The Precious Years

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:

Sunrise, sunset,
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, life seemed to stretch before me in an endless summer. I went to dances, swam in the city pool and the river, went boating, hung out with my friends, and basically lived a life that seemed to me to be without end, with the Church way in the background.

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."

All of the years of our mortality are precious in different ways. All of them are to be cherished even as we endure the tests of mortality. So let us avoid Satan’s counterfeits and continue in the pursuit of happiness through the gospel, the Savior and his teachings. Let us seek the only possible way to eternal happiness as we walk the path that leads to eternal life and joy with our families in the Celestial Kingdom.