The Quest of a Lifetime

I couldn't stop blogging about President Uchtdorf's Saturday Morning talk without sharing the quote from that talk that most stood out to me: "Let us acknowledge that most often gaining a testimony is not a task of a minute, an hour, or a day. It is not once and done. The process of gathering spiritual light is the quest of a lifetime."

As a person who's probably just a little bit too fond of fantasy, the word "quest" jumped out at me, especially since it's "the quest of a lifetime." It sounds epic. But what President Uchtdorf actually meant is slightly less exciting. He meant that gathering spiritual light, or gaining a testimony, is going to take a really long time. In fact, none of us will ever finish gathering spiritual light within our lifetimes. Gaining a testimony is a quest that will continue for all our mortal years and beyond.

This, too, can be epic, in its own way. It means that there's so much spiritual light available to us that we couldn't possibly gather it all in in one lifetime. There will always be more glorious truths to learn and experience to gain. In my math class, I find that I'm excited when I learn to understand a new concept and find out how to use it to easily solve problems that look daunting. I imagine that our eternal education will be just as exciting. It will be fun to learn how God does what He does, and learn how to do it ourselves. Perhaps I'm going a bit beyond what President Uchtdorf meant, but I think that all truth is light, and that we'll be gathering such light, if we're willing, for all eternity.

Back to Uchtdorf's original meaning, it may seem like a slow and arduous process, and it can be discouraging to think of how little light we have, but take heart. Your testimony will continue to grow for as long as you live, if you let it. It may seem small and weak now, don't worry. It'll grow. On the other hand, if you think your testimony is already strong enough, think again. If God doesn't test the strength of your testimony, Satan will, so we should be constantly trying to strengthen our testimonies so we can pass the tests of life. It's not over until it's over. No matter how much or little spiritual light you have, keep gathering it.