Don’t Miss This Devotional
Bound Securely to the Savior
From a devotional address given to students at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, USA, on January 11, 2022. For the full address, visit speeches.byu.edu.
To what should you be attached so that you will be safe? What is your dock, your mooring, your anchor? It is your relationship with the Savior Jesus Christ.
Imagine yourself the owner of a boat moored just off the coast of an island preparing to receive a big storm. What would you do to secure and protect your boat so it doesn’t sink or run aground?
Experts say that removing windage is critical to protecting a boat in a storm. What does it mean to “remove windage”? Essentially it is removing anything that the wind can grab. Sails must be secured, bimini tops removed, and inflatable dinghies deflated and tied down. Removing windage is of paramount importance because it reduces the load on whatever is keeping you safe—in this case, the mooring lines or the ropes attaching you to the dock or anchor.
In your life, what is keeping you safe from the storms? What is your dock, your mooring, your anchor? It is your relationship with the Savior Jesus Christ.
As Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has so beautifully expressed:
“When life is in commotion and nothing seems sure or stable, when people and things are driven about by every wind of doctrine and every wave of society’s whims, when nothing seems deep-rooted or solid or permanent, how dearly we need something firm, steadfast, and immovable. How dearly we need a rock to hold on to. Jesus is that Rock.”1
Brothers and sisters, I have faith and testify that the Savior is the “refuge from the storm” (Isaiah 25:4). He is the anchor of our souls (see Hebrews 6:19).
Are there things on your metaphorical boat creating windage—creating resistance to your attachment to Him? What, if anything, is keeping you from being bound securely to the Savior?
I don’t know the answer for you. But He knows. And I trust that all of us have something we can work on to improve our relationship with the Savior. You must ask and then be willing to accept and act upon the answer you receive. With a prayer in your heart you will know just how to remove your windage in preparation for life’s storms.
I will start by telling you about the dinghies I am trying to deflate, the sails I am trying to secure, and the cushions I am tossing off my personal ship to stay securely bound to the Savior.
Trust in the Lord
First, worrying about the future instead of trusting in the Lord or waiting too long to turn things over to Him. This can be a source of windage that strains our connection to the Savior.
You may naturally want to have everything mapped out—education, spouse, career. I get it.
When I received my patriarchal blessing at age sixteen, I had hoped and expected to have some specifics revealed to me, just as had my mother, who was told in her patriarchal blessing that she had the natural attributes of a nurse and should pursue that educational and professional path. My blessing, however, didn’t say anything about what I might study or if I should pursue a professional path.
I wanted a plan; I wanted to have “next steps.” But nothing came to me clearly, so I took steps forward in faith.
I express my testimony that my life plan was rolled out for me as I lived it, keeping my eye on the prize of eternal life. My patriarchal blessing didn’t tell me what to study in college, no angel suggested that I practice law as a career, and no vision told me Doug Johnson was who I should marry. (In fact, my confirmation that he was the man for me came after he had proposed and I had prepared a pros-and-cons list.) Yes, I would have liked for it all to have been spelled out for me. But it wasn’t. Instead, the Lord trusted me, and, what is more important, I trusted in the Lord and just kept taking steps forward, believing that if I was off course, the Lord would redirect me.
I stand before you today and testify that I have felt the hand of the Master writing my story with me. As I trust more and resist less, I’m eliminating the windage of worry, and I feel bound more securely to the Savior.
Make Time an Asset
Another bit of windage to remove is poor use of our time. Are we using our time to secure our attachment to the Savior, or are the choices we make for our time a reason we are flapping around in the wind?
I don’t spend time on bad things, but do I spend my time on the best of things?
In teaching the principle of good, better, and best, President Dallin H. Oaks said: “We should begin by recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it. The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives.”2
President M. Russell Ballard recently posed to us the question that the Savior posed to Peter: “’Lovest thou me more than these?’ [John 21:15].”3 In what way can we apply Jesus’s question to ourselves?
President Ballard explained: “The Lord may be asking us about how busy we are and about the many positive and negative influences competing for our attention and our time. He may be asking each of us if we love Him more than the things of this world.” 4
In October 2021 our dear prophet said this: “I plead with you to make time for the Lord! Make your own spiritual foundation firm and able to stand the test of time by doing those things that allow the Holy Ghost to be with you always.”5
Will you respond to the prophet’s plea and make time for the Lord?
What does that look like for me?
It means more time in the temple. It means that above and beyond my regular scripture study and prayer, I need to give the Holy Ghost the chance to communicate to me by being still and by pondering on the things I read, hear, and feel. To eliminate my windage and to stay bound securely to the Savior, I will choose to spend my time on that which is better and best, not just good.
Moor Yourself to Christ
Brothers and sisters, I have been quite forthcoming with you about my areas of weakness and need for improvement. Will you be candid with yourselves? What windage do you need to remove to stay bound securely to the Savior?
Remember: it doesn’t work to be moored at two competing points. “No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other” (3 Nephi 13:24). We must be secured to the Savior, our Rock and Redeemer.
Yes, sometimes our mooring lines get tangled and perhaps our ship even breaks loose from its mooring buoy in a storm when windage puts a strain on our attachment point. And then, thankfully and joyfully, I testify that our Savior, Jesus Christ, stands as the lighthouse leading us back to safety if we will just follow His light.