STIMULATOR message for the week of June 20, 1972
Message from President Eugene C. Ludwig, dated June 20, 1972
“THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THOSE WHO PREPARE FOR IT.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Dear Fellow Missionaries:
May we share with you excerpts from an article “The present is here, live it” by Thomas Lee Monson, age 18 (April 1970 Era magazine).
“Nearly three thousand years ago, a famous king of Israel, an ancestor of Jesus Christ, even David of old, wrote this beautifully simple prayer” ‘Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path.’ (Psalm 27:11). Our world has changed since the time of David, but our prayer must be the same today. Though yesterday’s paths have become today’s super highways, they still lead to the same gate. To safely travel these roads of life, we require well-placed signs to direct us to our destination. May I suggest three important road signs: 1) The past is behind, learn from it 2) The future is ahead, prepare for it 3) The present is here, live in it.
When one fails to learn from the lessons of the past, he is doomed to repeat the same mistakes and suffer their attendant consequences. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. One who learned this less too late was Cardinal Thomas Woolsey, who, according to Shakespeare, spent a long life of faithful service to three sovereigns and enjoyed wealth and power. Finally, he was cut down by an impatient ruler. From the anguish of his soul, he cried” ‘Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, He would not in my old age have left me naked to mine enemies.’
As we travel life’s highways, we must examine our rear-view mirror to learn what lies behind us. It is of equal importance to know what lies before us. The future is ahead — prepare for it. We must not restrict our thinking to today’s problems. We must prepare for tomorrow’s opportunities. We are taught that as man is, God once was, and as God is, man may become. Paraphrasing, wouldn’t it also be true that if man is to become as God is, he must now be what God was? Let us prepare by living life as God would live it. Unsurmountable problems await us only so long as we consider them unsurmountable.
We learn from past life. We prepare for future life. But let us not lose life, searching for it. The present is here, live in it. “He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” (2 Corinthians 9:6) To live successfully in the present is to cope with difficulty. Problems are a normal part of life, and the great challenge is to avoid being flattened by them. By meeting and conquering our challenges, we will build a reputation in the eyes of men. Reputation is only what one has done.
The heavy traffic on life’s highway is detouring ever increasingly from the straight and narrow way. The Lord’s path may be frequently intersected by roads running away form the heavenly goal, but a wise traveler will follow the signs of safety. May we ever remember them: the past is behind, learn from it; the future is ahead, prepare for it; the present is here, live in it.
May we as missionaries live in the present, follow the signs, and be true servants of our Heavenly Father.
Faithfully your companion,
President Eugene C. Ludwig
“This week, find the family that is waiting for you.”
Click here to return to the Stimulator menu page
Click here to return to the Missionary Matters menu page
Click here to return to the Temples Menu page
Click here to return to the Main Menu page