Will We Be Ready?

Canada's first temple — The Cardston Alberta Temple, which was dedicated in 1923, was the first temple built in Canada and the first constructed outside of the United States of America. (LDS.org)

Another quotation — this one from funeral remarks given by President Howard W. Hunter — cited in Brent L. Top, What’s On the Other Side? What the Gospel Teaches Us about the Spirit World (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2012):

In the quiet of this chapel today, our souls have been on their knees. We have contemplated the uncertainties of life and the certainty of death. Each of us in his turn will follow thee same course — only the point of time is the difference. Will we be ready? Will the things we intend to accomplish be completed? Will we make right the little wrongs and replace the harsh words with kindness before our call comes? Will we accept the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ by following his teachings, keeping his commandments, being of service to our fellowman, ready to enter the tomb, partake of the glorious resurrection, and stand at the judgment as worthy servants?

I don’t think it morbid — on the contrary, I think it wise — to occasionally contemplate one’s own death. After all, it will eventually come. How do we want to be remembered? And, much more importantly, what do we want to be? Should we be taking steps now toward such goals, rather than simply waiting for them to be realized somehow?

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A bit of background on one issue, published before President Russell M. Nelson and Elder Gary E. Stevenson left for South America:

“Viva Peru! Church is changing lives one child at a time as President Russell M. Nelson arrives”

The president of the Church continues to astonish:

“President Nelson Launches South America Ministry Tour in Peru: Peruvian Latter-day Saints greet global Church leaders in Lima”

He’s ninety-four. I wish that I had had his level of energy when I was thirty-five.

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“Is Spirituality Our Natural Inclination or Is It Learned? Previous studies suggest that intuitive thinking and spirituality are intertwined. Researchers put this to the test.”

“Why is spirituality correlated with life satisfaction? Spirituality, in its purest form, is not an escape from the world but a richer engagement with it”

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Two takes on a new book by the British philosopher John Gray:

“Bad Faith: Do atheists think too much like believers?”