Remember This!

I have a little ritual I go through every Monday night. Upon remembering I've forgotten to mail the letters I've written that day, I run down a flight of stairs and stash the enveloped notes vertically in the crevice between the door and door-frame. That way I remember to mail them early Tuesday morning.

A little trick helps me remember to mail my letters

This little exercise prevents me from experiencing that awkward moment where I find a finished letter in say, the glove box, that should have been sent months ago. (This may or may not have happened this morning).

Every morning I study the scriptures for an hour so I will remember what Jesus Christ has done for me. Without this daily ritual I would find my testimony quickly waning.

Why is it important to remember the Lord in all we do? Wise Helaman taught his sons—

Remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

These are your thoughts about remembering the Savior—

• Patsy: It is those little things that should matter the most, and we should always be grateful for that
• Elder Pulsipher: When you put the Lord first He puts you first!
• Marnette: [Remembering] sure helps me through hard times, to know how much He loves me and each of His children. Paying attention to the daily blessings, even during the good times, helps me to focus
• Tyson: When we forget what the Lord has done for us we become lost. We forget our way. We forget our value and lose true joy

MORE ONLINE
O, Remember, Remember, President Henry B. Eyring
The Sacrament—Remembering the Savior
To Always Remember Him, Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Like a Dream

I've just finished an exchange with an Elder in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. Two days ago we were walking along the railroad tracks, talking about the tricks time plays when you're in the service of the Lord. Each one of the 24 months goes by just a little bit faster. When you get down to about six months the pace accelerates rapidly. I've just two months left.

It was a humid, hazy day, and perhaps the atmosphere contributed to my remembering a scripture in the Book of Mormon. The prophet Jacob is recounting the timelessness of his difficult but rewarding life—

I have written according to the best of my knowledge, by saying that the time passed away with us, and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream, we being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation, in a wilderness, and hated of our brethren, which caused wars and contentions; wherefore we did mourn out our days.

Jacob speaks as one who has seen a lifetime of sorrow, sadness and tribulation. And while I cannot relate with wars and life in a wilderness, I think I'm starting to understand what he means when he says time passes like a dream. The last two years of my life—the last six months, especially—seem timeless, void of hours and minutes and filled with thousands of little lessons that have no beginning or end.

"Our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream"

I'm determined to measure the next two months not in days but in lessons and in love; not by the ticking of my watch but by the footsteps of my faith.

And then, when this dream is over I'll discover that it has only just begun. See, life isn't about starting and finishing. It isn't about arriving at a destination. It isn't about running mindlessly from one day to the next.

It is all about finding joy in the journey.

And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness.

(2 Nephi 5:27)

MORE ONLINE 
Come What May, and Love It, Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin
Finding Joy in the Journey, President Thomas S. Monson
Be Anxiously Engaged, Elder M. Russell Ballard