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The Race of Life Precious to Her

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The Race of Life Precious to Her FIRST PRESIDENCY MESSAGE, MAY 2012 By President Thomas S. Monson immediately that she would spend whatever time she had remaining with her family and friends and with the gospel at the center of her life, for these represented what was most The Race of Life precious to her. Such moments of clarity come Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where do we to all of us at one time or another, go after this life? No longer need these universal questions although not always through so dra- remain unanswered. matic a circumstance. We see clearly what it is that really matters in our lives and how we should be living. Said the Savior: y beloved brothers and significance when times of crisis arise, “Lay not up for yourselves trea- sisters, this morning I wish when loved ones are hurt or injured, sures upon earth, where moth and Mto speak to you of eternal when sickness enters the house of rust doth corrupt, and where thieves truths—those truths which will enrich good health, when life’s candle dims break through and steal: our lives and see us safely home. and darkness threatens. Our thoughts “But lay up for yourselves treasures Everywhere people are in a hurry. become focused, and we are easily in heaven, where neither moth nor Jet-powered aircraft speed their able to determine what is really im- rust doth corrupt, and where thieves precious human cargo across broad portant and what is merely trivial. do not break through nor steal: continents and vast oceans so that I recently visited with a woman “For where your treasure is, there business meetings might be attended, who has been battling a life-threat- will your heart be also.” 1 obligations met, vacations enjoyed, ening disease for over two years. She In our times of deepest reflection or families visited. Roadways every- indicated that prior to her illness, her or greatest need, the soul of man where—including freeways, thru- days were filled with activities such reaches heavenward, seeking a divine ways, and motorways—carry millions as cleaning her house to perfection response to life’s greatest questions: of automobiles, occupied by more and filling it with beautiful furnish- Where did we come from? Why are we millions of people, in a seemingly ings. She visited her hairdresser twice here? Where do we go after we leave endless stream and for a multitude of a week and spent money and time this life? reasons as we rush about the busi- each month adding to her wardrobe. Answers to these questions are ness of each day. Her grandchildren were invited to not discovered within the covers of In this fast-paced life, do we ever visit infrequently, for she was always academia’s textbooks or by checking pause for moments of meditation— concerned that what she considered the Internet. These questions transcend even thoughts of timeless truths? her precious possessions might be mortality. They embrace eternity. When compared to eternal verities, broken or otherwise ruined by tiny Where did we come from? This most of the questions and concerns and careless hands. query is inevitably thought, if not of daily living are really rather trivial. And then she received the shock- spoken, by every human being. What should we have for dinner? ing news that her mortal life was in The Apostle Paul told the Athenians What color should we paint the jeopardy and that she might have on Mars’ Hill that “we are the offspring living room? Should we sign Johnny very limited time left here. She of God.” 2 Since we know that our up for soccer? These questions and said that at the moment she heard physical bodies are the offspring of countless others like them lose their the doctor’s diagnosis, she knew our mortal parents, we must probe for 1 the meaning of Paul’s statement. The discover that there are consequences around it was carried, unable to make Lord has declared that “the spirit and attached to our actions. its way back into the main current. the body are the soul of man.” 3 Thus By obedience to God’s com- At last it came to an uneasy rest amid it is the spirit which is the offspring mandments, we can qualify for that the flotsam and jetsam that sur- of God. The writer of Hebrews refers “house” spoken of by Jesus when He rounded it, held fast by the tentacles to Him as “the Father of spirits.” 4 The declared: “In my Father’s house are of the grasping green moss. spirits of all men are literally His “be- many mansions. I go to prepare The toy boats of childhood had no gotten sons and daughters.” 5 a place for you . that where I am, keel for stability, no rudder to provide We note that inspired poets have, there ye may be also.” 7 direction, and no source of power. for our contemplation of this sub- Although we come into mortality Inevitably, their destination was down- ject, written moving messages and “trailing clouds of glory,” life moves stream—the path of least resistance. recorded transcendent thoughts. relentlessly forward. Youth follows Unlike toy boats, we have been William Wordsworth penned the truth: childhood, and maturity comes ever provided divine attributes to guide so imperceptibly. From experience our journey. We enter mortality not Our birth is but a sleep and a we learn the need to reach heaven- to float with the moving currents of forgetting: ward for assistance as we make our life but with the power to think, to The soul that rises with us, our life’s way along life’s pathway. reason, and to achieve. Star, God, our Father, and Jesus Christ, Our Heavenly Father did not Hath had elsewhere its setting, our Lord, have marked the way to launch us on our eternal voyage with- And cometh from afar: perfection. They beckon us to follow out providing the means whereby Not in entire forgetfulness, eternal verities and to become per- we could receive from Him guidance And not in utter nakedness, fect, as They are perfect.8 to ensure our safe return. I speak of But trailing clouds of glory do we The Apostle Paul likened life to a prayer. I speak too of the whisper- come race. To the Hebrews he urged, “Let ings from that still, small voice; and I From God, who is our home: us lay aside . the sin which doth so do not overlook the holy scriptures, Heaven lies about us in our easily beset us, and let us run with pa- which contain the word of the Lord infancy! 6 tience the race that is set before us.” 9 and the words of the prophets—pro- In our zeal, let us not overlook the vided to us to help us successfully Parents ponder their responsibility sage counsel from Ecclesiastes: “The cross the finish line. to teach, to inspire, and to provide race is not to the swift, nor the battle At some period in our mortal mis- guidance, direction, and example. to the strong.” 10 Actually, the prize sion, there appears the faltering step, And while parents ponder, chil- belongs to him or her who endures the wan smile, the pain of sickness— dren—and particularly youth—ask to the end. even the fading of summer, the ap- the penetrating question, why are we When I reflect on the race of life, I proach of autumn, the chill of winter, here? Usually it is spoken silently to remember another type of race, even and the experience we call death. the soul and phrased, why am I here? from childhood days. My friends and Every thoughtful person has asked How grateful we should be that a I would take pocketknives in hand himself the question best phrased by wise Creator fashioned an earth and and, from the soft wood of a willow Job of old: “If a man die, shall he live placed us here, with a veil of forget- tree, fashion small toy boats. With a again?” 11 Try as we might to put the fulness of our previous existence so triangular-shaped cotton sail in place, question out of our thoughts, it always that we might experience a time of each would launch his crude craft in returns. Death comes to all mankind. testing, an opportunity to prove our- the race down the relatively turbu- It comes to the aged as they walk on selves in order to qualify for all that lent waters of Utah’s Provo River. We faltering feet. Its summons is heard by God has prepared for us to receive. would run along the river’s bank and those who have scarcely reached mid- Clearly, one primary purpose of watch the tiny vessels sometimes way in life’s journey. At times it hushes our existence upon the earth is to bobbing violently in the swift current the laughter of little children. obtain a body of flesh and bones. and at other times sailing serenely as But what of an existence beyond We have also been given the gift of the water deepened. death? Is death the end of all? Robert agency. In a thousand ways we are During a particular race we noted Blatchford, in his book God and My privileged to choose for ourselves. that one boat led all the rest toward Neighbor, attacked with vigor accepted Here we learn from the hard task- the appointed finish line. Suddenly, Christian beliefs such as God, Christ, master of experience.
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