(Something new [that I have no control over]. . . Clicking on scripture reference will take you to the chapter only; you will need to scroll down to the unmarked verse.)
In his book “The Promise of Discipleship,” Neal A. Maxwell wrote regarding time:
“Within mortality’s carefully fixed parameters is another of “these things” which are shared by all and which impinges on us constantly. We call it time. Because we are eternal beings, time is not our natural dimension. Hence we cannot help but notice its constant presence; it is part of the brief and mortal framework within which we are to overcome by faith including faith in God’s timing. Even so, we are greatly helped by revelations that tell us much about “things as they really are, and things as they really will be”(Jacob 4:13). Otherwise, time can so easily twist our take on things. Little things can loom so large!
Courageous but meek, John the Baptist said, as the time of his own special ministry neared its close, “[Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Unconcerned with turf or size of respective followings, John the Baptist spoke a truth about a less appreciated dimension of discipleship. If we are truly meek, we will not worry over dominating a particular moment of time or turf. We will be more concerned with what we do than what we are! Jesus commended John, declaring a greater prophet had not been born of women (Luke 7:28). Yet John “did no miracle[s]” (John 10:41)
True, some sincerely intend to nourish the gospel seed in their next season of life, but those procrastinated springs come late, if at all. Of course we genuinely rejoice in late bloomers, as we do in returning prodigals. Mercifully too, those who come in the last hour receive the same wages (Matthew 20:1-16). Yet there will be no special door prizes at the final judgement for those most reticent and last on their knees or whose tongues are last to confess!
Meanwhile, it is amazing to see how some believers are lured so easily out of their place, like an athlete taken out of position not by the superior skill or strength of an opponent but only by a mere head-fake!
So much of the world’s distracting behavior shouts, in effect, Notice me! Envy Me!—cries which are not really far from Worship me! We hear it all the time from those who are superstars of this or of that. These self-centered emotions are a clear violation of the first and second commandments and are in sharp contrast to the ways of Him who said, “For I am meek and lowly” (Matthew 11:29).
In our time-conscious and ego drenched world such a lesson is worth savoring. Some treat time as if it somehow belonged outright to them and as if title to it were part of their turf. It is one thing to say “these are my days’ (Helaman 7:9) in order to reflect determination to contribute righteously. It is quite another to feel that the Lord or others owe us a block of time and that we alone will call the cadence.
Unless we are meek and faithful, time, as experienced by mortals, can be viewed in such provincial ways. In the very same moment, for instance, some may be enjoying a long awaited reunion, understandably desiring to prolong that precious moment and hold back the dawn. Still others, however, are longingly awaiting an impending reunion or with excruciating pain awaiting death and, hence, would hasten the dawn. Understandably, conscious of time and its seemingly slow passage are those tensely awaiting a crucial lab report and wishing the intervening hours to be over.
Life is so designed that we constantly feel time, for it encloses the cares and anxieties of the world. In fact we must use much of our allotted mortal time to do the necessary and worthy work of the world. Furthermore, some of the cares of the world do require some caring about.
Nevertheless, such cares and chores can come to dominate life. We can easily find ourselves anxiously engaged in doing these lesser things, so that too little of ourselves and of our time are left over for the things of God. Our management of time tells us so much about the management of ourselves.
Inordinate attention to the cares and the work of the world causes the exclusion of the things of most worth, the latter being “omitted” and left “undone” (Mathew 23:23). Time’s pressures can thus blur our focus, and we may find ourselves doing what time labels as urgent, even if it is not really important. We all try (usually in vain) to ignore the ringing telephone!
We really feel time and its prickly presence. Unlike birds at home in the air and fishes in the water, we in time are not in our natural dimension. No wonder the passage of time seems to go too slowly or too rapidly. . . . ~Neal A. Maxwell, The Promise of Discipleship (Deseret Book, 2001) 80-82
