The Readiness is All

When my EC and I hit the open road, we always engage in long, significant conversations. This past Wednesday was no different. We had two hours of alone time, and about thirty minutes in, my EC turned to me and launched.

“Do you think we are ready if something happened to one of us?”

“Why do you mean “if something happened?”

“You know…”

I knew. We started talking about things. Deep things. We talked about how we felt we were doing spiritually, how our relationship is, how prepared we are financially, what would happen if the unthinkable happened, etc. Heavy stuff, but stuff that occasionally needs addressed.

When we arrived home, we were greeted with the news that a friend of ours had lost his wife and child in a horrific tragedy. It hit us hard. Especially since it happened at the exact same time we were talking about “what if…?”

The idea that you can kiss your love ones goodbye in the morning and then never see them again mortality is frightening and heartbreaking. It is a reality we prefer not to think about, much less discuss. We are grieving with countless others for the loss of our friend’s loved ones.

These events have colored my thoughts for the past few days. What seemed so important before, suddenly rings hollow. What was seemingly worth arguing about before no longer merits a passing glance.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but here goes: all of us are going to die, and odds are pretty good that it won’t be when we expect.

I find it curious that our lesson manuals all contain lessons about watching for the Signs of the Times, and the Second Coming, when, most likely, we will be off to greet Jesus long before he comes here to greet us*.  Maybe each church manual should contain at least one lesson called, “You Might Die Tonight, Are You Ready?”

Shakespeare expressed this thought through the words of Hamlet:

Not a whit, we defy augury: there’s a special
providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now,
’tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be
now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the
readiness is all: since no man has aught of what he
leaves, what is’t to leave betimes? (link)

In other, less iambic words, we don’t know when we are going to go – so we need to be ready – and if we are ready, it doesn’t matter when it happens.

Alma dug into this idea with a directness that should stop us in our tracks:

Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?

Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life.

Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of envy? I say unto you that such an one is not prepared; and I would that he should prepare quickly, for the hour is close at hand, and he knoweth not when the time shall come; for such an one is not found guiltless.

And again I say unto you, is there one among you that doth make a mock of his brother, or that heapeth upon him persecutions?

Wo unto such an one, for he is not prepared, and the time is at hand that he must repent or he cannot be saved! (link)

Elder Carlos Asay referred to these questions from Alma as a sort of “Spiritual Check-up.” “These and other questions might be used to obtain readings of our spiritual temperature and pulse rate.” (link)

It can be a sobering evaluation, and I appreciate that this is a sobering post. But you know, sometimes we need to dig deep and take a hard look at our hearts, our relationships, our behavior and our relationship with God. We might not always come away confident.

The reality is that the results of our self-evaluation could very well be what we take with us when we leave this earth –  because it could be later today. Or tomorrow.

Lie is short. Yeah. I know. This week has been a harsh reminder.

To add more oxygen to this smoldering concern, Friday night I attended a fireside for parents with Elders Ballard, Rasband and Gibbons. They mentioned things like this:

• Only 52% of active LDS families have regular FHE.
• In 2015, the average 8-18 year-old spent 9 hours “connected.”

How I, and those who surround me, spend our time seems to matter more today than it did a week ago. How long will this feeling stick? I don’t know – but hopefully long enough to foster some change.

Those of us who undertake such an evaluation will come away with different concerns. For some, it might be a desire to mend relationships, for others, it might be a concern about wasted time. For others, it might be righting finances, yet for another it might be finally capturing an elusive goal. For many of us, it could be finding cleanliness and solidifying our relationship with our Savior.

 

I’ll be back next week with something more upbeat. (Hopefully!)

Have a great Sabbath.

 

*President Boyd K. Packer, October, 2011. “Sometimes you might be tempted to think as I did from time to time in my youth: “The way things are going, the world’s going to be over with. The end of the world is going to come before I get to where I should be.” Not so! You can look forward to doing it right—getting married, having a family, seeing your children and grandchildren, maybe even great-grandchildren.” (link)

 

Media: Some Shakespeare and some Switchfoot