Homing Instincts

In "Yearning for Home," President Dieter F. Uchtdorf spoke about the migration and homing instincts many animals possess. He listed monarch butterflies, leatherback turtles, humpback whales, and arctic terns among the creatures who have an incredible, even global, sense of direction. Oddly, in his list of creatures that have an uncanny knack for finding their way home, he didn't even mention the first such creature that comes to my mind: Homing pigeons. However, someone else did.

Some months ago (possibly even years ago, at this point - Some of my "Blog About" notes are terribly old), someone in my ward (whichever ward that was at the time) gave a talk in which he spoke of a group of homing pigeons which were somehow startled or blown off course by a sonic boom. Yet, despite this serious set back, the homing pigeons still managed to find their way home.

President Uchtdorf taught that human beings have an "inner guidance system" which helps us find our way to our heavenly home, similar to how the guidance systems in some animals help them. And, I might add, the guidance systems we have can help us make our way back no matter what may blow us off course, just like with the homing pigeons. Nothing can permanently separate us from God. No matter what mishaps or misdeeds may hinder us, our hearts will continually point us back toward God.

Of course, unlike animals, human beings find it very easy to ignore such instincts. In fact, it's harder to  follow our "inner guidance systems" than it is to fall away. But still, no matter how far we drift off course, we can always make it back by following the parts of ourselves that yearn to head back.

I am thankful that God gave us this homing instinct to help encourage us to follow the straight and narrow path. I am confident that such an instinct has made all the difference in helping me make many right decisions and helping me come a little bit closer to God. I plan to try to attune myself to this instinct and to follow it as often as I can manage to. Though this instinct is sometimes faint, I am certain that it will never completely fall silent, and that makes it one of my most reliable methods of finding my way back home.