Book of Mormon: Day 222: Endurance -

Today’s Reading: Alma 42: 1-10

4 And thus we see, that there was a time granted unto man to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time to repent and serve God.

How grateful I am for not only a time to repent and serve God, but a time to learn and grow and become the woman God intended me to be.

Our life here on earth is our probationary time. Because Adam fell, we have the opportunity to endure challenges and grow to become the Queens (or Kings) that we are intended to become. Life is not always smooth sailing or straight paths. “..No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness.” (Heb. 12:11.) Every trial that I have gone through so far, has brought me ‘peaceable fruit’.

I love Elder Maxwell’s talk from April 1990 called Endure It Well. He beautifully explains what it really means to endure happily through our probationary time and that enduring is more than just a passage a time but a passage of the soul. Paraphrasing his words would not do it justice. Here is what he says:

Patient endurance is to be distinguished from merely being “acted upon.” Endurance is more than pacing up and down within the cell of our circumstance; it is not only acceptance of the things allotted to us, it is to “act for ourselves” by magnifying what is allotted to us. (See Alma 29:3, 6.)

If, for instance, we are always taking our temperature to see if we are happy, we will not be. If we are constantly comparing to see if things are fair, we are not only being unrealistic, we are being unfair to ourselves.

Therefore, true enduring represents not merely the passage of time, but the passage of the soul—and not merely from A to B, but sometimes all the way from A to Z. To endure in faith and doeth God’s will. (See D&C 63:20; D&C 101:35) therefore involves much more than putting up with a circumstance.

It’s not always easy to enjoy our life here on earth. Some days are harder than others. Some weeks or months are harder than others. We need to ‘magnify what is allotted to us’ and enjoy every day that we are blessed with. This too shall pass, enjoy every moment and strive to become who God intended you to be.