Passport to Perfection

I was asked on Saturday night to pinch-hit for the Relief Society teacher on Sunday. I didn't want to do it because I didn't have the usual 100 hours that I like to prepare, and it would be the first time teaching in my new ward. But I agreed, and for my small sacrifice of time and willingness, I was richly rewarded.

I was downright giddy when I got my first passport last year. For me it opened up whole new vistas of places I could go, things I could see, experiences I might have.

In dreaming of places you'd like to go, of things you want to see and experience, do you ever think of destinations that are not geographical, but spiritual? Are there places you would like to go spiritually, things you'd like to see and experience that you haven't yet?

The passport to those places, according to President Spencer W. Kimball, is prayer.


In addition to the glorious knowledge that God lives, that we can communicate with Him, and that He will respond to us, there are blessings that come to us through the very process of prayer:

When we thank God for our blessings, we become more grateful, more mindful of our need for Him.
When we pray for loved ones and friends, we become more charitable, more apt to help.
When we pray for forgiveness, we become more repentant, more changed.
When we pray "Thy will be done," we become more submissive, humble, patient.
When we pray for missionaries, our own desires to do the work increase.
When we pray often, asking for help, we are kept from sin.

Prayer is not an optional activity for saints.
The very process of prayer aids us on the road to perfection.
The Lord's help we seek will see us through.


I think I've always believed that God hears and answers prayers. There is surely ample evidence.
But I have not always believed that He would hear and answer mine.
Now, when I think of the times and particular ways He has answered me, I feel such overwhelming gratitude for the tender mercies of Him to whom we pray.

One of Spencer Kimball's mottos was, Lengthen Your Stride.
Even kneeling, it applies.
Whatever level you are at with your prayers, there is higher ground to go to. There are spiritual places to go, miracles yet to be seen, experiences yet to be had. The passport to these places is earnest and sincere prayer.

So, fellow sojourners, pilgrims on a journey far from home--but not left alone--I bid you, "Bon Voyage!"

Have a good journey.

Go with God.