Ulisses Soares used a term in his October 2020 general conference address that arrested my attention.  He spoke of "spiritual traction."  I want to explore that term.

"Traction" is defined as "adhesive or rolling friction, as of wheels on a track."

Friction is what keeps a car on the road.  When roads get icy, friction disappears, and cars are unable to maintain their forward motion.

I recall a trip to La Grande that my friend, Terry Fisher, and I planned one wintry evening in our high school days.  We were probably attending a basketball game.  I picked him up at his house on Foothill Road at Fisher Hot Springs.  Snow was piled high on both sides of the road.  The road grader had made a path through the snow just wide enough that two cars might have been able to pass one another if they were going very, very slowly.  I was driving my parents' 4-wheel drive Scout.  I had gotten no more than one-quarter mile beyond Terry's house when very suddenly I lost all traction, and the vehicle spun around and was facing the opposite direction.  It was hugely surprising.  I had no warning.  We didn't so much as touch the banks of snow on either side, but suddenly and somehow that vehicle had spun completely around in that narrow road.  The only way to turn back around was to go all the way back to Terry's house and start over.  You can be sure that I was very, very careful the rest of the trip.

After the game Terry asked if he could drive home.  I don't know whether he didn't feel safe with my driving, or if he just thought it would be fun.  I let him.  He had just turned off Gekeler Lane and had entered the highway when we suddenly found ourselves in the deep snow of the flat right-of-way at the side of the road.  Thankfully there was no ditch.  I got out, changed the hubs, put it in 4-wheel drive, got back in the driver's seat, and drove right back onto the highway.

Terry and I both learned a lot about traction that day.  Traction is what keeps you on the road.  When conditions are treacherous, you have to work to maintain traction.  You have to be slow and methodical.  You have to be careful and not make any rash or sudden decisions or movements.

Spiritual traction is the same.  Spiritual traction keeps us on the road to our destination. Spiritual traction is developed by being methodical in our spiritual habits; that is, our habits of daily reading scripture, of praying, serving, keeping commandments, repenting, and of thought control.  We can't make rash decisions, particularly when temptations are placed in our way.  We must be thoughtful, careful, and methodical about our course during this treacherous time.

We must also have the Holy Ghost as our constant companion.  We must be worthy of that companionship at all times.  We'll run off the road or be injured without it.

I was driving up the steep incline of the freeway that is Ladd Canyon one day when I saw a car rapidly approaching me from behind.  The road was slushy, and there was snow all around.  As I noticed the oncoming car, I instantly knew something.  I knew that car was going to spin out of control as it passed me.  I accelerated  just enough to keep it from going by.  In my rear-view mirror I saw the car begin fishtailing.  It was all over the road, and then whipped off to the left and up a snowy bank.  Stopping to help the driver would have been hazardous, and he wouldn't have been injured, so I kept going.  I thanked the Lord over and over for the message that I'd received.  It quite possibly had saved several lives, mine included.  That's the value of the Holy Ghost.

Boyd K. Packer counseled:  "Each of us must stay in condition to respond to inspiration and the promptings of the Holy Ghost.  The Lord has a way of pouring pure intelligence into our minds to prompt us, to guide us, to teach us, and to warn us.  Each son or daughter of God can know the things they need to know instantly.  Learn to receive and act on inspiration and revelation."  (Ensign, May 2013, 8).

Work and conscious effort are necessary if we are to maintain spiritual traction.