Time and Repentance

Time is inexorable.  We move through time, moment by moment, until mortal life is done.  Each future moment becomes the present and then the past.  And, once past, it is gone.  Imagine a task that needs to be done.  Every day, or even every minute, that we postpone the task is a day or minute less that is available to do the task.  Mortality is limited by death and death creates a limit to the time available for us to do our work in mortality.  Consider Alma 12:

  24 And we see that death comes upon mankind, yea, the death which has been spoken of by Amulek, which is the temporal death; nevertheless there was a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead.

One of the key works of mortality is to experience the bitterness of sin and the goodness that comes through repentance.  Our father Adam was taught (see Moses 6):

  55 And the Lord spake unto Adam, saying: Inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good.

  56 And it is given unto them to know good from evil; wherefore they are agents unto themselves, and I have given unto you another law and commandment.

  57 Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence; ...

When we learn that our life is in some way not in harmony with God we taste the bitterness of sin.  When we repent we know the goodness of God and His Son.  At first we may be motivated by the deadlines created by time and death in mortality.  But, through experience we may find that we prize the good for its own sake.  We begin to learn, repent, and grow because that is what we love to do.

Once we become someone who learns because of the love of the word of God and we repent because of our trust in Jesus Christ, we are ready for the eternal life where there is no time.  Imagine, with no death and no time, there is no less time after procrastination than there was before procrastination.  I might sit and watch a canyon form before getting to work because I have not lost any time in watching the eons pass while a canyon forms.  If I have not learned to love learning and progressing in this life, it may be very difficult to learn in a life with no time and, thus, no deadlines.  With no time and no deadlines, I will only do that which I have come to find intrinsically motivating.  Maybe this observation is related to the verse in D&C 130:

 19 And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.