LIFE

 

“’Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect’ (Matt 5:48). Now, that is an attainable goal. We will not be exalted, we shall not reach our destination, unless we are perfect, and now is the best time in the world to start toward that perfection. I have little patience with people who say, ‘Oh, nobody is perfect’, the implication being: ‘so why try? Of course no one is wholly perfect, but we find some who are a long way up the ladder.”

-          President Spencer W. Kimball, “Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball” p 165

I have been very introspective on this the last leg of my earthly journey. I think illness has a great way of forcing us to confront our mortality. Recognizing that life is a sum of one’s choices, I have been re-hashing my life to discover if there is something I should have done better: did I follow all the teachings of the Gospel as I should, did I rely on God enough to follow my life’s plan, did I allow my fears to control me, did  my decisions make my life better or worse, did I suffer more than I should have, did I try hard enough to be Christ-like?

So much of what comes upon us is self-inflicted. Even Job admitted that what he feared had come upon him (Job 3:25).  I discovered a person can easily run the risk of spending their entire old age beating themselves up over the past. Seeing clearly you are not perfect can be a terrible blow to the ego….

I have looked back on the lessons I have learnt during my life and have reasoned they are wasted if they are not acted upon but some things cannot be re-visited. Somehow I think nothing gained here was ever meant to be wasted. There is another life to be lived….a better life….the real life….the never ending life…..because the spirit of man lives on and ‘becoming’ is a process.

One day we will see the beauty in all our earthly experiences and all our learning as we kneel before the King of Kings and acknowledge His priceless part in our eternal journey. One day I know, when I am sanctified, He will consecrate ‘the sum of me’.

The lessons of my life flowed like a river

Winding through days, months and years;

I rescued a few but missed so many

From the currents as I saw them passing;

They drowned in a daze of my ignorance,

Unwanted and ignored but yet abiding.

I fish them now from the pool of my memory

And give them life everlasting.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Jesus Prince of Peace by Danny Hahlbohm)