Caught Up in the Lord

By Hollie Wells

The culture we are steeped in is faced-paced and extremely busy. It is easy to get distracted by our schedules and to get caught up in our various roles as parents, students, employees, church members, and members of neighborhoods and varying friend groups. It may feel like a familiar day to wake up to a screen full of notifications, repeating your day’s to-do’s and appointments for the day to yourself, and before you know it the day is over and you can’t remember the last time you knelt down and had a heart-to-heart with your Heavenly Father, so you kneel down and fall asleep on the side of your bed. You wonder how you got so caught up in your day that your scripture study fell through the cracks. 

The term “caught up” implies losing track of time or forgetting yourself in a task. In our vernacular, we use the term with both negative and positive connotations. You can get caught up in a moment, enjoying yourself so much you don’t check the time or your phone for a prolonged period of time. Getting caught up can also look like doomscrolling or being so focused on the routine tasks of life that the more important things get neglected. 

In my recent scripture study, I came across the phrase “caught up” used in a way I had never considered before. I was in an extremely busy season of life as I finalized my schooling in preparation for my graduation, so I felt caught up in a lot of things. In Moses 1:1, Moses is described as being “caught up” to a mountaintop where he has a glorious, world-expanding vision. Nephi, too, was “caught away” in the Spirit to the heights of a mountain where he learned of Jesus Christ and His role in the fate of his descendents (1 Nephi 11:1). As I read this, I felt an overwhelming desire to join Moses and Nephi in being “caught up” by the Spirit in my worship. The mountaintops of old can be equated to our temples today, so going there is an excellent way to be “caught up” in the Spirit. 

In this fast-paced world, I crave being able to be caught up in the things of God. The temple provides a perfect setting to practice deep focus, pondering and meditation. It is so refreshing to spend a while in the profound silence of the celestial room, or to spend an extended amount of time learning about our covenants and the promised blessings of our Savior. If you’re feeling caught up in life, take a pause, go to the House of the Lord, and be caught up there.