Gathering occurs via obedience, sacrifice
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"From the early days of the restoration of the Church," she said, "there has been a great day of gathering. … This principle of 'gathering' is an eternal principle. We are bound by it just as were the early Saints."
Sister Lant said that the gathering of early LDS families occurred as they physically flocked to Zion in large numbers in order to build temples and receive ordinances. For modern-day Saints, however, gathering is no longer a physical phenomenon.
"Today we have members all around the world and we gather differently," she said. "New members are not asked to leave their homes and come to Utah. Rather, we gather in branches, wards and stakes in our own areas."
Sister Lant said the "gathering" currently occurring throughout the Church has a profoundly deep impact on individuals despite requiring a different kind of sacrifice than it used to. She spent the majority of her remarks examining various aspects of the ongoing gathering, suggesting the function of "gathering" for individual Church members is to figuratively gather from darkness to light via obedience and sacrifice.
"Brothers and sisters, we live in a dark and dreary world where evil influences lurk on every side," Sister Lant said. "Each of us must ask, 'What must I sacrifice to gather out of the dark world, and come to the light? What in my life must I change in order to be part of the Lord's harvest?' "
The person and place to which members can spiritually gather are the Savior and the temple, respectively.
"It is in the temple that the Lord can teach us," she said. "It is there that we are able to make covenants with the Lord that deepen our understanding and secure our place with Him. It is through the temple that we are able to truly come to Him. … The pathway to the Savior is through the temple."
Sister Lant said that blessings stemming from consistent and diligent obedience and sacrifice will be too many to count as well as tailored to the individual.
"Life is a little like the ebb and flow of the tide," she said. "Blessings are constantly flowing to us, and challenges are constantly threatening to overwhelm us. They flow in and out of our lives, keeping us constantly on our knees before the Lord. But as we keep our covenants and strive to keep the commandments with exactness, as surely as a need arises, blessings wash in.
"It is sure. It is constant. It is eternal. We are being 'gathered in.' "
