Perpetuity

I like analogies because they increase understanding and heighten usefulness. There are many reasons. Even the Lord taught with parables.

What is something you have used everyday of your life, yet is still going strong? You employ this everyday, and it never wears out. Really. You have used these every single day--but for the most part they are still going strong. Can't be a pair of shoes...we have all seen badly worn soles of a missionary's pair of shoes where the sole is crooked and nearly gone. Not a shovel; even the metal wears out over time. I have shovel that is so worn the steel blade is rounded and ineffective. So what I am talking about is your TEETH. Take care of them, and they last a lifetime. To put it in perspective, what else have you ever owned that you use every day and has lasted 20 years...or 50...or 84 years? The point is things that pass the test of time can have great value.

Something else that through my life I have seen stands the test of time are the scriptures. They are just as relevant today, maybe moreso, as the day they were written. Did I ever tell you what Grandpa told me his favorite book of scripture was? He said it was James, which for some reason surprised me at the time, perhaps because it wasn't in the Book of Mormon or perhaps because I knew so little content of the book. I have come to love the passages there, partly because they are Grandpa's favorite and partly because they are so insightful. 

We face great challenges in our day. Sadness, loss, addictions, and pain are mountains to climb for many of us. I love the following scripture. Though the tempests about us are great, we can have peace and hope through the Gospel of Jesus Christ to overcome our burdens:

   Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.  James 3:4

Revealed nearly twenty years ago, The Proclamation on the Family was seemingly small at the time but is more relevant today than mortal man could have ever imagined then. The truths taught therein are for our day, essential to our happiness. They stand the test of time.

The word of God is timeless, pertinent, and something you can really sink your teeth into.

Peter seemed to understand that in spades.

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.  John 14:18