Many don’t remember the fuel and energy crisis of the 1970’s, especially what it meant to people and the nation. It was more than a mere inconvenience. The rationing was frightening for families. It was worrisome for the nation. Fortunately that crisis has been relieved, but today there is a crisis that has not been relieved, one that is with us, one that needs our attention.
“Picture with me in your mind’s eye, if you will, a church building with a recently-placed sign reading, “Spiritual Fuel Available—No Rationing—No Stamps—No Quotas—Come and Prepare.” Picture with me further a home with a welcome mat bearing the inscription, “Welcome Neighbor—Spiritual Oil Available—Come In As You Are.” Picture with me still further an individual whose very countenance radiates, “I know God lives—my cup runneth over.”
We are living in a time of urgency. We are living in a time of spiritual crisis. We are living in a time close to midnight. There is an urgency to meet the worldwide spiritual crisis through action now. It can only be accomplished by performance. Procrastination is a deadly weapon of human progress. Thank God there is no need of a shortage in the oil of preparedness. It is accumulated at will, drop by drop, in righteous living.
In all of our ward and stake buildings spiritual oil is available. Come and prepare. Join the ward members. Be involved. Don’t simply give—give of yourself. Don’t take without taking part. One who is thinking of others and serving others is filling his lamp with oil. While our worldwide fuel energy crisis is relieved by conservation, quite to the contrary, the spiritual crisis is corrected through use and preparation.
I declare to you today that the more you give, the more drops of spiritual oil you will accumulate for yourself.
“Attendance at sacrament meetings adds oil to our lamps, drop by drop over the years. Fasting, family prayer, home teaching, control of bodily appetites, preaching the gospel, studying the scriptures—each act of dedication and obedience is a drop added to our store. Deeds of kindness, payments of offerings and tithes, chaste thoughts and actions, marriage in the covenant for eternity—these, too, contribute importantly to the oil with which we can at midnight refuel our exhausted lamps.” (Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, Deseret Book Co., 1972, p. 256.)
