As I grow older, the years seem to
move faster, and mortal life becomes more precious. I tend to drive a little
more carefully (sometimes irritating my younger friends on the road). I tend to
see the small things (sunsets, something my grand child says, the cool,
soothing touch of my wife’s hand, the beauty of a scripture) with more
enjoyment.
Even though I have at least an
inkling of eternal life after mortality, I really don’t want to move on into
that state quite yet. I want to see my grandchildren grow and mature. I want to
have more of my “golden” years to spend with my wife and family. I want to see
and do many things. Carlos E. Asay, in his book, The Road to Somewhere: A
Guide for Young Men and Women,
quoted one of my favorite songs (sung by Tevye) from my favorite musical, Fiddler
on the Roof:
Swiftly fly the years,
One season following another,
Laden with happiness and tears.
Then Elder
Asay said:
The years do come and go in rapid succession, especially as
one grows older. And they truly are filled with happiness and tears. I am
convinced, however, that the seasons of happiness will far outnumber the
seasons of tears for those who make the right decisions during the critical
years of youth and anticipate the future with faith and a worthy plan of
action.
Church leaders often tell us that
the precious years are the formative ones – in an October 1991 Church News article, Elder David B.
Haight was quoted thusly:
…young men need to take full advantage of these valuable
teen years to prepare for life—precious years with meaningful,
never-to-be-forgotten spiritual experiences…
When I was young, growing up in
northern California
On the other hand, all of mortality
seems precious. My grandson is getting married soon, and I am certain that he
would tell you that these years of discovery – preparing for marriage with his
eternal companion and preparing himself spiritually and temporally for his
mortal life to come – are most precious and exciting. The bloom of youth colors
everything for them. Life, at least the portion of my life still allotted to me
is so far off for them as to be of no concern. This is as it should be.
As we move through the various
stages of our lives, each year is precious. When our first child came into our
lives, I thought that it was the most exciting time I had yet experienced in mortality.
I was scared, of the responsibility, of my own lack of experience and
capability, of whether I would be up to the task of teaching and loving her
sufficiently to help the Lord create an eternal being with the strength to live
the gospel (and many other equally weighty concerns). I didn’t worry so much
about my wife’s capabilities – I knew she could do it. I remembered with
considerable concern the words of the Savior found in Matthew 18:6:
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe
in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and
that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
As each of our other children
entered our lives, I felt the same joy and trepidation as with the first. Each
of them is a precious spirit of our Father-in-Heaven, deserving of our
continued care and love. President
Joseph Fielding Smith, author of Life of Joseph F. Smith, quoted his father as saying:
The objects of my life become more apparent as time advances
and experience grows. … [the] most important of which to me is that of my
family. The richest of all my earthly joys is in my precious children. Thank
God!
The years during which our children
rose to maturity, as we all grew and learned together, were, indeed, for our
family, precious years. Sometimes trying and difficult, but years to be
cherished.
Perhaps the apex of these years,
and all the years that followed, were those times when our children were either
sealed to us in the temple of the Lord or born to us under the covenant,
forming our eternal family.
Now we watch them continue to grow
in strength and maturity. We watch them make life choices, perhaps offer advice
and influence when we can, and see them passing through the same precious years
we enjoyed and sometimes, endured. Some of them have children of their own, our
precious grandchildren, while others are still awaiting that opportunity.
We cherish these years too. Our
later years, the years of real maturity, bring somewhat diminished physical
capacity, but we see with different eyes the challenges of mortality and the
coming eternities. We see that our great challenge is to live these years with
as much vigor and joy as we have in our hearts. We expect that we have
challenges and tests ahead of us, but happiness consists in enduring well, or
“enjoying to the end” as my home teacher of years ago, Lynn Arbuckle, often
said. We certainly expect to be tried and tested in various ways as we pass
through these mature years. Trials and tests do not diminish with age. What does diminish is our unwillingness to
accept and endure them. But our ability to endure increases as we move closer
to the Savior and the transcendent love he has for each of us. President James
E. Faust, in his book , Finding Light in a Dark World, said this:
It is an inevitable fact of life that from time to time each
of us suffers some of the troubles, challenges, and disappointments of this
world. When we face the challenges of mortality, we wish there was a sure cure
for heartache, disappointment, torment, anguish, and despair. The Psalmist
stated, "He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds"
(Psalm 147:3). The healing is a divine miracle; the wounds are a common lot of
all mankind.
During a satellite fireside for
young single adults in November of 1995, President Faust counseled the young
adults thusly:
Happiness comes from living the teachings of the Savior and
having the vision to see what He would have us become. Remember that “He that
findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall
find it.” (Matt. 10:39.) Because we have been given the challenges of
mortality, this life is a proving ground for the eternities."
Happiness and joy in this life and
in the eternities is what we all seek. The adversary, of course, is angered and
frustrated when we seek happiness through the gospel instead of the cunning
counterfeits he offers. In their book, Breaking the Cycle of Compulsive
Behavior, Martha Nibley Beck and John C. Beck tell us:
The "pursuit of happiness" is one of the
"self-evident" truths that the Declaration of Independence
acknowledges as the right of every human being. Every action taken by most of
us is in some way an effort to become happier, to feel more of this sensation
we call joy. In short, we all know perfectly well that, as Joseph Smith said,
"happiness is the object and design of our existence."
(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [Salt Lake
City: Deseret Book, 1938], p. 255.) This fact is so baldly obvious that Satan
rarely even tries to convince us it is not true. Instead, he throws out a smoke
screen of deceit to convince us that we can't really credit such a simple
definition of life's meaning, that there must be more to it than we can
understand. A vast pool of learned treatises, theological, philosophical, and
artistic, parade as Satan's substitute for the fourteen words, "Adam fell
that men might be, and men are, that they might have joy."
