the threshold of revelation
In Tony Kushner’s play Angels in America, Harper (who is LDS) mentions that says what she and Prior are experiencing is “the very threshold of revelation sometimes”. When I read this play for classes in undergrad, I always assumed that meant she had a threshold for revelation that she had reached and could no longer receive any more revelation. I wasn’t LDS when I read this play before. I didn’t even know what receiving revelation meant, or how it was integral to this character’s religion and how personal revelation shapes us. Recently as I watched a video of the NT Live’s production, I realized I relate to her more than I thought. I don’t think my original interpretation was correct — I think that this character, myself, and all of us have a threshold for revelation that we need to get over to actually receive the revelation. It’s hard sometimes to feel like you’re doing everything you’re supposed to in order to receive revelation, and being hard on yourself can impede the process even more.
I have been dealing with a very difficult issue lately — whether or not to stay in Ann Arbor or to move. The idea of moving home stressed me out and felt wrong. I was thinking about Vegas, but my mind kept falling back to Salt Lake City. I want to leave Ann Arbor because I feel like my time here is done. Winter here is really hard on me. There’s so much. And I know that Salt Lake has a winter, so I kept being like why do I feel like I should move to Salt Lake? But it’s not as bad. And I think I’d do well there. I’ve been stressed out with finding a job I enjoy in there. There’s so many unknowns and it’s been scary. I felt like I wasn’t receiving any answers to prayers about moving. I was completely in the dark and kept going back and forth on what to do. I finally got up the courage to apply for jobs in Salt Lake, and I got 3 interviews in one day. It might seem silly, but this made me feel like this was God’s confirmation that moving to Salt Lake was the right thing to do. Things will work out and I will be okay, and I think Salt Lake is the place for me.
It might be a little ironic as well because I was assigned to give a talk on revelation in sacrament meeting so I’ve been thinking hard about the part that revelation has played in my life. It’s always interesting to me what pieces of revelation impacted me and how the Spirit teaches me. I know that for me, I’ve experienced a lot of different forms of personal revelation. Once we receive revelation, or hear something in conference of which the Spirit testifies importance, we have to then act upon the revelation. Revelation isn’t much if we just acknowledge its existence and do nothing to implement the revelation in your life. For example, I distinctly remember when I received a revelation about Heavenly Mother — it was the first time I really listened to the lyrics of the hymn “O My Father” and the importance of Her really sunk in. Another time was reading a scripture in Moses which I believe references Heavenly Mother. These were small things, but it made me connect to the doctrine in the church in a deeper way. Through these experiences, it really made me realize how the Spirit communicates with me and has impacted revelation I’ve received after that.
Along my faith journey there was a period of time where I explored other churches in search for something that aligned more with my beliefs and I really wanted to find a church that also explicitly believed in Heavenly Mother — spoiler alert: I didn’t, and I’m still here. Through receiving personal revelation, relying on the scriptures, and the guiding words of our prophets, and acting upon those promptings, I have become assured in my own beliefs and feel comfortable living my faith in a Christ-like way (or at least I’m trying to).
Another personal revelation that I come back to a lot was my decision to go through the temple last year. I was not getting married or going on a mission, but I had been working toward the goal of going through the temple. I took temple prep, met with my bishop, did everything prerequisite to going through — but I would not have done any of these things unless I acted upon the personal revelation that came to me while watching general conference two years ago when it seemed like every talk was about the importance of the temple and setting our sights on it. As Mormons, I often think we focus on the importance of revelation but neglect how we receive personal revelation and how we act upon all types of revelation (not just personal, but from the scriptures and prophets as well) once we receive it or hear it.
In Relief Society, we have been talking about the idea of courage and how it is not the absence of fear, but an action that we decide to make. After we receive personal revelation, or hear guidance from prophets in general conference — it takes courage to act upon them. It’s not always easy to follow revelation. I know I’m personally a very stubborn person and I hate change so it really takes me a lot of courage to act upon revelation.
When we act upon revelation, changes occur in our lives. Revelation can often bring us closer to our faith, closer to our friends, and closer to family. It can also do the opposite, and I don’t want to discount those experiences at all. Revelation is not meant to be easy and it is different for everyone. It’s also important to note that revelation for some might be easier to adapt to and live than others. I know for me personally there have been times where I have found revelation to be difficult for me to act on, and I want to make sure that we all know that everyone is on a different journey than us and we can all live our faiths differently, but all equally valid. I think of examples like plural marriage and the priesthood ban, where the revelation has now changed to what it should have been all along — revelation is ongoing and sometimes I need a reminder of that. Larry Y. Wilson had a great insight about this, and this most recent conference he urged us to ask God “what can I do to be part of the solution?” instead of asking God to provide us with an easy way out.
Revelation can often give us ideas to be a part of the solution to problems, and it’s our responsibility to follow through. He mentions the idea that this can help us feel unified as a church. Unity is an interesting concept — because it does not mean that we all need to have homogeneous views. We are all a part of the Body of Christ and dissenting views are valid. Different perspectives are welcomed and I think are necessary to use revelation to be a part of the solution. The Spirit can help us become unified in Christ. This doesn’t sound like an easy task, but I think that paying attention to what revelation we receive, what others receive, and how we can unify those revelations as well as the different interpretations of those revelations is critical to the building up of Zion.
The concept of unity always reminds me of the early church — I think about the women who often received their own revelation and strove to live Christ-like lives even when it was not easy. They all came from different religious backgrounds but joined together in receiving revelation and understanding the gospel. Recently, the church has added the book “at the pulpit” to the gospel library app which makes the revelation of these women more easily accessible. I wanted to highlight something that Eliza R. Snow said in regards to the idea that women could receive inspiration to guide them in their personal lives, their families, and their Church responsibilities. She said:
‘Tell the sisters to go forth and discharge their duties, in humility and faithfulness and the Spirit of God will rest upon them and they will be blest in their labors. Let them seek for wisdom instead of power and they will have all the power they have wisdom to exercise.’”
and she goes on to describe the feeling of the Holy Ghost:
“…the Holy Ghost ‘satisfies and fills up every longing of the human heart, and fills up every vacuum. When I am filled with that Spirit, … my soul is satisfied.’”
Receiving personal revelation is a way to seek for the wisdom instead of the power that Eliza R. Snow mentioned. It’s not like the Lord does not want us to receive personal revelation — it is readily available for us, but we have to make the conscious effort to receive the revelation and work on implementing it in our lives. This is not easy and can sometimes be intimidating. In D&C 58:26, the Lord counsels the saints and says
“For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.”
Agency plays a large role in receiving revelation and applying it in our lives. When we pay attention to how the spirit talks to us and how we receive revelation for our lives, applying it becomes a much easier process. We can’t rely on others to interpret revelation and apply it in our own lives, so this is something that we have to work on continuously and it will help build our faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ is critical to every part of the gospel — including receiving and hearing revelation for our lives. Revelation can be empty words without the requisite faith. 1 Corinthians 2:5 states, “that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God”, and that is a great reminder when it comes to receiving revelation and applying it in our lives. We have Heavenly Parents who love us and we have the atonement of Jesus Christ to help us and I know that I need to do better on receiving revelation and growing as a child of our Heavenly Parents myself.
