I watered it once.⁣

And then I forgot about it and it died.

The end. ⁣

Was I shocked that it died?

Absolutely not.

I had done nothing to nourish that poor little plant. ⁣

Just like this short-lived plant, Alma asks us to consider if we are NOURISHING or NEGLECTING our seeds of faith.

“If ye neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not get any root.” (Alma 32:38)

From a logical standpoint, it makes sense.⁣

If we do nothing to nourish our testimony every day, it will eventually wither away.

⁣But when we are actually down in the trenches and living life, it seems easy to lose sight of this logic!

We get tired.

We get busy.

Or we get a little complacent.

That’s when we need to really step back and consider if we are doing our best every single day to nourish our testimony.

Are we taking the time to NOURISH?

Are we reading the scriptures even when they don’t make sense, or praying even when we don’t feel a connection? ⁣

Are we watering the plant, even if it doesn’t immediately perk back up, but having faith that if we continue to add more every single day, life will come again?⁣

We are either nourishing or neglecting.

There is no middle ground!

So what kind of care can you give to your living testimony of Jesus Christ today?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post My forgotten plant  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I watered it once.

And then I forgot about it and it died.

The end.

Was I shocked that it died? Absolutely not. Because I had done nothing to nourish that poor little plant.

I neglected it, and it died. No surprise!

Just like this short-lived plant, Alma asks us to consider if we are NOURISHING or NEGLECTING our seeds of faith.

From a logical standpoint, it makes sense, right?

If we do nothing to nourish our testimony every day, it will eventually wither away.

But when we are actually down in the trenches, living life every day, it seems easy to lose sight of this logic.

When we stop reading our scriptures because we are tired, and we are just a little too busy to pray, and church has been cancelled for forever so we haven’t had a lesson in a while…

We seem to get really down.

And we look for signs of God’s love.

But we can’t seem to feel the Spirit.

And so we throw our hands up for a bit and say there’s no use in reading, praying, or finding other good stuff.

And then we get even farther away.

If we let this cycle continue for too long, we start to think we never really had a good seed in the first place, because it’s obviously not bringing any good fruit.

But that’s when we need to really step back and consider: am I doing my best every single day in order to nourish my testimony?

Reading even when it doesn’t make sense? Praying even when we don’t feel a connection?

Watering the plant, even if it doesn’t immediately perk back up, but having faith that if we continue to add more every single day, life will come again?

We are either nourishing or neglecting. There is no middle ground.

And we have to play the long-game, because just like plants, testimonies take a lot of little consistency, and not grand gestures once a week.

So what can you do today to nourish? And what habits of neglect can you throw off?

Give the seed the time and attention it needs in order to prove it can bring good fruit.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Nourish or neglect first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.