Relief Society · Elders Quorum · 25 minutes
Elder Patrick Kearon · Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles · Saturday Afternoon Session
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Jesus Christ loves to lift us, and we stay in His lift by noticing the Spirit's upward pull, turning away from spiritual sink decisively, and helping others rise with us.
Skip retelling Ammon's account in Alma 26 and the full list of scriptural healings; mention Peter in the waves briefly and spend the time on discussion.
Before Sunday
Sunday: Elder Kearon's talk on gliding and lift
This Sunday we'll discuss Elder Patrick Kearon's October 2026 talk "Jesus Lives to Lift." He compares learning to fly a glider with how we feel the Spirit lift us toward the Savior. Read or listen to the talk on the Gospel Library app if you can. Think about this: when have you felt spiritually lifted, and what were you doing at the time?
Pick one opening
Elder Kearon asked us two questions in his talk, and we'll begin with the first one. Think of a moment when you felt spiritually lifted, as though you were being drawn upward toward Heavenly Father. Where were you, and what did it feel like? Take a few seconds to think before anyone answers.
Elder Kearon asked us two questions in his talk, and we'll begin with the first one. Think of a moment when you felt spiritually lifted, as though you were being drawn upward toward Heavenly Father. Where were you, and what did it feel like? Take a few seconds to think before anyone answers.
As a teenager in England, Elder Kearon learned to fly a glider, which is a plane with no engine. A glider stays up by finding rising air, called lift. He couldn't see the lift, but he could feel it: one wing would tip upward, and he would turn toward it and circle higher. He also learned to feel sinking air and turn away from it right away. Years later he saw that the same principles apply to discipleship.
Elder Kearon said that in a glider, if you aren't actively climbing, you're coming down, and the descent can be so slow you don't notice it. How does that compare with what happens in our spiritual lives when we let things slide?
Teach this first
Jesus Christ lifted people out of their despair: He lifted Peter out of the waves, raised Jairus's daughter, and took the afflicted boy by the hand. He wants to lift each of us. We can't see spiritual lift, but we can feel it through the Holy Spirit, so we can learn to turn toward it, just as a pilot turns into rising air. Because we drift down when we aren't climbing, we need to keep up the practices that bring us closer to God and turn away from sink decisively.
Elder Kearon taught that a descent "can be so gradual that, unless you watch your altitude, you may not notice you are sinking."
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If time remains
Glider pilots join other pilots who have found lift and climb with them. Elder Kearon taught that, as children of the covenant, we help the Lord by showing others where and how to rise in Jesus Christ, and that doing this brings great joy.
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Counsel together
Last 3–5 minutes
This week, notice one thing that lifts you spiritually and one thing that pulls you down; do more of the first, turn away from the second, and share something that lifts you with one person.
The Savior's promise, quoted by Elder Kearon: "If ye do these things blessed are ye, for ye shall be lifted up at the last day."
Your witness: Share a time when Jesus Christ lifted you out of sink, or when someone helped you find lift, and what it taught you about Him.