Make it Last

There's a saying regarding thriftiness: Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. It's a good rule of thumb to help a person stop throwing away things they can still use and buying replacements they don't really need. But after having listened to President Uchtdorf's talk In Praise of Those Who Save, I feel like adding another line to that saying: Make it Last.

President Uchtdorf spoke about how many things in our society today are seen as disposable. We use things for a short while, and then, when they start to wear out or we just get tired of them, we throw them away. "We do this," Uchtdorf said, "with cell phones, clothes, cars—and, tragically, even with relationships." President Uchtdorf went on to say that certain things, especially temple marriages and families, were made to last, and they should be carefully maintained rather than carelessly abandoned and replaced.

Of course, this is easier said than done, and it almost always takes effort on the part of more than one person to maintain a relationship, but I guess that's why President Uchtdorf felt the need to speak about it. If maintaining things like relationships was easy, more people would do it, and there would be less reason for President Uchtdorf to touch on the importance of making things last.

This is both a temporal and an eternal principle. Part of being wise with one's own stewardship is making sure you make the most of what you're given. This is probably implied in the "Use it up, wear it out" part of the saying I quoted earlier, but to get the maximum use out of anything, you need to make sure you don't use it up or wear it out too quickly, especially with things that might not have to wear out at all. "Make it last" might not fit into the saying without ruining the rhyme or meter, but it's certainly worth bearing in mind, especially when we're talking about things that can literally last forever.