Disconnected

We have a recumbent exercise bicycle in our basement. It is one of my favorite forms of exercise because it doesn't hurt my back to use it and I can watch tv at the same time.  I have used this bicycle a lot during my recovery from surgeries in recent years. It is one form of exercise that my physical therapists have had me do at each visit and I have continued to do at home.

One perk of the bicycle is that it keeps track of my heart rate as I exercise. A few weeks ago, I noticed that that feature was no longer working. I missed it and wanted it to work, but I'm not mechanical minded in any way so I didn't know how to get it working again. I just got used to not being able to monitor my heart rate while using the bicycle.

One day while doing some physical therapy exercises behind the bicycle, I noticed that there was a wire hanging below the seat that wasn't coupled with its counterpart. One of my grandchildren must have pulled them apart while playing in the basement.

I plugged it in, sat on the bicycle, started pedaling and, voila, the machine could once again track my heart rate.  Simple fix - the two pieces just needed to be coupled again and it was working perfectly.

I was thinking about how this can be compared to our relationship with God. If we are not carefully striving each day to stay close to him - to stay connected - we can start to feel a little distant from him and not feel him in the small details of our lives.

 One thing we can do to stay connected to him is by having daily prayer where we pour our heart out to him letting him know about the ups and downs of our day. Even though he is aware of everything we do daily, he wants to hear it from us. He loves us and wants to be a big part of our lives. 

We can also visit him in His house. Going to his holy temple always helps me to feel a closeness to him that I can't get in any other way. Now that we live so close to a temple, we try to go there several times per month. While serving as an ordinance worker in the Los Angeles Temple before moving to Utah, I felt His spirit and literally saw miracles many times. Those years serving as an ordinance worker are some of my fondest on this earth. The effort it took to get there every week was nothing compared to the blessings poured upon me because of my service. The payoff was huge! Whether serving as a patron or a worker, the spirit is there for the taking and can really bond you to the Lord.

Learning more about God can certainly make you feel more connected to him. The more one knows about him, his life, his mission, his great atoning gift to all mankind, and his great love for every individual, the closer you will feel. It is by reading the scriptures, studying the words of the prophets, and bearing testimony of him that the love and closeness will grow.

My hope is to always stay connected to the Lord. I want to know him better so I can better exemplify him and let His light shine through me. Having that connection closes the gap and will allow him to help me be a better, more spiritually strong individual.