have we done so wrong? Could his mom write a book? I need to read it. Is it on audio?

Sher: 15:30

What have we done so wrong. Could his mom write a book? I need to read it. Is it on audio?

Sher: 15:32

So he wrote down 110 rules of how he should act every single day to gain complete control over himself. It was manners in society as well as following God and Christ. Elder DeFeo said gaining control is done by repenting and making and keeping covenants with God, and this is what will allow us to rise to a better life through Christ is by doing those things. The second thing this reminded me of is teaching.

Sher: 16:00

When I first started teaching, we had positive and negative consequences. Then, as time went on, some people believed that the negative consequences were too severe, which you know. They're probably right. But basically, in our effort to get rid of severe negative consequences, the education system has pretty much completely got rid of negative consequences, to the point now that there's only positive consequences. So, for example, you're just supposed to say when kids come to class on time thank you for coming to class on time. Here's a reward. Thank you for doing your work here's a reward. Thank you for not curb checking little Susie's head again, here's a reward. I mean it's ridiculous, because that's all we're supposed to do, which I didn't.

Cydni: 16:41

And I'm over here like I wish I got a reward. Can I get a reward for folding socks?

Sher: 16:45

All you have to do is go to your nearest public school, fold socks in the classroom, and they will give you a reward for that.

Cydni: 16:51

I'm willing to try this out.

Sher: 16:57

You might as well try, it'll probably be a little electronic ticket and you can go to the school store. Go to the school store and buy the Starburst. It'll be great. Fold those socks. Ms Bingham will give you all the rewards you want.

Cydni: 17:04

This is called a charant, oops. I didn't even say it was a charant.

Sher: 17:14

It's so bad in the classroom now that if a student starts freaking out in the room, what you're supposed to do as a teacher is to remove yourself and the students out of the classroom so nobody gets hurt and the student can just destroy the entire classroom. You call for help. People will come in and say what's wrong, johnny, did you need something to eat? While he destroys your room. If you don't believe this, ask your kids, ask a teacher. It's ridiculous, unless you have a brave administrator who's willing to have lawyers breathing down their neck all the time, all right. So the point is what this is teaching our youth is that they can do whatever they want and whenever they want, and they don't need to learn that self-control. That is the absolute opposite of what God wants.

Sher: 17:56

God wants us to gain 100% control, because that means that we are responsible enough to have 100% freedom, and 100% freedom of choice. That's our agency. He wants us to have all of our agency available all the time, and this is done by getting that control over yourself, by repenting, making and keeping covenants with God. And then, if we go to the scripture in Messiah 3, verse 19, the natural man is an enemy to God unless you listen to the Holy Spirit, accept the atonement of Christ. The Lord becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient and full of love. That's how we gain that control over ourself and that's what God wants. He wants us to have that so that we can continue to have 100% of all of our choices and agency available to us.

Cydni: 18:40

I was feeling a little guilty because I was thinking of times that I've asked my kids to do a chore and they're like, what will we get for it? And I thought, you know, maybe they shouldn't get anything for it. But there are times where I'm like, okay, if everyone does chores today, we maybe they shouldn't get anything for it, but there are times where I'm like, okay, if everyone does chores today, we'll go do this together. I think that, just like the list of how to improve your physical eyes, it's a long-term plan and a long-term payoff. There has to be some correcting to understand that you do this because it's the right thing to do, and the resilience, honor and character building that will take place by just learning how to take care of your stuff and to take care of yourself will then equal a long-term benefit that it means more than starburst for five class points.

Sher: 19:22

Exactly, and to that there's nothing wrong with positive rewards Positive rewards are really good but you also have to have the negative. When a line is crossed, there has to be some sort of negative consequence or else they'll never learn. And if you don't learn this as a young kid, you're going to learn it when you're older and the consequences are much more severe. For example, the extreme from my students is they end up in jail or they end up getting killed or they end up causing hurt and conflict in their families. If we don't get those corrections, it's just going to get worse, and I've worked at the same school long enough that I've seen those positive and negative consequences happen for my students. I mean, let's be real, I've taught my students' parents by the time I left.

Cydni: 20:06

So I literally saw what can happen, and just from my own experience I would assume there's not too many people out there who would love it if they had more discipline.

Speaker 3: 20:15

I know that's what I think about for myself all the time, and if I could just have some more discipline.

Cydni: 20:19

But anyway, I'm going to eat this burrito while you finish your part, go on. I don't have a training session till tomorrow.

Sher: 20:25

It's true it's so hard to have that self-control. I'm not even close to it. I just am hoping and wishing I can get there someday. So Elder DeFoyle further said I love this part.

Sher: 20:35

He talked about the beggar's coat as labels that we put on ourselves or others have put there for us. He said to stop feeling sorry for ourselves. People may hurt us and maybe we're going to believe what they say or what they do to us, or we may keep believing the self-imposed labels that we've put on ourselves. But Elder DeFoyo said remove the emotional coat and stop being a victim. Remember that Bartimaeus took his coat off and then ran straight to the Lord because he knew that he was no longer going to be that self-imposed label of a beggar anymore. It was done, it was over and he was running forward because he knew that Christ could heal him. And Christ can heal us. If we keep that beggar's coat on or that emotional natural man coat, Elder DeFueyo said that means that we are choosing to be acted upon. God doesn't want us to be acted upon. He wants us to be 100% in control of ourselves, because that means we are responsible enough to have 100% freedom of choice in our agency.

Cydni: 21:39

Elder DeFeo. He said when that man dropped his cloak he let go of all of his excuses. And this is the part that corn knobbled me in the face. Corn knobble to slap someone in the face with a fish. As long as we make excuses to feel sorry for ourselves, sorry for our circumstances and problems and sorry for all the bad things happening in our lives and even all the bad people who we think make us unhappy, we keep the beggar's coat on our shoulders. It is true that at times, people, consciously or not, hurt us, but we need to decide to act with faith in Christ by removing the mental and emotional coat that we might still wear to hide excuses or sin or throw it away, knowing that he can and will heal us. That is a great quote. It's powerful, because I think we're all guilty of excuses. Oh, absolutely, I have a great excuse list. Me too, I'm very creative with my excuse list.

Cydni: 22:35

But I liked at the end what it said when you're letting go of the excuses, what you get to replace with your excuses is the understanding that he can and will heal you.

Sher: 22:45

Absolutely. When I was reading that, I thought of we aren't victims, we're God's children. God wants us to act like that. He wants us to act like his sons and his daughters. We truly are of royal birth, we are of his royal line, and so he wants us to act like that. And I think that when I self-correct which I need to do more often and change my mindset there is a lot of power in that, there's a lot of spiritual vision in that, because that does help us clearly see who we are and where we can go in the next life.

Cydni: 23:18

I love that and if I could just say I know I've mentioned this before, but since I was a victim of abuse growing up, that I do remember, specifically in a therapy session the most terrible thought and realization that came to my mind, that I had a really hard time accepting, was that part of me didn't want to let go of the fact that I had been a victim of something and I didn't want to let go of that cloak because I felt like it was such a great excuse to not do the things I knew I should be doing. Excuse to not do the things I knew I should be doing. I felt like if I held on to well, this happened to me when I was a kid then somehow that covered the fact that I wasn't doing things that I needed to be doing. Then I felt like if I let it go and moved on from the history that I had, then I would have to take responsibility for my actions and how I lived my life and the choices that I made. And that felt terrifying, but I did it and I'm being incredibly honest right now. To feel that way is almost embarrassing, but it is how I felt.

Cydni: 24:16

I felt like I couldn't let go of the fact that I had been a victim, but there's a quote by Tony Robbins that I really love.

Cydni: 24:23

It says change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change. And to me, relating to this man who is a victim of no sight, I think that he probably could have hoped that people would just always given him money because he was begging, because he was blind, and people would say, oh, that poor guy is blind, let's give him some money. I feel like that could be easier to just stay blind, and I think sometimes it could be easier to feel like you could just stay a victim of your past, because you know what that pain feels like. It's scarier to throw off the cloak and it's scarier to run and be healed, because now he's got to make his own money, he's got to act, he's got to take responsibility. And when I did that it was scary because now I was in charge of myself, which meant I had to take responsibility. It's a scary feeling, but it's a much more beautiful experience to live a life healed than to live a life in a shadow of who you actually are.

Sher: 25:19

I love that you said that, sydney, because we're living in a world right now that wants victims to stay victims.

Sher: 25:26

I know this from teaching in a public school. In fact, I actually emailed several students and I had them email me where they are now, like they did a little video so that I could show my students and I would show them. You are amazing, strong people. What you have dealt with, where you have come from it is creating a stronger and better you, and I would play these videos of where former students are now and they would encourage my students to keep going because they would tell them that they're resilient and they're strong and that they can get through hard things.

Sher: 25:56

That means a lot coming from a kid that came from where they did, and that's what's important. God wants us to see us as someone who is resilient and can overcome. That's what he wants us to see. That's the spiritual vision that he wants us to have is that we do have that power and capability, especially when we turn to Christ, when we put all of our strength and our love and our faith in Christ, he's going to help us see who we truly are and that's not a victim.

Cydni: 26:22

And should we be compassionate to those who are in situations that are horrible now or have been Absolutely, but that doesn't mean you keep rubbing their face in it.

Cydni: 26:31

Right, because that holds somebody back. I think the most compassionate, christ-like thing you could do is see the person how God sees them, not as someone who is held back, broken, but somebody who is glorious, with endless possibility and potential. That will do more for somebody than anything else. And I can't help but think of we just talked about Jacob 5, but there is a part in the vineyard where a tree is planted in bad soil and we are watching the line upon line video about this. And the servant says to the Lord why would you put such a good tree in bad soil? And he says I have nourished the soil, I have taken extra care of this soil to help this olive tree grow and produce fruit, and it is producing fruit. And then the video it places a person in a dark situation and it says that so many of us have been put in bad soil or bad situations, but this does not mean that you're not capable of bearing good fruit.

Sher: 27:29

I love that, and as a teacher who taught some kids in some rough situations, it's good to be that shoulder to cry on and just let them get it out. Take a moment, it's okay. This leads us to Elder DeFeo's next point, which is hear the voice of the Lord and allow him to guide us.

Cydni: 27:45

A quote taken from him says it is interesting that this blind man, who didn't have physical sight, recognized Jesus. He saw spiritually what he couldn't see physically, while many others could see Jesus physically but were totally blind spiritually. And the reason this blind man was able to find Christ was because he heard him and then he drew closer to him.

Sher: 28:09

I love the idea that he heard him. I kind of got focused on that part. I read something from Rabbi Daniel Lappin. He pointed out the scripture in Exodus 24, verse 7. It says, and he took the book of the covenants. This is referring to Moses. Moses took the book of the covenants and read in the audience of the people and they said all that the Lord has said will we do and be obedient. But this is what Rabbi Lappin said that the word obedient doesn't actually exist in Hebrew. There's no such word. He said that the word obeyed doesn't exist in Hebrew because it implies mindless following of orders and God doesn't want mindless obedience from us.

Cydni: 28:51

That's good, isn't that?

Sher: 28:53

good, I believe this. Yeah, so he explained the word means here and he explains that the word here in this context means something like a parent saying clean up your room. Do you hear me? They're not asking like can you hear what I'm saying. The parent is asking do you understand me? So when you are reading that scripture, we're going to read the last part again.

Sher: 29:15

All that the Lord has said we will do and we will hear and understand. Adding to the point of hearing and understanding, rabbi Lampin said instead he wants us to struggle to integrate doing and understanding so we reach the height of always being able to think while we act and act while we think. He wants us to integrate the two. Action should lead to understanding and understanding leads to action. Neither should exclude the other.

Sher: 29:45

So what Rabbi Lappin is saying is that when we hear and understand the voice of the Lord, it will lead to the correct actions, and when we have correct actions, it will lead to more understanding and more hearing of the Lord. So when we go back to the point that Elder DeFale focused on, when he's saying hear the voice of the Lord and allow him to guide us, he is saying hear and understand. We're choosing to allow the Lord to show us the correct way to act. And as I was thinking about this, those actions lead to positive and negative consequences. The Lord wants us to understand consequences. I love that insight that Rabbi Lapham brought into this for me.

Cydni: 30:29

And I just wanted to point out two important aspects of this. One the man was blind. That means he had trials and challenges in his life. Just because he believed in Christ didn't make everything perfect and easier. And one more quote that I just love so much, that he shared he said the gospel is not a way to avoid challenges and problems, but it's a solution to increase our faith and to learn how to deal with them. That's so good.

Cydni: 30:56

And the other thought I had is that the blind man, though blind, was still close enough to hear Christ. And I think all of us in different places in our life with our spirituality, that we need to do our part to draw close enough, and that is what he's asking. Some of us are just barely starting off and maybe haven't cracked open the scriptures for a really long time. Some of us might be having our own faith crisis and just don't know where we stand right now with our relationship with God. But if we just try to work on the things that will improve our spiritual vision, we will be able to be close enough to hear him. And he is there and the reminder is be of good comfort, rise. He calleth thee.

Sher: 31:38

Our final thoughts. How we gain spiritual vision is by focusing on Christ. Let's get rid of the beggar's coat. We're wearing the labels and emotional, mental labels that we're putting on ourselves. Whether another person has labeled us or we've done it to ourselves. We can throw it. We're wearing the labels and emotional and mental labels that we're putting on ourselves, Whether another person has labeled us or we've done it to ourselves. We can throw it all in the trash and turn to our Savior, and then we can run straight to our Lord and ask Him to heal us. Focus on Jesus Christ, Leave that natural man behind, Hear and understand the voice of the Lord and allow Him to guide us. This will help us increase and improve our spiritual vision.

Cydni: 32:13

Our challenge this week is to do something to improve your spiritual vision, whether it's spending time reading the scriptures or spending time in true prayer with God. Just like the man was required to ask of Christ what was obvious, we challenge you to also go in prayer and ask what you need, even if it feels obvious. Ask what you need. That will help you. Let go of the cloak that holds you back.

Speaker 3: 32:41

This is our prayer from Sydney and Cher. Living my life through the drip, drip, drop. When eternity is planned, I just can't stop. I'm making my way through the drip, drip, drop.

Cydni: 32:57

Sorry, I'm trying to read. That's what's happening.

Speaker 3: 32:59

It's just my eyes are blurry and all the words look the same.

Sher: 33:03

Just kidding, I just can't read.

Cydni: 33:05

Didn't go to college, got kicked out. You didn't learn to read until you were in college. What I just copied and pasted, you could tell Someone didn't write this well, or it's me. Okay, let me try again. Please help that. Fix that shirt. I don't need to. That was good.

Sher: 33:17

Bart Bart.

Cydni: 33:19

Bart Bart Simpson.

Sher: 33:20

The story of Bart Simpson. Look at