The second ordinance of the gospel is the Confirmation by laying on of hands for receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. This ordinance has two essential parts to it. As with all covenants, there is the Lord’s part, and there is our part. The Lord's part is the gift of the Holy Ghost, with all of the blessings and inspiration and guidance and warnings and fruits of the spirit that this gift entails. Our part is the receiving of this gift. A subscription box is a service that you can sign up for where you meet the necessary financial requirements, and then boxes filled with gifts are delivered to your door at regular intervals. Being baptized and confirmed is like signing up for one of these subscription box services. At frequent intervals, the gift of the Holy Ghost will be delivered to us, so long as we keep up our membership with the subscription service. However, just as all of the wonderful gifts inside of a normal subscription box will do us no good if we don't bother to open them up and take out what's inside, the gift of the Holy Ghost will do us no good, even if we have been confirmed as a member, if we will not do our part to truly receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. A lot of us may look at that box, maybe even pick it up, heft it, even shake it a bit to try to figure out what's inside, but we never actually open it and receive the gift we have been given. How often do we go around complaining that we are in a terrible situation and the Lord seems to have forgotten and abandoned us and we are looking fruitlessly around for that one tool or solution that will help us overcome our dilemma, and we are stepping over and ducking under all of these piles and towers of unopened boxes, never imagining that the answer might be inside one of them? Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is not a one time or passive ordinance. We will get new boxes of truth and light and knowledge delivered to us day by day or even minute by minute for as long as we are confirmed members of the Holy Ghost Gift subscription service, but if we allow too many of the boxes to pile up unopened and unappreciated, we will not have room to receive the new gifts that the Holy Ghost has in store for us. We have to remember that the gifts of the Holy Ghost are not to be hoarded or kept under a bushel, but rather they are to be used up and shared out. We will always have the opportunity to receive more and more. I hope we will all choose to actively participate in one of the most important and rewarding ordinances of the gospel by constantly opening and unboxing and using with full purpose of heart and truly and fully receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
