Monday, March 20, 2017

But a Small Moment

You may have noticed that I didn't blog yesterday. That was because, at the time, I was terribly sick. I won't disgust you with the details; let it suffice to say that I wasn't really up for anything, let alone blogging. But fortunately, after a half-decent night's sleep and a full day of recuperating, I'm doing much better now. In fact, I feel perfectly fine, whereas less than 24 hours ago, I felt perfectly terrible. I am greatly blessed that my illness, though miserable, didn't last long.

Of course, in the eternal scheme of things, none of our afflictions will. In mortality, we have many struggles and afflictions, including illnesses, but none of them are going to last longer than we do. When we die, we will lose our bodies which are subject to such sicknesses, disabilities, and limitations, and when we're resurrected, we'll get bodies that are immune to those sorts of things.

When we consider that we lived for an eternity before gaining mortal bodies, and that we'll continue living forever after our bodies become immortal, we realize that the struggles we have with our mortal bodies won't last very long, relatively speaking. Yes, it can be painful and difficult, especially when we don't know exactly how long our afflictions will last, but we can take comfort in knowing that, if we're righteous, no affliction will plague us eternally. And after our afflictions end and we go on living forever, that time in which we were subject to diseases will feel like our afflictions had been "but a small moment" (D&C 121:7). We can endure that long.

I know that's easy for me to say, having only been sick for about 24 hours. I know that there are many people who have suffered much worse for much longer. For them, I hope they turn to Jesus Christ for comfort. He, too, suffered greatly, but endured it well. He can certainly comfort you and give you patience and perspective, no matter how hard your afflictions are or how long they last. I can't pretend to understand what you're going through, but I can testify that, after all this was over, it will eventually feel like our times if trial were a relatively short period of time.

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