Choose This Day

"There is a danger in the word someday when what it means is “not this day.”

The thought “Someday I will” can be a thief of the opportunities of time and the blessings of eternity.

Even the Savior, who was without sin, set an example of the need not to procrastinate. He said:

“I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

A morning prayer and an early search in the scriptures to know what we should do for the Lord can set the course of a day. We can know which task, of all those we might choose, matters most to God and therefore to us.

For most of us the temptation to delay will come from one or both of two feelings. They are polar opposites: one is to be complacent about what we have already done, and the other is to feel overwhelmed by the need to do more.

The temptation will be to believe that you will return to serve again, someday.

It is hard to know when we have done enough for the Atonement to change our natures and so qualify us for eternal life. And we don’t know how many days we will have to give the service necessary for that mighty change to come.

In the hardest trials, as long as you have the power to pray, you can ask a loving God: “Please let me serve, this day. It doesn’t matter to me how few things I may be able to do. Just let me know what I can do. I will obey this day. I know that I can, with Thy help.”

For those who are discouraged by their circumstances and are therefore tempted to feel they cannot serve the Lord this day, I make you two promises. Hard as things seem today, they will be better in the next day if you choose to serve the Lord this day.

The other promise I make to you is that by choosing to serve Him this day, you will feel His love and grow to love Him more.

You would not want to delay receiving that blessing. And feeling His love will draw you back to His service, wiping away both complacency and discouragement.

I know that Heavenly Father lives and answers our prayers. I know that Jesus is the living Christ, the Savior of the world, and that we can choose to feel joy and peace in His service this day." (“This Day” Elder Henry B. Eyring, April 2007 General Conference.)