Pressing On

In President Nelson's concluding remarks last Conference, he quoted a verse of "Let Us All Press On," stating that it "summarizes our renewed resolve, our challenge, and our charge going forward." Of course, he's right. For those of us who have already accepted the Gospel and are already striving to live it, our challenge and our charge consists almost entirely of "pressing on" or, to use a more scriptural term for it, "enduring to the end."

So much of the gospel depends on persistence. One great act of service isn't enough; we must form a life-long pattern of service. Repentance isn't something that happens only once, but continually as we keep finding areas to improve in and keep finding ways to improve ourselves. And God doesn't expect us to keep each commandment once; He encourages us to keep each commandment consistently throughout our lives, or at least to keep them as consistently as we can, starting from the moment we learn about them. Clearly, we have a long way to go.

However, God seems not to be terribly concerned about where we are now or how long it takes us to get where we're going. What He cares about is that we're heading in the right direction. Remember, we will be continuing to make progress for all eternity, if we develop a habit of making progress now. We must "Press On," and keep putting one foot in front of the other. They say that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, but it also consists of steps. The journey may seem daunting, but we can take it one step at a time. All we need to do is keep taking those sometimes small steps toward becoming like our Father in Heaven. It may take us an eternity to make it to that point, but we will make it, so long as we keep pressing on.