Faith is a Gift

My ward recently had a Stake Conference, and a member of the Stake Presidency said something that really impressed me.  He said that "faith is a gift from God bestowed as a reward for obedience.  The greater the degree of righteousness, the greater the bestowal of faith."  I don't think we often think about it that way.  We sometimes act as though having faith were a deliberate act; that we can consciously choose to have faith.  But that's not the case.  We can't force ourselves to have faith any more than we can force a seed to grow.  But what we can do is plant that seed (Alma 32:28).  We plant the seed and then Heavenly Father promises us that if we nurture the seed, it will grow.  Taking the parable even further, the more we nurture and take care of a plant, the more healthy it will be and the more fruit it will produce.  So if we ever feel weak in our faith, perhaps we should try increasing our obedience to God's commandments.  We may be doing a pretty good job already, but we can always improve in some aspect of our lives.  And if we humbly ask God to help us to improve in the areas in which we are weak, we will not only see improvements, but also an increase in our faith.