Spiritual Noise

Middle Tennessee is swarming with cicadas. If you've never heard a cicada, you won't be able to comprehend how annoying they are. If you have, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Cicada

This particular variety of cicada comes out of the ground only once every 13 years. Naturally, I happened upon Tennessee while the things are actively flying around, making noise and getting in your face. They won't be around again until 2024, so I suppose I should relish in the experience.

As I was walking along the streets of Franklin yesterday, I thought about how harmless a single cicada is. Sure, it may be ugly, but it can't hurt you and doesn't even make a whole lot of noise on its own. If you grab its wings, it can't even fly around.

In this sense, a cicada is comparable to a distraction—a text message from a friend, a Facebook game like Farmville, or the hit new Katy Perry single, for example.

By itself, one distraction doesn't damage our spiritual sensitivity much. While it may be ugly, such a distraction doesn't make a whole lot of 'noise' on its own.


Like cicadas, spiritual distractions
are ugly and noisy

But like cicadas, spiritual distractions most often come in groups—perhaps by the tens of thousands. Instead of one text, it's several hundred in a day; instead of five minutes on Farmville, it's five hours; instead of one listen to the hit new single, it's filling every spare moment of the day with degrading lyrics.

How can one find time for prayer and scripture study when the noise around them is truly deafening? How can you feel promptings from the Holy Ghost when the cell phone is constantly vibrating, the iPod constantly playing, and the television constantly blaring?

Prolonged exposure to worldly noise dulls spiritual senses. If media is interfering with your ability to feel the spirit, it's time to turn it off. Wholesome entertainment is desirable, but it shouldn't be our priority; the gospel of Jesus Christ should be. In fact, it must be. Elder Neal A. Maxwell stated:

“If you haven’t chosen the Kingdom of God first, it will make no difference in the end what you have chosen instead.” 

Unfortunately, there's not much I can do to rid Tennessee of its cicada problem. But we can each make a more determined effort to eliminate 'spiritual noise' from our lives. How do we do this? I offer three suggestions:

1) Pray daily. Ask God for help to resist temptation. Fill your day with uplifting activities and look for ways to serve others.

2) Study the scriptures daily. Study from the Book of Mormon for 15 minutes or more each day. Apply what you learn.

3) Attend the temple regularly. If you cannot yet attend the temple, prepare for the day when you will. President Ezra Taft Benson promised that attending the temple will bring peace and clarity into our lives:

"Temples are places of personal revelation. When I have been weighed down by a problem or a difficulty, I have gone to the House of the Lord with a prayer in my heart for answers. The answers have come in clear and unmistakable ways."