President Thomas S. Monson will forever be known as a master of listening to the Spirit and acting on His promptings. President Nelson has asked us to create our own experiences by learning how to use personal revelation in our own lives. We live in a day where true safety, love, and worthiness will come from understanding—and living daily—the language of the Spirit.

In Pres. Monson’s talk, in April 1985, he said that President David O. McKay identified spiritual promptings as “heart petals.” Isn’t that lovely? I was brought up understanding that any prompting that led to a worthy act of service was a spiritual prompting. Any act of kindness will bring the Spirit rushing to our side. And our hearts will experience a burst and blossoming.

Today, I wonder if we’re too busy to feel our own heart petals. Yet, one experience can urge us to be on the look-out for more and more experiences.

As usual, in his talk, Pres. Monson tells some of his personal experiences that leave us wondering why similar ones don’t happen to us. It takes practice and diligence to feel the Spirit always in our lives. And it also takes shutting the world out of our lives as well.

One of the first things our newly called prophet, Pres. Nelson has urged us to do is to live by the spirit. If we don’t know how, he gives us clear instruction:

“Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will ‘grow into the principle of revelation’” (April 2018).

Feeling like I struggle to listen to the spirit, I tend to miss a lot of clues. But one recent morning, as I drove down the street, I saw what I thought was a white plastic tarp on the side of the road. As I passed by, something said, “That isn’t a plastic tarp, that is a person. Go back and check.” I turned my car around and sure enough, it was an elderly woman lying on the grass. I stopped and asked if she needed any help. She explained that she had slipped on some wet mud and was trying to get her strength back before walking the rest of the way home. I helped her into my car and drove her about a mile farther down the road to her home thinking, I’m younger than she is, and I couldn’t have walked as far after a fall! What if I hadn’t stopped!

It all happened so fast, I didn’t even give myself time to think or talk myself out of it. But how thankful I am that I could help her. And how wonderful it felt to recognize the Spirit and act on its promptings.

Read another post about seeking the spirit here.