Perspective and Balance

First things first---In my last blog I mentioned understanding that people have more important things to do than read my blog--like tweezing unwanted facial hair. I realized that this probably mainly refers to women (most men shave unwanted facial hair) so just in case men read my blog--I realize they have more important things to do like tweeze unruly nose hairs---just wanted to broaden my comments.

A few short weeks ago I was out clearing snow off of the tarp protecting our infant vegetable garden and shivering one day and the very next day I was loving the blue skies and soaking in the warmth of the sunshine--so were my little plants. I couldn't help thinking what a difference a day makes--then the song came into my mind, what a difference a day makes, twenty -four little hours. Sometimes a life can be altered in twenty-four little hours or even in minutes or seconds and yet in other circumstances a day seems to not make much difference. I think it is a matter of perspective. Our days might seem to make no difference from what we see but I think they always make a difference or have an impact. Are not we each the sum total of the difference our days make? Perhaps if one day is perceived to be just like any other then we are just existing and not living...I don't know. The apostle Peter said that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and that has been interpreted to mean that in the Lord's time one of his days is equivalent to a thousand of our years. From that perspective one of our days is an incredibly short period of time to the Lord and little doesn't begin to describe the twenty-four hours within that short short day.

In church last Sunday we sang the hymn Abide With Me with text by Henry F. Lyte. The words Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day struck a chord with me and even made me a get a little teary-eyed. Especially now that I am seeing more of my youthful days in the rear-view mirror on my life's journey, I am increasingly more aware of just how brief this earthly existence is. The description given by James in the New Testament seems very apt, that life is even a vapour that appears for a little time then vanisheth away and yet, this brief life is the time we have been given to prepare to meet God again. (It is interesting that as we age our eyes have difficulty seeing things that are up close but things that are farther away become clearer. Maybe that corresponds somehow with how we start seeing our past more clearly as we get older. Since our lifetimes are very short from an eternal perspective maybe we see our youth in the side mirror and things are closer than they appear) Sometimes we feel we don't have enough hours in the day but at other times we still act like we have all the time in the world. Our Father in Heaven tells us to wisely use our time, to work while the sun shines, to not procrastinate. He also tells us to not run faster than we have strength to do so.

I find it perplexing that many gospel truths unpondered seem to be at odds with each other. In the Book of Mormon we read that we are less than the dust of the earth but in the Doctrine and Covenants we read that the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. The fact that both of these points of view are correct is clarified through perspective and balance. How can God, who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance {Isaiah 40:12} know when one sparrow falls to the earth or when one of his multitude of children on one small planet out of many worlds is hurting? I think a more appropriate question would be how could he not know? To narrow things to our mortal perspective, a trained and skilled doctor in an emergency room uses his abilities to massage a heart with his hands to keep a patient alive and then moves on to use fewer than 10 stitches to close a minor wound. A busy mother of young children has clothes to wash, meals to prepare, carpools to drive but she still stops to listen intently as her small child talks on and on about seeing a potato bug on the sidewalk. Firemen risk their lives to save babies from burning buildings and take their time to get kittens out of tall trees. On an almost daily basis we do big things of little significance and little things of major importance. Learning how to use our time wisely---how to appropriately distribute our energy---how to decide what is most deserving of our attention---how to choose the good and then the better over the good and the best over the better--this knowledge helps us to get the most out of each day. Learning these lessons are part of growing up but I think much more than that they are part of growing closer to God and letting him teach us about balance.

The world, or more accurately worldliness, can upset balance in our lives. More and more things of little worth are given more weight and importance. We spend too much time finding out all about what is wrong with other people's lives and too little time increasing what is right in our own lives. An inordinate amount of emphasis is placed on recreation and entertainment where much less emphasis is placed on work and service. In Proverbs we find out that a false balance is an abomination to the Lord. I think a false balance refers to an inaccurate weight. For example in a market if the scales weigh too heavy then we are charged more money for less product. We work more for less substance. Daniel talks about being weighed in the balance and found wanting. When we leave this brief existence on earth we don't take our prized possessions--our stuff--we do take the things money can't buy--the intangibles--love, integrity, trust--- we don't take diplomas or trophies or ribbons---we do take experience, lessons learned, wisdom, multiplied talents--I envision it kind of like me when I get weighed at the Doctor's office...I am always upset by the number on the scale so I take off my shoes, set down my purse, am tempted to take off earrings---when our earthly lives are weighed we take off or set down all of the stuff, the things and we are left with the lessons, the feelings, the thoughts---if we have only focused on the stuff then we will be found wanting spiritually.

So...all the little hours, days, weeks, months, and years add up to a life that is very brief but when weighed in the balance of eternity by our Heavenly Father who knows our worth...what a difference a day makes.