Like the Potted Plant...

We are all plants. All of us. Doesn't matter what kind of plant you are (ok, it kind of does), but we're all plants. And what is something we all learned in 5th grade science about plants? Plants use photosynthesis to eat. How do plants do this? They need certain things: air, water, light.
If you have a house plant, and you want it to survive, you have to take care of it. You make sure it gets water. There will (almost) always be air around it. It needs sun... you can't provide sun, but you can put it in a place where there is sun. Now, the more sun it gets, the more it'll be able to produce all that stuff that it needs to to feed itself. If we just put it in the windowsill for a few minutes a day, it probably won't do so well. Where as if we put it in the windowsill, and just let it go, it'll do great.
When we quickly read our scriptures, or say a quick, meaningless prayer, or do any of the things we should be doing grudgingly and half-heartedly, we are cutting ourselves off from that sunlight. The more we do things like scripture study, praying, church attendance, and more, the more we expose ourselves to the Spirit. We put ourselves in the windowsill when we follow the commandments of God, no matter how small they are. That Spirit is able to more fully fall upon us, and bless us with even greater blessings. The more we do these things, the more we'll feel the Spirit, and the better off we'll be.