Since I have been in the Church I have heard more talks addressed to the youth than I can recall. I haven't yet heard even one specially addressed to those who are older — let us say over sixty, or even over seventy.
Such a talk as I have in mind would actually concern everyone, because we are all going to face a final part of our lives, whether it comes sooner or later, and whether we are aware of how close we are to the end, or not.
If we are over seventy, for example, we know that in all probability we haven't more than about twenty years left, possibly far less. But even at fifteen or sixteen, we may not have as much ahead as we expect. It is hard to accept, but the length of life can vary from nothing but a breath, through to over a century. However long it is, it is enough to have the chance to do all that we need.
If it is many years, have we used it to the fullest we could? That is the sense in which I want to make this a letter to older people.
Recently we had in Sunday school the lesson on the March of Zion's Camp. To me it is one of the richest lessons we are ever offered. There are so many parallels to be drawn from it.
All We Had Hoped?
When we reach sixty plus, do we look back and wonder if life was all that we hoped of it when we were twenty? All that we wished, or reasonably expected?
What did we want? I imagine most of us expected to marry and have children. After all, most people do. We expected that marriage to be happy, to be a rich and full companionship with someone we would like, love and admire — and trust! We expected to a good degree kindness, honesty, courage, loyalty. We knew there would be a few mistakes on both sides, and we expected forgiveness — again on both sides.
We expected a level of achievement in whatever we chose to do as a profession, or if we are women staying at home to raise children, we expected that that would be fully satisfying, for the greater part. We expected that it would use our talents and we would feel rewarded in having filled the measure of our creation.
If we had professions, we expected that they would use and recognize our abilities, and reward us fairly in a monetary way, perhaps in achievement and recognition as well.
We probably hoped to own our own homes. We may have hoped to travel and see some of the other exciting and beautiful parts of the world, meet interesting people and learn new talents.
We probably hoped for good health the majority of the time.
We hoped that the Lord would use us for His purposes, and we would rise to meet the challenge.
Looking back — how did we do?
I don't know anyone who can honestly say that they achieved one hundred percent of that. Most of us would be happy to have achieved three quarters of it, perhaps even half.
The material bits are very nice, but of no lasting importance. What about the things that are more lasting, and create a truer joy? That will vary a great deal from one person to another. There are many disappointments. We learn to adapt, but if we are honest, things didn't always work out as we dreamed.
Back to Zion's Camp. They believed they were enduring very great hardships, even death for some. They were exerting the most intense labour and effort possible in order to fight a battle with the enemy and save the people and the land of Zion.
They failed completely. They never even encountered the enemy in battle. Zion was not saved, as they had seen it.
In fact, that was not God's purpose in the journey. It was really to teach the qualities of courage, dedication, endurance, faith and leadership which would fit men to be the future leaders of the Church.
Life’s Purpose
Is that not a perfect parallel with our lives? They are not in order to have happiness and achievement here, but to prepare us to be leaders of creation, even Gods, in the life to come. There is nothing wrong with happiness now, and certainly not with righteous achievements, even with possessions, if we use them well. But they are not the purpose.
We make the journey on our various different paths in order to learn courage and faith, compassion and honour and wisdom, to laugh and to cry with each other, and sometimes alone.
We need to learn to share our “rations” of good things both physical and emotional, to pick up the fallen, to keep going no matter how tired or how wounded we are ourselves. The goal is not a battle with the enemy — the journey itself is that!
The goal is not to save Zion — we are Zion, and we save ourselves by becoming strong people in spirit, without ever losing our gentleness. The creation of ourselves closer to God's image is the purpose. The march itself is the work.
Taking Stock
However close we are to the end of our personal journey, it is not too late to take stock and see if we can improve what we have learned. None of us can go backwards in time to do it again, but we don't have to. We can all take stock in the still of the night and see what we have achieved, and what can be learned and made better in the next move forward.
What, exactly, do I want to be? I know what I want, right now. Tomorrow, of course, I may see further and be wiser. Today I want to be honest, not just with other people, but even more with myself. I want not to make excuses, rationalizations, not to lie to myself about my motives for doing things, not to say, “I didn't know,” when I could have if I had looked, and thought. I want to be a good steward of those things I have, including time and talents.
I want to be honourable, so that my word is absolutely reliable. I want to do everything to the full that I have said I will do. I want to be on time with attendance, and fulfilling every task I might have. It is unpleasant for people to have to wait and worry. Their time is just as valuable as mine.
I want to be gentle. If I err in judgement, let it be on the side of giving more than is needed, not less. I want to be slow to judge, even not do it at all when it is none of my business.
I want never to be guilty of gossip! Or of indifference! Or of leaping to unkind conclusions when more honestly I could have waited. I want never to be mean of spirit.
I want very much to be brave, not just in facing trials, but in facing the world, doing new things, meeting new people. Fear is responsible for so many ugly reactions, for so much prejudice and violence, cruelty. Fear of what we don't understand makes us feel threatened, and we lash out. How often do we say — afterwards when it is too late — “But I didn't know!'”? I would like more often to say, “I didn't know — so I didn't judge.”
Today would be a good time to resolve to do more of that.
I want to enlarge my empathy to people I don't yet understand, to people whose lives are not like mine (at least on the surface). That might have to include the people who seem to be smug, self-satisfied and self-righteous. If they really are like that, then they are deeply unhappy. Happy people don't have any desire to put other people down or to hurt them, humiliate them, make them feel inadequate. Happy people want others to be happy as well.
It's no great achievement to wish others well when you are happy yourself. The achievement is to wish them well when you do NOT have the things you long for, to wish them companionship when you are alone, to wish them success when you feel you are failing, to wish them health when you are sick and in pain.
The Enlargement of Soul
Perhaps it is vital to our soul's enlargement that we should have hard times, feel alone, afraid and in pain, even to know the taste of failure so that we have a chance to achieve that sublime generosity of still wishing others well. If we never have the opportunity to do that, what crown of eternal beauty have we missed?
This is the march of those who will one day be the everlasting ZION — Are we going the farthest each day that we can? The competition is not with anyone else, it is with the best that we ourselves can be.
It is irrelevant if the next person has more or less than we have. All that matters is, have we learned all that we can? If they were given five talents and returned ten, they are perfect. If you were given three and returned six — so are you. But if you were given ten, then you must return twenty.
Some of us are greatly blessed to know at least some of what God would have us do in this space of our journey. But if you need to know, then it is possible for you to find out. If you cannot find out, then you can accomplish it without knowing. God does not set up anyone to fail. We have all we need — that is certain. Whether we use it or not is the only question.
March forward! We may be on very different paths, but the goal is the same for all of us — to meet our Father and be told that we have done our best.
May we all go forward with great strides of the soul.
Until next month.
