Spiritual Canary - Sin Detector

A blog post I read a while back reminded me of the practice of taking canaries into mines as a warning system against harmful gases. The idea was that if harmful gases were unwittingly released, the sensitive, delicate birds would become aware of the harmful gases and then alert the miners of the danger. Unfortunately, the canaries warned the miners of the deadly gases by dying. Thus, it wasn't a warning cry that alerted the miners of the danger, but the lack of "all is well" chirping. If a miner wasn't listening to the canary's chirping consciously enough to notice its absence, they might fail to heed the life-saving warning.

The Spirit works in a similar manner. Those of us who have been given the Gift of the Holy Ghost can have the Holy Ghost with us constantly, as long as we remain worthy. Thus, if we ever notice that the Spirit is no longer with us, we can take that as a warning sign that we may not be worthy of His companionship. Of course, the Holy Ghost differs from canaries in many ways. Firstly, He doesn't die. He wilfully departs because He doesn't stay where He isn't comfortable or welcome. Second, He sometimes does give us the warning alarms that the canaries only gave by dying. When we start to stray off the straight and narrow path, the Holy Ghost often warns us of that and encourages us to turn back before He leaves us to our own devices. Still, if one is sensitive enough to feel the presence of the Spirit and attentive enough to notice His absence, that alone can reveal to us that a little bit of repentance is in order.

Satan is subtle. In fact, his greatest weapon lies in his subtlety. It could be said that he can only win if we don't realize that we're fighting. Thus, we need to be vigilant and attentive. We need to watch out for the warning signs of spiritually-deadly temptations, and it would certainly help if we were attuned enough to the Spirit to notice when His reassuring presence has gone missing. It is difficult to maintain that level of closeness to the Spirit, but the benefits are worth the effort, especially since they include a direct line to inspiration and inner peace. Plus, when we are attuned enough to the Spirit to feel His constant presence, we can recognize the warning sign inherent when His presence is conspicuously absent.