The word “spirituality” probably means different things to different people, but to me it suggests a person’s degree of closeness to Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. Just like with any relationship, developing and maintaining this closeness takes intentional action.
Similar to the Lord’s parable of the ten virgins from Matthew 25, the Parable of the Reservoir tells about an accumulation of an important resource and having enough against a future time. However, in the latter, I chose to describe threats to that accumulation.
Just as the hydrologists and meteorologists predicted a drought, we should expect that times will come in our lives where it may become more difficult to develop an essential well of spiritual strength to draw upon. At some point, it will be too late. Nicole, the main character, had the responsibility to be vigilant and ensure the reservoir reached and maintained an optimal level, which is something needful for all of us. But three different kinds of obstacles emerged for her and her team.
First, rock slides blocked the flow of some snowmelt to the reservoir. These slides could represent anything we do that hinders the flow of revelation and direction that are available to us from God through the gift of the Holy Ghost and prayer. We might aim to increase our spirituality, but if we make choices that inhibit that communication from Heavenly Father, we won’t reach that goal. And as a result, we can miss out on spiritual experiences that were available to us. This might be directing our thoughts toward other things and devoting our attention, affection, and devotion toward something other than God.
Second, a species of invasive plant took hold along the shores of the reservoir and sucked up an alarming amount of the water. For us, this could be allowing something to creep into our lives—a particular habit, addiction, or sin—that wears away our spirituality. It might be a negative relationship. It could even be an ever-present stress. It might even be neglect for any reason but especially if we’re letting other things creep in and distract us. Identifying a problem and then doing what we need to to clear it away is critical.
Third, the dam suffered a breach that rapidly drained water from the reservoir. I think of this as any highly difficult or traumatic experience that could cause a sudden loss of closeness to God—and it’s essential to have developed a high enough level of spirituality that recovery from this kind of incident is possible. Having a full reservoir provides spiritual resilience; we might even get upset at Heavenly Father for something that happened, but the reservoir is deep enough for us to not lose faith and hope nor to fully neglect the relationship.
Life is a continuous battle of vigilance and quick action. Our spirituality, our closeness to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost will never get through unscathed. To emerge triumphant from our challenges in life, we have to expect that trouble is ahead and prepare ourselves with a deep, expansive reserve of spirituality.
The Weekly Parable 