Today, Today!

Dear Reader,

A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain. 

Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, the devil decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man's weary mind "You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn't budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it." This gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. "Why kill myself over this?" he thought. "I'll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort and that will be good enough." And that is what he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.
"Lord" he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"

The Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me, with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so?
Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you have done. I, my friend, will now move the rock." 

This weekend we had stake conference in Provo. The most profound thing I heard between the several sessions of conference reminded me of this story that I shared with a friend while she was having a hard time on her mission. I have no idea where the story originated, but it came to mind when a gentleman in our stake said, "The Lord didn't give us time to be bared-down or to wallow in self-pity." 

I pondered this idea and thought it was a very accurate statement about our life on this earth. It aligns perfectly with 2 references in the scriptures, one of which was also at our stake conference by our stake president. He referred to Doctrine and Covenants 45:6, which reads, "Hearken, O ye people of My church, and ye elders listen together, and hear My voice while it is called today, and harden not your hearts..." In other words, we need to act today and listen to what the Lord says today and not put it off until a later time. 

The second verse of scripture is found in Alma 34 in the book of Mormon, "For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." 

The main idea is that we are not given time in this life to wallow in self-pity, nor to worry about whether we are good enough. We are given time in this life to work, learn and prepare to meet God. Just like the man in the story, we can all labor the day long and refine ourselves, even if we don't move the rock or get the grade, or win the game. He wants to give our best effort and endure in our hard work.