Conference Talk of the Week

Overview

Elder Patrick Kearon uses what he learned flying gliders as a teenager to teach how spiritual progress works. A glider has no engine, so it stays up by finding "lift," which is rising air, and by turning away from "sink," which is falling air. Neither one can be seen, but a pilot can feel both. Elder Kearon applies this to discipleship. Jesus Christ is the source of spiritual lift, as He showed when He lifted Peter from the waves and raised the daughter of Jairus. We learn to feel His lift through the Holy Spirit and to turn decisively away from what pulls us down. Because a glider that is not climbing is slowly descending, he warns that neglecting daily communion with God can lower us so gradually that we do not notice. He ends with simple practices for staying in lift and helping others rise with us.

Three Key Takeaways

• 1Spiritual lift cannot be seen, but it can be felt. A glider pilot feels a wing tip upward and turns toward the rising air. In the same way, we learn to notice the impressions of the Holy Spirit and turn toward what brings them.
• 2Jesus Christ is the source of lift. In the scriptures He lifted Peter from the waves, raised the daughter of Jairus, and took the boy who seemed dead by the hand and lifted him up. Elder Kearon teaches that He wants to lift each of us in the same way.
• 3If you are not climbing, you are descending. Spiritual decline usually comes from quietly neglecting the practices that brought us up, not from a deliberate choice, so we need to watch our spiritual altitude.

Reflection Questions

• When have you felt spiritual lift? Where were you, what were you doing, and how could you return there more often?
• Which practices that once lifted you have you neglected, and what has that gradual descent felt like?
• What is a "sink" in your life right now that you need to turn away from decisively, rather than slowly?