Wednesday, 20 November 2013

Truth

It's embarrassing to admit to yourself, let alone admitting to another person, that you are not perfect. Even though I know this is a public space, I sometimes, well, oftentimes, use it as an online diary of sort. What wonderful narcissistic tendencies. Welcome to the digital age of selfies and over share. And in case you haven't heard, the word 'selfie' has been declared 2013 word of the year by the good people whose job it is to decide that kind of stuff for the English Oxford Dictionary. Ok back to not being perfect. While living with my mom I became incredibly disciplined in scripture study. There was a system and I followed it every day. This served me well and helped grow my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, for the last few days I've seen myself slipping from that routine. And with it my light started to dim - note the tone from the Monday post. If anything, my imperfect ways have shown me the truth. And that truth being that true happiness can only be found in following the commandments with exactness. Bold? Yes. And it is such truth that brings me peace and allows me to choose to be happy every day, no matter the circumstances.

As always there's a source that triggered the above thoughts. And today I turn the mic over to President Dieter F Uchdorf. My husband will have you know that President Uchdorf is an honorary member of our lives. Some in the blogosphere refer to him as the handsome apostle or the silver fox, whatever you choose to call him, know that he is the second councilor in the first presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And his words have healed me more than once.

Here are some of those words:

"None of us will be on earth very long. We have a number of precious years which, in the eternal perspective, barely amount to the blink of an eye.

And then we depart. Our spirits “are taken home to that God who gave [us] life.” We lay our bodies down and leave behind the things of this world as we move to the next realm of our existence.
When we are young, it seems that we will live forever. We think there is a limitless supply of sunrises waiting just beyond the horizon, and the future looks to us like an unbroken road stretching endlessly before us.

However, the older we get, the more we tend to look back and marvel at how short that road really is. We wonder how the years could have passed so quickly. And we begin to think about the choices we made and the things we have done. In the process, we remember many sweet moments that give warmth to our souls and joy to our hearts. But we also remember the regrets—the things we wish we could go back and change.

A nurse who cares for the terminally ill says that she has often asked a simple question of her patients as they prepared to depart this life.
“Do you have any regrets?” she would ask.
Being so close to that final day of mortality often gives clarity to thought and provides insight and perspective. So when these people were asked about their regrets, they opened their hearts. They reflected about what they would change if only they could turn back the clock.

As I considered what they had said, it struck me how the foundational principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ can affect our life’s direction for good, if only we will apply them.

There is nothing mysterious about the principles of the gospel. We have studied them in the scriptures, we have discussed them in Sunday School, and we have heard them from the pulpit many times. These divine principles and values are straightforward and clear; they are beautiful, profound, and powerful; and they can definitely help us to avoid future regrets.

Perhaps the most universal regret dying patients expressed was that they wished they had spent more time with the people they love.
Men in particular sang this universal lament: they “deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the [daily] treadmill of … work.” Many had lost out on choice memories that come from spending time with family and friends. They missed developing a deep connection with those who meant the most to them.
Isn’t it true that we often get so busy? And, sad to say, we even wear our busyness as a badge of honor, as though being busy, by itself, was an accomplishment or sign of a superior life.
Is it?

I think of our Lord and Exemplar, Jesus Christ, and His short life among the people of Galilee and Jerusalem. I have tried to imagine Him bustling between meetings or multitasking to get a list of urgent things accomplished.
I can’t see it.

Instead I see the compassionate and caring Son of God purposefully living each day. When He interacted with those around Him, they felt important and loved. He knew the infinite value of the people He met. He blessed them, ministered to them. He lifted them up, healed them. He gave them the precious gift of His time.
In our day it is easy to merely pretend to spend time with others. With the click of a mouse, we can “connect” with thousands of “friends” without ever having to face a single one of them. Technology can be a wonderful thing, and it is very useful when we cannot be near our loved ones. My wife and I live far away from precious family members; we know how that is. However, I believe that we are not headed in the right direction, individually and as a society, when we connect with family or friends mostly by reposting humorous pictures, forwarding trivial things, or linking our loved ones to sites on the Internet. I suppose there is a place for this kind of activity, but how much time are we willing to spend on it? If we fail to give our best personal self and undivided time to those who are truly important to us, one day we will regret it.

Let us resolve to cherish those we love by spending meaningful time with them, doing things together, and cultivating treasured memories."

This is only a section of his talk. You can read further on lds.org and it's titled Of Regrets and Resolutions. You'll also be able to find many more wonderful talks by other apostles. This particular one spoke to my heart today. And I hope yours too.

5 comments

  1. Every Member a Missionary, a Disciple of Our Lord and Savior and a Daugther of Our Heavenly Father in His Kingdom. I love you Ntombi.

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  2. "Wearing busyness like a badge of honor..." I am here with Chris in Zim and we both read it and it rocked our world, and we thought; why are we in such a rush to be busy again if we enjoy each others company, we do things we always wanted to do but never had time for (like i just learnt how to play backgammon, swim crawl in the pool, get my learners, and next driving lessons and many more!) thank you thank you thank you, much love 'The Godmother'

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    1. You gotta look up more of President Uchdorf's talks. I promise that they will all rock your world. Love to you too T! Greetings to Chris!

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  3. I read that article last year, I think it was November of last year. I had such a strong feeling to share that with everyone. It was such a good feeling, unfortunately I didn't share with the family on Christmas day like I planned.
    Thanks for making me remember that, I will prepare a message for my family this year.

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