Recently a couple, who were longtime friends and professional colleagues, visited with me. They wanted to discuss some important business concerns, issues that had arisen from their decision to retire at a relatively young age. Fortunately they had been successful in their business and were wise stewards of their finances. I was happy for them and inquired what had prompted their choice. Their eyes welled up with tears. It became difficult for them to speak. You can imagine my surprise when the wife explained she was terminally ill. We visited for a long time, shared some tears and a heartfelt embrace.
Later that same day, as I was driving home, I reflected on my life and how I would feel if I had been diagnosed with a terminal illness, having a limited number of months or years to live.
Have you ever had a wake up call, a near death experience, serious accident or illness where your recovery was in doubt? Most of us will have such an incident at one time or another in our lifetime.
After the initial shock, denial and google search for treatment modalities, what would you do next? Would you reflect on your life? Things you did, things you left undone, and things you wish you had done. Would you look back proudly on your career, business successes and other worldly recognition? Perhaps, but I have no doubt that the time spent thinking about temporal achievements would be fleeting and pale in comparison to the time spent reflecting on the important people in your life. Most importantly, the personal relationships with your spouse, children and grandchildren.
Allow me to digress for a moment. I enjoy reading fantasy novels, particularly those involving time travel. What if you could go back in time and change a single event? A single choice? What would it be? Something selfish? Would it be for personal gain? What if you could turn the clock back and purchase stock in Amgen, or Apple and become wealthy? Would that be how you would spend your single choice?
Perchance would you change a decision? Exercise your free agency differently? Or use better judgement and avoid a regrettable act?
Maybe you wouldn’t think of yourself at all.
What if you could be a better example or give counsel to a struggling child? Or maybe just be there when they were standing at a difficult crossroad? Maybe your counsel and support at that critical junction would’ve helped them serve a mission, get married in the temple or develop a testimony of the Savior.
No doubt each of us has many things we would do differently if given the chance. So here's the million dollar question, what would that trip back in time and your single choice be worth? Whether it is one of the things I’ve listed or any one of a thousand other possibilities, I dare say the journey and the choice would be worth far more than a million dollars, it would be priceless.
It is often said that we can learn from the past. If this is true, then it is also reasonable to assume we can teach to the future.
What if instead of traveling to the past in our time machine, we ventured into the future? Imagine influencing the life of a grandchild or great-grandchild, someone in your posterity. What would that be worth to you?
It could be something simple and as uncomplicated as posting a sign at a crucial crossroad in their life. Simple, yes. But uncomplicated, maybe not. What would you write on your sign? What would it say? Would it be a warning or some timely advice? A brief message, something that would give guidance on what things are most important in life, what things are worth choosing, and the direction they should travel to find happiness.
The eminent historian Will Durant wrote of the human need “to seize the value and perspective of passing things. … We want to know that the little things are little, and the big things big, before it is too late; we want to see things now as they will seem forever—‘in the light of eternity.’”
“What are the big things, the things that will still hold their lure and luster in the pure light of the eternities?”
It's redundant, but I'll repeat my earlier question one more time, what would it be worth to be able to place that sign, to write that warning or counsel? What would you give to leave that all important message? Would you give your time? Or share your talents? How much effort would it be worth making?
Remember we're talking about the life, the eternal happiness of one of your children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren. Would you be willing to sacrifice all that you have?
This morning, or maybe it was still so early that I should properly call it last evening. No matter, I awoke and laid in bed. It occurred to me that the Book of Mormon prophet Nephi was a father. Of course I already knew this. But what I had never pondered before was this, he had one of those near death experiences that I referenced at the outset of this post.
The scriptures give the account of Nephi being tied up by his brothers for the space of several days, while their ship was being tossed about by a terrible storm in the midst of what must have been a epic transoceanic voyage. Needless to say his wife and children were distraught as they feared for his life.
At the forefront of my thoughts were Nephi’s tender feelings for his wife and children as he watched them suffer because of his suffering. I imagined him praying earnestly, from the depths of his heart, not for his own life to be spared, but for the lives of his wife, their children and future grandchildren. I felt his concern for their eternal welfare. His desire to teach them more, to spend more time with them, to make sure they were well provisioned spiritually for life’s future journeys. Nephi had seen the Savior, and he knew of his own personal standing with God. But he desired to do more to prepare his posterity for the challenges they would surely face.
If you had experienced what Nephi did, and you could write a single paragraph or a single sentence of counsel to your posterity, what would it say?
Nephi wrote: “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” (2Nep 25:26).
In this respect Billie and I feel much like Nephi of old. We have the same desire for our children and grandchildren as did Nephi. And so we talk of Christ, we express gratitude for Christ, we teach and share our testimonies of Christ. And all this we do, that our children and grandchildren might know, without a shadow of a doubt, that we have testimonies of the living Christ, of His atoning sacrifice, of His gospel and of His church which was restored to the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith.
Our children are all grown up. They have started families of their own. The opportunities to personally, face-to-face teach them, which once abounded, are no longer readily available. Forever gone are the opportunities to kneel with them by their bedside and teach them to pray. Gone are the daily family prayers, where they heard us pray for them and for solutions to their concerns.
There are many reasons why prophets make a written record of their prophetic teachings and observations. Not the least of which is their desire to bless the lives of their own children and posterity as much as all of God’s children. Another Book of Mormon prophet, Lehi (father of Nephi), had a dream wherein he saw the world and all of its inhabitants. In his dream he stood by a beautiful tree and partook of its fruit. The tree symbolized the love of God, His son Jesus Christ. And the fruit of which he partook and was desirous that his children partake of also, represented the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.
Lehi was concerned with the progress that each of his children was making in coming unto Christ. He knew that by partaking of the fruit and remaining under the boughs of the tree, they would be recipients of God’s greatest gift, eternal life.
Coming full circle, the truth about Time Travel is . . . . it isn't science fiction at all. It's real. What? You’re probably thinking Dean’s finally gone too far, he’s lost his marbles. But on the contrary, I’ve just found my marbles, in a manner of speaking. Guess where they were? In the top drawer of my night stand with my missionary journal.
I believe there is no greater gift that parents can give to their children, than the memories of hearing them share personal, sincere, simple testimonies of the plain and precious principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Do you write in a journal? Do you record your memories, thoughts, experiences and even your testimony looking to the past. If you do keep a journal, be lenient, be kind to yourself, remember that hindsight is always 20/20.
When you write, look to the future with an eye of faith, having a hope in Christ. Ponder and pray what to write, what to say, and how to say it. Imagine who in your posterity will be reading your words. Consider what the trials and tribulations of their day might be?
I like Fosdick’s definition of faith:
“Faith is vision to believe what as yet one cannot demonstrate and valor to act on the basis of that insight.”
I have faith that the same scriptures that were written thousands of years ago, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, are not only for our day, but for future days as well?
I know that the same spirit of inspiration and personal revelation is available to all who read the scriptures. I know that there are no time barriers, no language barriers or cultural barriers, no darkness that the light of Christ and the truths of the gospel can not penetrate. There is no heart of man or woman so hard, no mind so stubborn that they can not be influenced by the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to repent and return to Him.
Are you writing your personal history, recording your trials, tribulations, faith, feelings and testimony in a journal? The choice is yours. You can either be a good example or a horrible warning.