Of Reading and Home Teaching

President Monson wrote the First Presidency Message for this month. In it he includes counsel concerning learning from the past, preparing for the future, and living in the present.

Of these notions, I think the most difficult for me to do is to live in the present. It’s really easy for me to keep my mind so focused on things that have already happened, or anxious about what may happen, that I miss the opportunities currently around me to do some good.

Jesus was really fantastic at living in the present. He didn’t miss any opportunity to stop and bless someone. That’s why Peter could say of Him that he went about doing good. But I’m convinced that one of the reasons Jesus was able to live in the present so well was that He did the other two just as well…

Jesus was not concerned about the past. He had perfect forgiveness, which is a really incredible way to learn from the past. Refusing to forgive others is perhaps the best way to assure not to learn anything from the past. Well, that and refusing to repent of our own sins. Holding grudges and nursing guilt can only distract our minds from the sacred Now.

Jesus had faith that what the future held was His Father’s will, and He was ready for it. His preparation came mostly through readying the minds of His followers for the challenges that would face them.

It would seem, then, that the best way to follow the Savior in learning from the past, preparing for the future, and living in the present would be by obeying that very difficult commandment of loving our neighbors as ourselves.