Many years ago my mom gave me this pack of CD’s called, Inspired Words. They are a mix of quotes from the prophets and apostles and church music. They are powerful and we have listened to them going to sleep nearly every night for years. Here is one favorite quote from them:

In death we die to this world and step through the veil into the sphere we are worthy to enter. Gordon B. Hinckley https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/04/the-great-things-which-god-has-revealed?lang=eng

This is so powerful because I feel that sometimes we think that there is going to be some magic blue pill that we take when we die that will change our natures and then we will be a new creature. Therein lies Satan’s great deceit or lie.

Circumstances don’t dictate who we are or will become, we do. I am of the belief that regardless of the circumstances that we find ourselves in, we will act in accordance to how we would act in any other circumstance. Details may vary, but the outcome will be the same on an eternal scale. Many of us say in our hearts, if I just had more money, things would be different, if I had just married someone else, I would be different, if I just had this or that, then things would be different. All circumstances come with their own set of challenges, ups and downs. We need to realize that we determine our own destiny. Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, and you will realize that this is true.

Satan is the master deceiver, and he knows that if he can make us always feel that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, he will effectively prohibit any yard work to be done on our side of the fence.

Alma gives a powerful discourse on procrastination. Let’s look at it now.

Alma 34:32-35
32 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.
33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.
34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.
35 For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked. https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/34?lang=eng

We were held in reserve to come down at this time because of our special talents and our valiance to our elder brother, Jesus Christ. We can’t afford to buy into Satan’s trickery, even for a short time. Let us remember what President Eyring’s mother always told him, “If you are on the right path, it will always be uphill.”

This life was not supposed to be easy, it is a test, but luckily, we are up for the test, we have prepared for it, and we have been foreordained for it. Let us develop the necessary faith and not procrastinate the day of our repentance. Let us decide today, that we will settle for nothing less than those thoughts and actions that will draw us unto Christ, and help us become like Him. This is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.