13. Eternal Perspective

During the October 2010 General Conference, Per G. Malm of the Seventy spoke of having an Eternal perspective. This talk hit me very hard. He said, "A helpful habit is to lift our vision daily in order to maintain an eternal perspective of the things we plan and do..." He then told a story about his Grandmother, her grandchild, and some eggs: "She sent one of her young children to buy some eggs. The trusted child was probably joyfully walking home along the road, but most of the eggs were broken when the child arrived home. A friend of the family was there and admonished my grandmother to scold the child for behaving so badly. Instead, Grandmother calmly and wisely said, 'No, that will not make the eggs whole again. We will simply use what we can and make some pancakes that we can enjoy together.' "

At this point in his talk, I realized something. We look forward our whole lives to what we'll do after college, what our job will be, where we'll be in retirement. We complain about how hard enduring to the end is. However, I would submit that if we look shift our view above the mundane of the world and look forward to Eternal life, making choices based on this and not on what job we'll have in five years, we will find it infinitely easier to endure faithfully, to keep the commandments, and love God. We will have His Spirit with us, we will not have questions about the gray areas of life, we will naturally live righteously. Elder Malm said this, "When we learn to handle the small and simple daily things in a wise and inspired way, the result is a positive influence that will solidify harmony in our souls and build up and strengthen those around us."

It is a training process to lift our view to Eternal spheres, but I believe that when we do, we will be happier. Our lives will be full of joy, we'll look around us and see the beautiful things in this world, see His children for who they are and love them. If we have an Eternal perspective, everything else will simply fall into place how it should be, and God will make more out of our life than we ever could imagine was possible.