Just a Knot in Eternity

One of the biggest obstacles we have to overcome in life is our own perspective.  It's so natural for us to see all the nickel and dime stuff as being SO big and SO important.  On the other hand, we tend to entirely miss the truly meaningful moments because we're so bogged down with minutia.  I think it has always been this way... but it has become almost laughable in its scope as of late.

We are spiritual beings that have existed for ions before this life and we will continue for an eternity after.  This earthly experience of ours is just a tiny knot in time.  The string runs for an eternity before and after the place where the knot is tied.  If we can just keep that picture in our thoughts as we go through each day, our lives will have found true perspective.

Some background:
Imagine a large family gathering.  Every single soul ever created by our Father in Heaven was in attendance.  It was a family council like no other.  We were presented with two plans.  The first was offered by one seeking to destroy the agency of man so that not one soul would be lost.  In exchange, he demanded all of God's power and glory.  The second offered to do the will of our Father, allowing all mankind to choose whom they would follow and insisting that the glory be God's forever.  A great battle for souls ensued and a third of the hosts of heaven chose to follow Lucifer (Moses 4).  Some, most likely, were lukewarm in their decision to follow Christ.  Others were valiant in their support of the One who offered to save all those who would choose to be saved.

And so we were born.  The veil of forgetfulness has erased our memory of that experience.  There are moments, however, when we are still and thoughtful that it rings truer than any other idea we've ever considered.  It IS true.  We are here for a very short time.  We are here to choose love.  We are here to choose our Savior... again.  Michael McClean once said, "If it's not love, let it go."  That's the key. 

So, we are given this one little knot of time to figure out that being right means nothing.  If being more beautiful or more powerful or more wealthy or more intelligent than those around us has become our goal, then we have missed the mark entirely.  If we spend our days just waking up, going about our normal, day-to-day routine then going to sleep just to repeat the same thing the next day, we have wasted our existence.  If we spend our spare moments lost in a virtual world and fail to strengthen our actual face-to-face relationships, we've lost. 

Each moment needs to be a mindful choice to spend it with purpose.  Each action will be a choice of how I intend to spend the rest of eternity, whether I realize it or not.  I can do the dishes and laundry begrudgingly (telestial), out of duty (terrestrial) or out of love for my family (celestial).  I can go to work and hate every moment (telestial), or I can do my best because I want to earn my paycheck (terrestrial), or I can try to lift everyone I come in contact with and make the workplace better than I found it (celestial).  When I'm in traffic I can be angry at all the idiots on the road (telestial), or I can patiently endure it as a necessary evil (terrestrial), or I can spend the time talking to my Heavenly Father or considering all these forgotten brothers and sisters of mine that surround me on the road (celestial).  Each instant brings opportunity.  Each action (or inaction) displays who we are following.

I'm not suggesting that we need to smile through all the difficult times of life and embrace them with laughter.  Heartache and suffering are necessary lessons of this life.  I'm just pointing out that if we can look at our trials with the perspective of the tiny knot, it will be easier to endure them well and to choose our response instead of allowing the situation to decide for us.  The things we suffer can often-times teach us lessons of love and light that can't be discovered any other way.

We can do this!  We will all wind our way through this small moment in eternity no matter how we choose to use it.  Eternity has already begun.

Choose love.  Let everything else go.