4 Ways We Can Make Sure We Don’t Go Less Active.

As my mission drew to a close my Mission President held a Zone Conference. He was going home that transfer and opened it up to a Q&A at the end. I vividly remember one question, Elder Hansen from Idaho stood up and in a very thick Idaho farmer accent asked: “President Wilkey, how do I not go less active when I go home?” to which President Wilkey replied, “Elder Hansen, do you milk a cow halfway?” I saw a light go on in Elder Hansen’s eyes and he said “Gotcha President!” and sat down. This exchange baffled me. But it always stayed with me.

 

Now that I’ve been home from my mission for almost 5 years I’ve met hundreds of less active members. Many of whom are RM’s who have slipped away from full activity, many still have testimonies, but they’ve fallen away. The question of Elder Hansen echoes in my ears “What can we do to not go less active?” The reply of “Do you milk a cow halfway?” really is the answer. After pondering this question for a few years, I finally understand it. Let me explain. Milking a cow is a commitment, if you only milk the cow halfway eventually you will ruin its capacity to produce milk, thereby rendering the dairy cow worthless. We do the same to our Spiritual life when we are halfway disciples, or “lukewarm” as John puts it in Revelation 3:21. So here are 4 ways to make sure you are milking your cows all the way (being a full disciple).

 

1st. Pray Often And With Your Whole Heart.

 

If Satan teaches a man not to pray and we aren’t just going to stop, then Satan’s next tactic is to get a man to pray without his heart. As an RM I have noticed that the biggest change in my daily life is in my prayers. As missionaries we were up against impossible odds, we knew that the only hope for many of our investigators was a miracle, so we knelt in faithful prayer and pled with Heavenly Father for miracles. We prayed for others to receive the gospel, we prayed for them by name and by need. In our prayers, we poured out our whole souls unto God on behalf of those we loved.

Not only did we pray with our whole souls, we prayed a LOT. We prayed first thing when we got up, we prayed before breakfast, before personal study, before companionship study, before we left the apartment for the day, before lunch, dinner, and any lessons during the day, we prayed before planning at night, and we had our personal and companionship prayers at night. We prayed at least 10 times a day.

But as an RM, it is easy to “get busy” and “forget” to pray, as we rush to work, school, or out the door, because we slept in and we are running late. We milk our cows halfway when we forget to pray and when our prayers turn into a rote “saying” of prayers. We milk our cows all the way when we pray for others by name and by need. Not every prayer needs to take 10 minutes, but at night it would be wise to account to our Father our daily actions, repent of our sins and plead for those we love.

“Praying for others with all of the energy of our souls increases our capacity to hear and to heed the voice of the Lord.”
 David A Bednar

 

 

2nd. Study The Scriptures And Words Of The Prophets.

 

On our missions, we learn how to study, and we set aside time to become gospel scholars. An hour every morning for personal study and an hour for combined companionship study. Coming home we quickly realize that two hours of gospel study is just not realistic for a college student with the demands of work, school, family, and dating.

We start milking out cows only half way when, instead of studying the scriptures, we just read a verse before bed or when we skip reading altogether.

We can milk our cows all the way by sacrificing something to make room for a more consistent study of the scriptures. Start with making sure you at least read or listen to the scriptures, then moving into a study. Personally, I struggled with this for the first 2 years of being home until I realized something: I listen to a LOT of music while I drive and while I am at the gym. I asked myself, what would happen if I replaced just some of that music with scriptures? The difference was astounding, the spirit entered my life to a greater level than I had felt since I was a missionary.

Then the idea came, what if while I was at the gym I listened to conference talks? So last year I set a goal to listen to 1,000 conference talks. Every day while working out at the gym I would listen to conference talks and I made it. This year I renewed my goal for another 1,000 talks. As I listened to these talks I stop and copy my favorite lines or send it to my friends. We can all milk our cows all the way by immersing ourselves and more purposefully studying the scriptures.

“I promise that as you prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every day, you will make better decisions—every day.”
Russell M. Nelson

 

3rd. Worship At Church.

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In a world where we are under assault daily, the thought that we don’t need a weekly renewal is ludicrous. We need the spiritual recharge that comes from real worship. Real Sabbath worship occurs when we renew our covenants by partaking of the sacrament, receive revelation, and have our testimonies strengthened. But far too often church services fail to spiritually recharge us. This happens because we are only milking out cows halfway, and soon we might see little or no value to going at all. So what can we do to milk our cows all the way and get a recharge at Church? First, I am not going to tell you every church service is good; because quite frankly, I’ve been to some awful meetings before. But just because the meeting is awful does not mean you can’t worship and recharge. When you are in a church meeting you find boring or unattractive, try the following:

1. Put your phone/tablet in Uchtdorf mode. (Airplane mode)
2. Try to look around and see if someone looks lonely or sad, take this time to use the gift of discernment. When we look for opportunities to minister the Lord will provide them.
3. Try reading the scriptures. Ya, the physical ones not on your phone.
4. If a talk or lesson is dry or boring try writing down your thoughts on the topic. Some of my favorite personal revelations have come while I wrote down my thoughts about the topics being discussed. (try to avoid doing this on your device, as that will distract others).

Am I the perfect example of these? Far from it. But when followed, these four ideas can help you fully milk your cows! They can even turn even a “dry counsel” talk (a talk by a boring high counselor) into something spiritually recharging.

“Worship is essential and central to our spiritual life. It is something we should yearn for, seek out, and strive to experience.”
Bishop Dean M. Davies

 

4th. Be Selfless With Our Temple Attendance.

 

If a non-member was to walk up to you right now asking to get baptized would you ignore them and say “I am too busy?” Even the notion is ridiculous! Yet how many times have we been too busy to go to the temple and perform this sacred work for someone who is waiting on the other side of the veil for it? We have been encouraged to attend as frequently as we are able.

We milk our cows halfway when we are selfish with the time that we have already covenanted to consecrate. Another way we milk our cows halfway is when we are selfish with the ordinances we are willing to do. I know countless YSA’s who refuse to do sealings until they are married. Even though, most days, the temple has signs posted saying patrons needed for sealings. Are we really so selfish that we refuse to give someone else the blessings of an eternal family until we have received our own? Let us increase our temple attendance, make it regular, and participate in the full spectrum of ordinances, that is how we can fully milk our cow.

“Do we periodically participate in all of the temple ordinances and thus receive the full blessings of vicarious work for our ancestors?”
Ezra Taft Benson

Conclusion:
Be Full-In Disciple And Milk Your Cows!

 

So, how do we make sure to stay fully active in the Lord’s church in order to receive the many blessing that the Lord has for us here? The answer is to fully milk your cow! When we are only half-committed to the Lord and milk our cows halfway we will soon feel like the gospel is not working and slip into inactivity. But when we fully milk our cows, we will never go less active in the gospel or the church. The answers aren’t new but they are vital.

“When we are baptized, we are fully immersed as a symbol of our promise to fully follow the Savior, not half-heartedly. When we are fully committed and “all in,” heaven shakes for our good. When we are lukewarm or only partially committed, we lose out on some of heaven’s choicest blessings.”
Elder Gary B. Sabin

 

 

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