“Can ye feel so now” is perhaps the most important of all Alma’s questions. During spiritually elevating times of your life, if you experienced a change of heart and felt the redeeming love of the Lord, the question is, Can you feel so now? Five years after a mission, for example, or ten years, or twenty years? The one-time spiritual experience will not sustain you. You must be continually experiencing his Spirit and love. If you do not feel the Spirit regularly, the commandments become burdens, not blessings, and you may burn out and quit.
Spirituality is an ongoing process. It is the struggle for daily diligence, doing the little things by which the Savior can bring about great things in your life. The little things are actually not so little; daily sincere prayer, daily serious scripture study, regular worship in the temple, and regular service to others become a big part of your mortal life and make you a sure candidate for eternal life. Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Quorum of the Twelve taught us that “when the Lord measures an individual, … He measures the heart as an indicator of the person’s capacity and potential to bless others… . Having a ‘change of heart’ at one time in our lives is insufficient to give us an understanding heart today… . Christlike love must be continuous and contemporary.” 3