Mortality, this precious micro-dot on the canvas of eternity, is such a brief moment. While in it we are to prepare ourselves for the time when there will be no time.
The strategic answers to help us in this mortal moment are awesome. Where else but in this gospel of Jesus Christ in its restored fullness can one find the needed explanations for a God, perfect in His power and goodness, who nevertheless permits evil and suffering? Clearly, He desires to “set [us] up as a free people,” if we will (3 Nephi 21:4). But will we then stay that way?
So often in life, it seems, a blessing is quickly succeeded by a stretching. Spiritual exhilaration is often short lived, being soon followed by vexation, temptation, and even tribulation. Perhaps this is so because we cannot handle exhilaration for any length of time. Or is it because we need to get on with the next challenge, there being so little time for languishing? Or is it that experiencing the sharp, side-by-side contrast of the sweet and the bitter, almost continuously, is essential until the very end of this mortal experience? Or are we at risk if in extended spiritual reveries we quickly forget others in need?
Whatever the reasons, the Lord hastens us forward—submissively onto the next work to be done. Handcarts are to be picked up again promptly, after pausing whether for gladness or for sadness. We are to “seek . . . first to build up the kingdom of God, and to establish His righteousness” (JST, Matthew 6:38, emphasis added). But we cannot build up the kingdom if we are tearing ourselves down. Thus we must deny ourselves certain things, including lust and immorality, as part of taking up the cross daily. Significantly, Jesus stresses this in His Nephite Sermon on the Mount (3 Nephi 12:27-30; Luke 9:23; JST, Luke 14:27). Temple covenants provide us with specific standards, and temple attendance with much-needed reminders of commitments made. ~Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (deceased), his book ‘Not My Will, but Thine’ (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1988) 11-13 (for the first post, click ‘As Obedient Children’ and the concluding post ‘As Obedient Children III’)
