Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from his book ‘To My Friends’ taught:
There’s a lot to worry about in life. But it’s always been that way. Don’t think you’ve been singled out for some particular burden at a uniquely troublesome time in the history of the world. It’s always been a troublesome time in the history of the world. This is a fallen world. This is not the celestial kingdom; this is the telestial kingdom. It’s mortal and it’s filled with thorns and thistles and noxious weeds at local, national, and international levels, at home and abroad, in private and in public.
That is the way it always will be until the Lord comes. We apparently understood that when we agreed to come here. In fact, the scriptures say we shouted for joy at he prospect of coming. Some days we wonder what all the shouting was about. But we saw it better then, and we’ll see it better later. Right now we grope a little in the second act of the play with a first act we’re not allowed to remember except in broad brush strokes and a third act we have yet to see in any detail.
So join hands and be filled with faith and enjoy life to the fullest. Embrace the promises and possibilities of this stage of life and this moment in history. C.S. Lewis, who was among the most famous converts to Christianity in the twentieth century, once said, “We are mistaken when we compare our [present situation] to ‘normal life.’ Life has never been normal. Even those periods we think most tranquil . . . turn out, on closer inspection, to be full of crises, alarms, difficulties, emergencies.”1
Don’t worry about what lies ahead. Live your life and have faith. Faith begins with faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and that leads to faith in everything else: faith in the future and faith in our families and faith in our prospects and promises and our possibilities.
I’m convinced that faith was designated as the first principle of the gospel because somehow our Father knew that fear would always be with us. We have to start with faith, because fear, if we let it, can be at every turn. Please don’t yield to fear. Fear comes of ignoring what we know. When you truly understand why faith is the first principle of the gospel, you will embrace your faith, live your faith, and declare it to those who are faltering, who are giving in to fear.
It may help to remember that the quote I just shared from C.S. Lewis was given as bombs were dropping on London in the middle of World War II. People were saying then as they do today, “Why should I go to school? Why should I get married? Why should we have children? Why should I plan anything? I’m going to walk out of here and a bomb will probably drop on me.” Well, maybe it will. But it might have happened yesterday, and it could happen tomorrow. Nothing’s any different for anybody any time.
It’s just that when bombs are dropping, we tend to think a little more seriously, and that’s good. We ought to be a little more serious some of the time, and a bomb tends to get your attention. But don’t be a suicide bomber. Don’t bring on the very thing you fear. Keep moving, keep believing, keep growing, keep trying. Don’t give up, and don’t give in. Don’t worry so much. ~Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, To My Friends, (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book) 282-84 Dwarsligger® edition)
