Today is Eternal Life

Live today as if it were a moment in an eternal existence. After all, the eternal portion of ourself will live forever. Our spirit is immortal and, though our body will die and our spirit will be embodied again in the resurrection, we are immortal beings. And, today is one day in the immortal life of our spirit self.

Sometimes I forget that life is eternal and get caught up in being busy, rushed, and concerned with deadlines. It seems that we feel the weight of deadlines because, for every minute that goes by, we have one minute less between now and a deadline.  Death is the ultimate deadline (pun intended). After death, though, there is infinite time. I could go watch a canyon form over several eons and still have no less time left afterward. So, whatever I do in the eternities, I will do because it is an expression of who I am, not because of a reaction to a deadline. I will choose activities that express what I care enough about to do without any compulsion.

I wonder if I can behave that way now. Can I live in a moment as if what I do in that moment is an expression of who I am and what I value rather than a reaction to a deadline? There are moments that feel as if I am doing exactly what I would do if I had infinite time. I enjoy a conversation with full interest in the other person and no concern for passing time. I enjoy an event with family and feel the joy of being together and happy with no worry about what else could be getting done during that time. The picture I have included above is from my wedding day. That day was filled with such moments.

D&C 88: 28-29 contains a wonderful, hopeful promise. In says, "They who are of a celestial spirit shall receive the same body which was a natural body; even ye shall receive your bodies, and your glory shall be that glory by which your bodies are quickened. Ye who are quickened by a portion of the celestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness." It gives me hope to think that the threshold we must cross to obtain a fulness of celestial glory is that we enjoy just a portion of the celestial glory here today. As I reflect on those wonderful moments that are lived as if I am already in the eternities, I feel that it is possible to have just a little of the celestial here and now.  And, I am encouraged that God promises the fulness later, if we just learn to live by a little of the celestial glory in this life.

The challenge, then, is to live now, today, as if it is just one day in our eternal life.

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.