While the Earth Remaineth – Sunday, January 19, 1941
When men are faced with the possibility of cataclysmic events – when-the accustomed pattern of our living seems threatened — there is a tendency on the part of some of us to give up, in our thinking and in our doing, and wait for eventualities. And because of this rather prevalent attitude, creative activity has a tendency to cease.
A man who is not sure there is going to be any tomorrow does not trouble himself to plan for tomorrow. He who has doubts concerning the continuance of life as he now knows it, finds some difficulty in bringing himself to make plans for a life the circumstances of which he does not know. And so, in time of worldwide disturbance, in time of war, in time of apprehension and uncertainty, there is a tendency to live from hand to mouth, mentally, and physically and spiritually, and the creative processes of the world and its people seem to slow down, and the world and its people become the losers. Furthermore, the loss is permanent.
We can never make up back work, because each day brings its own fullness of things to be accomplished. And so we make a plea today for the onward march of all good and worthwhile things. There is no real justification for doing otherwise. Life must go on, even when it seems to be intolerable. Even among oppressed peoples the sun still rises and acts; children are born and must be reared, and all of the processes of life must continue, and all of its issues must be met. Even where great tragedies occur, where armies are swept away, and pestilence and famine and tempests and earthquakes, and all manner of judgments fall upon men, entire populations are seldom wiped out; there are still those who continue to live and build for the future.
And what to many seems to be the end of things, is not the end at all, but merely another sequence in an endless journey, which brings to mind those reassuring words from the Book of Genesis: “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22) And even though we ourselves depart from this earth, and even though we were certain of our departure before its time arrived, yet were it better for us always to plan and work for that which lies ahead, because of the promise that “Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.” (Doctrine and Covenants, 130:18) And so we say unto all men everywhere, there will never be a time when we shall not have a future to look forward to and we must work and plan for that future, which, though it may now seem likely to fall short of our dreams, will, ultimately, exceed our hopes.
January 19, 1941
Broadcast Number 0,596