While it is Called Today – Sunday, October 1, 1950
Sometimes we become impatient with the present. We see its evils, its uncertainties, its imperfections, and eagerly we wish for the day when things will be different. It is proper and expected that immortal man would hope for and have faith in a finer future—but of utmost importance also is the power to appreciate the present. No matter what far futures lie before us (and we earnestly believe that they are limitless and everlasting), yet always we live in the present. We may sometimes rebel at all the uncertainties and at all the undisclosed events, but those who would always force the future, who are overly impatient for it to unfold, may let the happiness and opportunities and obligations of the present pass them by. Even if we could positively foresee the road far ahead, this wouldn’t alter the fact that we always live now. And happiness, after all, isn’t so much a matter of rushing the future as it is of learning to “respect . the present hour.”1 To be blind and indifferent to the possibilities for happiness today, is too much like closing our eves on an endless journey, and always wondering when we are going to “get there”. There is always that which leads us on, that which keeps us full of faith concerning the everlasting future, but an important part of happiness comes with learning to live each day—in the quiet companionship of loved ones, with useful and well-loved work willingly done, and with gratitude for friends, for food, for each day’s protection, and for each day’s endurance. Whatever we would alter, whatever evils we would outlaw, this is our day, our generation, and we had better learn to live and to “labor while it is called today,”2 being mindful of each day’s opportunities and obligations. The far future may be better. We doubt not that it will. But when the future comes, it will be called the “present.” When tomorrow comes, it will be called “today.” “This … is the day for men to perform their labors.”3 And one of the great gifts of life—one of the surest sources of happiness—is the power to appreciate the present.
1Emerson, Experience.
2Doc. and Cov., 64:25.
3Book of Mormon, Alma 84.32.
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October 1, 1950
Broadcast Number 1,102