Well, today I was reading many past conference talks and also was contemplating on living in the Spirit or not. I once heard a Native story about a Grandfather that was talking to his grandson and he said he had two wolves that lived with in him, one of darkness and one of light and they were always at war. The Grandson said to his Grandfather, "which one is going to win?" and the Grandfather replied, which ever one I feed.
I would say this story applies to us with the Spirit and the natural man. Both are present and both want attention, and both will become bigger or smaller depending on which one we feed. I have noticed whenever I am sitting and I see a whole ton of seagulls, there are always a couple that are much bigger than all the rest. What I have observed is these bigger ones are the ones that make sure they get most of the food. They are big for a reason.
This is true also with the Spirit or the natural man. If we feed the natural man, then we are ruled by this part of our self and it gets bigger and bigger and the Spirit gets smaller and smaller. If we are feeding this part of us, and letting it run the show it will always lead us away from the Spirit and into endless addictions and appetites which can never fulfill us or truly make us happy. The natural man wants to feed our wounded selves with more dysfunction that only creates more wounds, where the Spirit transforms and heals our wounds, letting us be free! Feeding the Spirit, allowing that to be the biggest part of us, helping it to rule us, will always lead us to what makes us most happy, peaceful and healthy.
The Spirit is plugged into God. It is plugged into the beautiful light, glory, love, happiness, goodness and peace of Heaven. The natural man is plugged into the adversary, and the world. This is why the Spirit must take control of the natural man and guide it. Then we can live on the earth in ways that are most healthy and happy for us. The adversary wants to make us miserable and take us down with him. Of course he is not going to bluntly advertise this, or let us know what he is up to. He presents to our natural man, packages that sparkle, that promise fulfillment, he says things to us like "well its only natural, everyone is doing it, if it didn't feel good, it wouldn't be right" if we harken to his voice we then follow his path, and much like Hansel and Gretal following a path to a gingerbread house that looks like it has wonderful treats in store, we find ourselves eventually in rusty chains of darkness, imprisoned by captors, where we can not easily break free.
Addictions, cravings, attractions, temptations to sin will always be here. Just because we feel these things, or are drawn to these things, does not mean we need to succumb. We can cry out to God and Jesus Christ and say just how tempted we feel, just how weak we feel in our natural man. We can ask for help. The more we do that, although, the natural man will always be there, it will get smaller and smaller. We have to decide which part of us we want to make strong. The one that will love us, or hurt us. The Spirit will always love us, the natural man part will ultimately hurt us. This is where we need to choose wisely. It is becoming more challenging to stay away from that which simply feeds the natural man and stomps out the Spirit. TV, movies, books, music, magazines, photographs, and advertising bombards us with sin and debauchery everywhere we turn.
So we do have to be quite diligent if we are going to protect ourselves. Immersing ourselves in the things of Spirit are essential. Reading scripture daily and through out the day. Praying, reading the Ensign, listening to beautiful, pure music, hanging out with people who support our standards and who also have the Spirit as much as possible. Doing family home evenings, going to church, going to the various conferences, participating in as many activities in the church as we can. Doing our Visiting and Home Teaching, doing our Callings. None of us are perfect with all of this, I certainly am not, but really making all of this a priority, and feeding the Spirit all day will get us safely home back to where we wanted to go when we decided to come here in the first place. Back to Heavenly Father, to the Celestial Kingdom. All you have to do is spend time in the Temple particularly the Celestial room, and it really helps us remember our ultimate destination.
I am now spending my time feeding the Spirit in many glorious, fun, joyous, and beautiful ways. The Spirit in me is getting stronger and bigger because I am partaking throughout my day in all the things that the Spirit loves! As I do this, I am truly loving and caring for myself. I am giving myself the greatest gift of happiness.
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