Taken from my talk given in church in October 2012
To remain firm in a commitment to be true to the
commandments of God despite temptation, opposition, and adversity.
Today, my thoughts will reflect on a familiar commandment. One that sometimes causes us to have a reaction of, “Oh yeah, that commandment.” But my hope is that today you will be blessed
with the Spirit to take away from these words that I will share with you today,
something that will help you to restore your eternal perspective on
challenges. This commandment is to “endure to the end”.
You know, we hear that phrase often
in the gospel. Regardless of when your
introduction into the gospel was, whether it was as a teenager, or a young
adult or older adult or whether you have been raised in the church, that phrase
“endure to the end” is just abounding
in the gospel lessons and thus, it becomes common and is heard repeatedly. What can happen, however, is as
things become more common, they tend to lose their meaning or their
significance.
So, as we are in the
middle of the challenge or the middle of the struggle, someone, who means well and is listening to us, says, “Aww, I’m really sorry. Hey, endure to the end.” In that very moment, the only thing that we
want to do is …choke them out!
We don’t want to hear that! We
want to hear something uplifting. We
want to hear something that is going to bring us some sort of hope. Some sort of compassionate response, some
empathy. How about a hallmark
card!? Something. But someone says, “endure to the end”… what does that mean? What do you mean, endure to the end, what do
you think I’m doing over here!?
As we go through these challenges
and trials, we get mired down by the difficulty of life that we, of course,
will all experience. And due to the combination of the weight of the trial and that gospel principle going through a
diluting process (after hearing it so often), it doesn’t have the same value
that it should. And yet, what truly does
ENDURE TO THE END mean?
So we get on the pathway to “Endure to the End” and we think that we
are doing it.
We say, “that’s what I’m doing! What do you think I’m doing? I’m enduring.
Does it not look like I am enduring?
How am I supposed to endure my spouse’s death? My child’s death? My child leaving the church? My husband losing his job. My children don’t want to have anything to do
with me. I hate my calling. I can’t stand my job, it doesn’t pay my
bills. I’m enduring all of that.
And suddenly that phrase doesn’t
feel so hopeful.
But what happens mostly, for us, is
that we have interpreted it in an imbalanced way. We focus heavily on the ENDURING part.
Just 'getting through' it. And
yet, that is not what the commandment means.
It doesn’t just mean, ‘get through
it’, ‘grin and bear it’. It is very
important that we understand that this counsel comes from our Father in Heaven
and at no time, EVER, in the history of our existence or those who have come
before us, has Father in Heaven ever said to us, “just deal with it. Just grin and
bear it.” Never. He has always been compassionate. He has always been loving. Everything He has ever commanded us to do has
always been thoughtful. Purposeful. It has had a reason. And it always has to do with our eternal
salvation. Always.
So what does ENDURE TO THE END have to do with our Eternal
Salvation?
Most of us go through this enduring
phase and we think,
“Yeah, I just gotta get through it, someday it will be
better. Someday I guess I just won’t
have to deal with this. Someday I guess
it just won’t matter to me anymore.”
That’s not it. That perspective is our mortal perspective,
often referred to as our “short-sightedness”.
Our eternal perspective, however, is
trying to balance things that are meant to be difficult and are meant to be
challenging and are meant to cause us to call upon the Lord. So if we only focus on the enduring part –
just get through it – and we don’t have our perspective calibrated just right,
then yes, it will be tough and it will be tougher to get through.
What we need to do is rethink the phrase. I think we
should insert this part into the commandment so we can hear it each time. It is Endure WITH A PURPOSE to the end. Because that changes everything. If I know that this experience that I am going
through right now has a purpose and a meaning for ME for a year in the future,
two years in the future or ultimately for my eternal salvation – my ability to
return to my Father in Heaven – that somehow is significant enough to me and I’ll do
it...better.
EXAMPLE:
Running in the rain to save my child.
Clearly I am not a runner. But if I had to run in the rain to save my child who was hanging off of a cliff, then I would run. Yes, it would be hard and it would hurt. My knees would ache, my breathing would be labored and I would think that at any moment I just might die, but I would not stop because running to save my child is worth all of that pain and difficulty. That is why if we can impart meaning or purpose into the enduring
then it gives us an identifiable reason and then the surviving/bearing/resisting is DIFFERENT. Whether it makes it easier or not, it
suddenly becomes worth it.
So the purpose of our trials, the
purpose of our challenges has to have meaning and purpose. Otherwise, it would be just cruel
suffering. And our Father in Heaven has never been one who is cruel.
There are all kinds of personal definitions
for 'endure to the end', but one of the greatest comes from President
Thomas S. Monson. He said it means, to
“withstand with courage.” WITHSTAND
means to “hold up” to “bear” to “survive”.
And courage is “valor” or “nerve”.
The idea of 'enduring to the end' is a
commandment. Anything that the Lord asks
of us is a commandment. There are 10
that a lot of the world focuses on, and that is great. But ANYTHING that the Lord says and any
direction he gives to us, is in fact a commandment. So, because it is a commandment it
is followed by a blessing – a promise.
There are several references that I found
very quickly that refer to this promise (Matthew, Mark, etc.) and they all say the same thing, “he that endureth to the end, shall be saved.” I asked earlier, what does endure to the end
have to do with our salvation? It has
everything to do with it. It is our
salvation.
No matter what station in life we
find ourselves in, whether we are at the end of our journey on this earth or
whether we have children or don’t; are married or are not; have callings or do
not; have an education or successful business, etc., wherever we find ourselves – that commandment
is the same. And so is the promise.
Sometimes we begin to think “Why!?” Why me!
Why do I have to go through this, Father in Heaven? Have I not done
this or that? Have I not gone to church
every week? Have I not born my testimony; gone
to the temple; taught my children; held family home evening; pay my tithing;
fulfill my calling; volunteer? Why am I
being asked to go through this? This is
just too hard! I’ve done all of the things you have asked." I try to remind the Lord of my resume as his
child and all of my accomplishments here in this life…just in case He forgot
and is accidentally challenging me with a trial – as though some angel wasn’t
paying attention.
In 1994, I began serving my mission. I was called to serve in Ecuador. I loved it! I loved the people. I did get sick, but I still worked everyday. After about a year, we were at a Zone Conference and my Mission President came up to me to ask how I was feeling. I told him I was "fine". He said, "Great!" He then told me to go home and pack because I was leaving that night to go home...as in back to the United States - six months early. I was heartbroken. I didn't want to leave. I couldn't understand. I began to question his wisdom and begged the Lord for understanding. I was numb the hour-and-a-half bus ride back to our little apartment. Later that night, the APs (Assistants to the President) came to drive both me and my companion to the main city. A 2-hour drive.
I don't remember that drive and I barely remember sleeping that night. A few hours later, just before dawn, the APs returned to take me to the airport. They walked me into the airport, made sure I had my ticket and wished me well. Sixteen hours later, I was walking off of the airplane in my hometown and I was not happy. My family was there to greet me and they could tell I was not happy. For five weeks, I stayed at home and went to doctor's appointments to try to remedy my illness. After the 5th week, on a Tuesday evening, I received a call from our Stake President who asked if I was ready to return to the mission field. I eagerly said that I was. He told me that on Thursday I would fly to Dallas Texas to begin my mission. Stumbling for just a moment, I thought that surely he was kidding and that I would be returning to Ecuador. Such was not the case. So, I packed and I left on Thursday.
As I entered the Dallas Texas mission, I felt out of place. I was used to dirt roads and humble circumstances. This felt completely different. But, my companion and I went about our work of serving and teaching. About five weeks after arriving in the mission, I met a young missionary who was intriguing. Truth be told, he was annoying, but funny. He was always in a good mood which seemed to clash with my hardly ever being in a good mood. But I tolerated him and he used his talents to try to make people smile and laugh. I was the hardest nut to crack that he had ever encountered. We served in the same areas of the mission for three months. Then I returned home.
In 1997, six months after he left the mission field, we were married. It has been 15 years and we now have four beautiful children. To think, if I had remained in my mission in Ecuador as I had wanted, I would have missed the opportunity to meet the future father of my children. You see, we don't know the reason for the challenge we might face, but our Father in Heaven surely does.
Even Joseph Smith asked this very
question. While in jail and wondering when he would be released to return to his mission, he cried out to the Lord saying, “O God,
where art thou?” He wanted to know when
all of this turmoil was going to end.
The Lord answered his prayer in a very comforting way. He said,
"My son, peace
be unto thy soul; thine adversity
and thine afflictions shall be but a small
moment; And then, if thou endure
it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes." (D&C 121 7-8)
To further underscore the power of
the trial that Joseph was faced with and after continued prayer to the Lord, he
was told…
“and above all,
if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee,
know thou, my son, that all these things
shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."
(D&C 122:7)
To me this means that the Lord knows that we are
suffering. He knows that this is
hard.
Sometimes we wonder, “What else could the Lord possibly be
doing? Why doesn’t He know that this is
hard for me!? Why doesn’t He take this
away?” And his answer is always the
same, “This shall give thee experience,…”
I remember thinking a long time ago, “Experience for what?” What is this going to give me experience
for? If this is gonna give me experience, then I don’t want what’s
coming. I don’t want more of this! I don’t want to suffer more. I don’t want to wonder if my kids will have
food; if we will have gas in the car; if they will shut off the
electricity. I don’t want to experience
more of this tragedy. This was my
short-sightedness.
The Lord knows that this is hard and it will be for our experience.
"Enduring
to the end, or remaining faithful to the laws and ordinances of the gospel of
Jesus Christ throughout our life, is a fundamental requirement for salvation in
the kingdom of God. This belief distinguishes Latter-day Saints from many other
Christian denominations that teach that salvation is given to all who simply
believe and confess that Jesus is the Christ. The Lord
clearly declared, 'If you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall
have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God' (D&C
14:7). "Therefore, enduring to
the end is not just a matter of passively tolerating life's difficult
circumstances or 'hanging in there.' Ours is an active religion, one
that is joyful, one of hope, strength and deliverance, not one that is grim and
gloomy. "
Finally,
to truly understand, let me share with you greatest example that we have. Our Savior, Jesus Christ. The greatest example
of enduring …with a purpose… that any of us will ever have.
It
started in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he went there to pray to his Father
in Heaven and there he dropped to His knees and it is here, in this moment that
we know that He took upon himself all the sins of the world – so much so that
He sweat great drops of blood from every pore.
Just even in that, if we could comprehend what that means – that the
pressure and the weight of all that he was taking upon himself was so taxing
and difficult, great drops of blood came from every pore. And He with His Father endured all of that –
and the reason He did so, was so that today, you and I could repent and could
be free from the weight of sin. That is
the purpose of those hours spent in the Garden of Gethsemane.
He
then gets up and he goes out of the Garden to find His disciples sleeping. He wakes them up and says, “Could ye not
watch me one hour?” He then returns to
the Garden of Gethsemane and asked his Father to be with him during the
experience that he soon would endure. Angels then came down and they strengthened him. And what experience was he soon to endure? His betrayal, mocking and crucifixion.
Within hours he was taken, judged, mocked, spit
upon and abused. They call out from the
crowd, “Crucify him!” So he is whipped
and spit upon some more and a “crown” of thorns was pressed into head. They gave Him a large beam to carry – this
would be the one that he would soon be nailed to and as He walked the long walk
up to the hill called Golgotha, he was continually mocked by those he loved and
served. They then nailed Him on the
cross through his wrists and feet and hung a sign that mocked him further that said, “King of the
Jews”. It is important to note that
crucifixion was not intended to kill people – it was intended to make them
suffer. The longest time any individual
person hung on the cross was about 3 hours.
Christ endured for almost 8.
In
his final hours, Father in Heaven withdrew His spirit from Christ so that, in
fact, it truly would be that he, the Savior, did it all. In those moments, Jesus cried out, “Why hast
thou forsaken me?” And then, in that
moment, having endured it all – even on his own, he declared, “it is
finished…Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” And he gave up the ghost. Jesus had indeed endured to the end. (Luke
23:46)
From
this amazing and touching example we can see what we are to do in the midst of
trials and challenges. As Jesus himself
faced an upcoming challenge, he went to Father in Heaven and asked for
help to endure his trial. We also learn that, enduring all
things with an eye towards heaven – thinking of the eternal purpose of the
trial and the suffering, will bring about the energy and strength needed to
accomplish what is asked of us. It is
not easy, but it is worth it.
I
bear you my testimony that we truly are children of our Father in Heaven who
loves us and He has given us this life to help us build up our strength so that
we can learn to be more like He is. I
know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that he died on the cross for each of
us, so that we would have the privilege of seeking repentance and returning to
be with him and our Father in Heaven someday.
I know that the difficulties that we face in this life are frustrating
and may even cause us to fall to our knees, but our Savior’s promise is still
true – we have not been left comfortless, we can have the peaceful Spirit to be
with us as we endure with valor.
