To Strengthen Your Relationship With God

On the last page of the current Ensign, you'll find this quote by President Uchtdorf, "To strengthen our relationship with God, we need some meaningful time alone with Him." The quote goes on to say more than that, and so does the talk this quote came from, but this is the part I wanted to focus on.

To strengthen our relationship with God,

We all have a relationship with God. We are His children. However, just as children can become distant from their mortal parents by not communicating with them or listening to them, we can become distant from God by not communicating with, or listening to, Him. We can communicate with Him through prayer. He communicates to us through scriptures, the words of prophets, and through the thoughts in our hearts. The more we communicate with God and listen to His messages to us, the stronger our relationship will be.

We need some meaningful time

Let's place some emphasis on the word meaningful. As we've all been taught before. It's not enough to just say our prayers read the scriptures. We need to pray to God fervently and study the scriptures diligently. The quote I cut short continues with:

Quietly focusing on daily personal prayer and scripture study, always aiming to be worthy of a current temple recommend - these will be some wise investments of our time and efforts to draw closer to out Heavenly Father.

And these aren't the only things we can do to spend meaningful time with God. There are many things that can draw us closer to Him. For example, the image in the Ensign that goes with this quote shows us a pleasant-looking grove. I'd say that spending time in nature is a good way to bring oneself closer to God. But we have to have God in our hearts so we can really connect with Him. Otherwise, we'll just be taking a nice walk in the woods.

Alone with Him.

This phrase reminds me of a fact that I very frequently forget - We are never alone. God, through His angels, is always watching over us. He is mindful of every thought, every action, every event in our lives. Yet strangely, though He is always close to us, we don't always feel close to Him. Sin can cause feelings of separation from our Heavenly Father, and this includes sins of omission, such as not praying and studying the scriptures. To regain that closeness we once had, we have to put sincere effort into trying to bring our hearts closer to God. Prayer and scripture study are essential for this, but there are other things we can do as well. Anything that you do that makes you feel closer to God will probably help you to become more like Him.

I wonder if President Uchtdorf meant to imply that being alone (as defined as being away from other people) is a requirement. Certainly, it helps. When I'm at church and want to feel especially close to God, I try to find an empty room where I can pray and, if I can find an empty room with a piano in it, play a few hymns. Being alone with God is nice.

But you can't always be alone and I'm not sure you have to. In the Celestial Room, only one person per session has the room to themselves, and they only have that solitude for a few seconds (unless they wait until every other patron leaves - then they can have the room to themselves for quite some time). But despite there almost always being another handful of people in the room with you, the Celestial Room is one of those special places where a person can feel close to God. You don't have to be alone with God to be with God. But do you have to be alone with God to strengthen your relationship with Him, as President Uchtdorf's quote suggests? Can you be "alone with God" even when you're not literally alone? I don't know. I don't want to misinterpret prophetic counsel. Maybe we should, schedules permitting, set aside time when we can be, literally, alone with God every so often, just to play it safe.

Conclusion

What I mostly take away from this quote is that God is a lot like everyone else in that if you want to have a good relationship with Him, you've got to spend some quality time together. Do things you both enjoy, like going for walks in nature or playing nice music. Become better acquainted with Him by learning about His traits through those who know Him well. Bond with Him by talking with Him honestly, openly, and frequently. I promise that as you follow any of these suggestions, especially those suggested by President Uchtdorf, your relationship with God will improve.