Endurance

Looking To Zion Lite
(The Condensed Version for Super Busy Moms)

Life requires us to constantly stretch beyond our comfort zone.  There are many times where we want to throw in the towel and give up.  Yet, the whole purpose of this life is to prepare us for life with God, in the Celestial Kingdom.  We cannot hope to endure the spiritual purity of that place, if we do not first purify ourselves.  Zion is going to be much the same.  In order to prepare for it, we must align ourselves physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally with God.  Such an endeavor takes time, personal sacrifice, and constant effort.


Here’s the challenge:

    Take ten minutes each morning to feel God’s spirit.  It doesn’t matter how you do it: prayer, singing, reading the scriptures, going to the temple, listening to uplifting music.  Whatever way that you connect with God best, do it.  When that becomes a habit, increase it by ten minutes until you reach the point where the majority of the day is spent in the company of the Holy Ghost.

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Looking To Zion Not-So-Lite
(The “Everyone” Version)

It never ceases to amaze me, the lengths that Satan and his armies go to in order to undermine the great work of the Lord.  Yet, what amazes me more is the fact that their efforts are so very fruitless!  They know they cannot win.  They know that they are fighting a losing battle.  All their efforts are frustrated at the end of the day.  What is it that makes them hold so steadfastly to their course?  What is it that drives them, in the face of such a hopeless cause?  And yet, on the flip side of this metaphorical coin; how is that we, the children of God Almighty, can falter so easily when we are backed by such an unstoppable, unassailable force?  Considering the amount of opposition that we are flooded with, I feel our faltering comes more from a lack of spiritual endurance than anything else.

I can only speak for my own family in this thing but, in looking back over the last three months, the opposition we have faced has been rather fierce.  To give you an idea, I’ll list just a few things: Unexpected bills, our basement flooded, Janell was exposed to and had a serious allergic reaction to, poison ivy (she’s had it going on three weeks now, and still hasn’t been able to get rid of it), illness, new callings in church, and an increase in the activities outside of our home.  The pace has been horrendous, and the new challenges seem to constantly ride on the coattails of the old.  There is no time to breathe, and scarcely time to think.  Our attention is pulled in a myriad of directions at once, and each direction is necessary.

When I think about life, I liken it to any sport or physical activity that requires us to exert a serious effort over a prolonged amount of time.  In my youth, my sport of choice was running.  At just under five foot six inches, I was the shortest hurdler on the track team.  It was a challenge for me, racing against my peers who had longer legs and longer reach.  For those not familiar with the event, there are several obstacle runs: the short 110 meter high (39 inches) hurdle, the midrange 300 meter intermediate (36 inches) hurdles, and the long distance steeple run where heights and distance vary.

Coach Parker, the Head Coach of the track team, was of the opinion that the hurdlers should be the most adaptive part of the team; therefore we were encouraged to cross train in almost all the other running events.  So I ran cross country, long, short, and mid distances.  It was grueling, and I must confess to you that I was average at best.  Competitive running of any sort requires dedication.  There is a point in all events where your body tells you quite emphatically: “I’m done.  This is as far as I go.”  This is the point of the event where your mind, as the mediator between body and spirit starts to waffle too.  In the moment of agony, when your lungs are burning, your muscles are screaming, and your mind is telling you it’s time to stop, that is when you’re faced with a choice: give into their demands or let your spirit step forward and push you through to the finish line.

How often have you been faced with overwhelming opposition, or life itself seems to set an insane pace for you.  How often have you thrown up your hands in the air and said: “No more!  I can’t do it?”
It seems to happen to me about once a month.

Life requires endurance.  It’s mentioned frequently in the scriptures too: endure to the end, endure all things, etc.  Yet, physical and mental endurance aren’t the only forms of endurance that we need.  Let me ask you a couple of questions: Have you ever been to or experienced a particularly spiritual event?  When you walked away from that incident, did you feel happily drained or tired?

Like our bodies and minds, our spirits are subject to overwhelming stress and fatigue.  Our spirits require a training regime to build up our fortitude and durability.  Our spiritual self needs just as much attention as our bodies, in order to go the distance.  We have spiritual weights and exercises that need to happen on a daily basis if we are to see Zion established.


Life already requires us to constantly stretch beyond our comfort zone, just to survive.  We are already doing the work, but often times we forget where the finish line is.  And there are many times where we want nothing more than to throw in the towel and give up.  Yet, we must remember one thing: the whole purpose of this life is to prepare us for life with God, in the Celestial Kingdom.  We cannot hope to endure the spiritual purity of that place, or the immensity of our Heavenly Father’s loving presence, if we do not first purify ourselves.  Zion is going to be much the same.  In order to prepare for it, we must align ourselves physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally with God.  Such an endeavor takes time, personal sacrifice, and constant effort.

How else can we expect to live there, amongst all that purity and goodness, if we are still tied to a spiritual junk food diet and a wastefully meandering lifestyle?

Likewise, how are we going to be able to endure God’s presence, or withstand the excessively pure daily life of the Celestial Kingdom, if we don’t prepare ourselves in this life to do so?  In order to meet Zion’s, and Heaven’s, entry requirements, we will have to stretch our spirits slowly and carefully, over the whole course of our lives.  Such an endeavor cannot happen overnight, nor will it be very easy.  We must pace ourselves to avoid burn out and the naysaying voices of Satan and his armies.

We must give ourselves a solid and visual goal, one that will drive us during those times when our spirit cries out “No more!” and yearns to throw in the towel.  Satan knows he’s lost.  I suspect all that drives him now is the desire to see how many souls he can take down with him.  It’s a spiteful and petty desire, but what does he have left to hold to?  On the flipside of the coin, we know that God will win.  And in this race, it doesn’t matter what your finishing time is.  This race is simply about finishing as best you can.

So here’s the challenge:  Take ten minutes each morning to feel God’s spirit.  It doesn’t matter how you do it: prayer, singing, reading the scriptures, going to the temple, listening to uplifting music.  Whatever way that you connect with God best, do it consistently and frequently.  When that becomes a habit, increase it by ten minutes until you reach the point where the majority of the day is spent in the company of the Holy Ghost.


Until next week.

Jeffrey