Today? Right Now?

This is the day that the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalms 118:24)

The scriptures clearly demonstrate the worth of a soul; however, what is the worth of a day?

Before considering an answer, there are other ponderous questions to pose: in this moment, what do you worry about the most? What do you regret? Another question to follow these is: what obligations and opportunities to rejoice and be glad in today are missed because precious time and resources are devoted to yesterday’s lament s and tomorrow’s anxieties?

Each day’s magnificence can only blossom when not clouded under the shadow of a different day’s angst.

One day, a man crossed paths with the Savior. Upon meeting, Christ offered the greatest of all invitations, “Come, follow me.”

In reply, the man explained that he would love to accept the summons as soon as he could. First, though, he desired to go home and bury his father. Jesus replied, “Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.”

Naturally, any person seeks to settle current affairs before seizing the moment. Yet, hindsight shows us the great opportunity missed because tomorrow’s deeds dictated today’s desire. While home burying his father, this man missed witnessing the most paramount ministry ever: healings of the sick and lame; fulfillment of prophecy; the twice cleansing of the temple; the feeding of thousands with a few loaves and fishes; calming of tempests; events and visitations on the mount of transfiguration; and greatest of all, the sacrifice, atonement and resurrection of our Redeemer.

Another man received a similar Messianic invitation. In return he answered, “I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.” (Luke 9)

Imagine now as each man ponders the events of his earthly life from within the world of spirits. Each would likely respond differently if given another chance to do so.

Again, the question asks: what momentous glories are missed today because yesterday or tomorrow receives out of the ordinary priority?

Remember what the Savior taught while giving the Sermon on the Mount, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”  (Matthew 6:34)

Recently I had a conversation with a friend on this topic. He expressed his tendency to worry and that he allowed stress to get the best of him. In response I suggested a technique I call “Calendar Your Stress.”

We all have issues that need prioritization and attention. Once I have recognized and listed my concerns, I set aside time on my personal calendar to deal with each individually. I might put my first concern in a time slot on Wednesday at 10 am, the next on the following Friday at noon, and so forth until all issues have individual “appointments”. Knowing each is documented and slated to be addressed specifically later, I feel liberated and am able to deal with life in the moment.

Now that we stand in the moment, how should our time be spent?

I had a dream recently.

I found myself standing alone at the gates of heaven waiting for an opportunity to enter. From somewhere unknown to me, an angel appeared. He stood before me with a stern but pleasant face holding several reams of paper—it looked to be about 2,000 individual sheets. Upon the sheets was a record of every social media posting I had ever made throughout my life time. The angel noted my distress when he said, “we will to talk about these here (his head nodded toward the stack he held), before we can ever begin to talk about you progressing toward those gates over there.”

I couldn’t force myself to wake up fast enough!

Previous to this dream, social media had been an opportunity to vent my sophomoric perspective on life and never would I have expected to give an accounting of all I had posted over the years. Now, though, I try to use it as a place of celebration, an area to share the joys of family and a means to express my inner beliefs.

The more I think about the greater purpose of social media and other technology, the more I am convinced that they have been brought about to hasten the spread of good tidings throughout the world. Radio, television, computers, internet, social media, text messaging, smart phones, etc, when viewed through gospel lenses are then understood as gospel tools rather than entertainment nodes.

A few nights ago, I struggled to fall asleep. In the past, I would have wandered to a comfortable place near a television and wasted a few hours in numb hypnotism. But now that we no longer subscribe to television services, I wandered to a quiet place in our home and ended up having a lengthy and wonderful conversation with heaven. I have never found happiness or received inspired revelation while sitting and absorbing television programming. More than ever, I am convinced that besides being a means of communicating the joys of life and of teaching gospel principles, electronic media wastes our time, our strength and diminishes our ability to rise up to any occasion when called upon to “Follow Him”.

This is the day that the Lord hath made; I will strive to rejoice and to be glad in it—come what may.