M E R I D I A N     M A G A Z I N E

In the Long Run
By Vickey Pahnke-Taylor

Positive energy!  Refreshing personality!  Loving demeanor!  Is this what everyone says about you?  All the time? 

Okay — so very few of us are positive, refreshing, and loving all of the time. Those who are find peace in their own hearts and have a special place in the hearts of those around them. What are we willing to do in order to become more positive, loving, and refreshing to be around? What are the risks? What are the blessings? In the long run, what are we about?

Individually, we answer the questions. Our circumstances, personalities and environments as well as our struggles and goals affect those answers. If last year was a tough one, we might breathe a sigh of relief that we got through it. If it was magnificent, we may hope that we get another bonus year. For many of us it was an ordinary year, full of good and bad, of ups and downs. I imagine that all of us hope to grow in grace, gain understanding, and grasp the principles that matter most.

As we begin another new year, in hopes of making it a positive, loving one, we can build on these simple principles to create a life that, in the long run, epitomizes benevolence and goodness.  While we are working at it, I will share a treasure that I found in these words spoken by Elder Neal A. Maxwell:

It is so easy to be confrontive without being informative; indignant without being intelligent; impulsive without being insightful.

In our determination to “be all that we are capable of being”, we may find that encouraging energy and loving demeanor as we work on the three areas mentioned by Elder Maxwell:

1. “Confrontive without being informative”  (Seek for more knowledge)
   Truth is a valuable commodity — and knowing our stuff can save embarrassment, arguments, and misunderstanding.  If we are seeking to know what is correct instead of seeking to be correct, our words will carry a lot more weight.  Besides, isn't it nice to know that there are people we can turn to who do seem to have answers, and whose calm presence is comforting? Being more informed relative to things that “enlarge, increase, [and] ennoble” (Brigham Young) lead us to better lives.
   
2. “Indignant without being intelligent”  (Seek for more intelligence)
   Greater intelligence lowers the possibility of becoming indignant — if only because our ability to think outside the box and to offer a more charitable attitude will allow us access to great light and truth. It will take a great deal more to annoy us or make us resentful because we are becoming more like our Father when we seek greater intelligence. 
   This is what President John Taylor had to say on intelligence: “How foolish it is for men …to lay aside God, and think that they can progress, and be smart and intelligent without him.”
   
3. “Impulsive without being insightful”  (Seek for more inspiration)
   To be spontaneous can be a delightful thing. But acting on impulse often infers acting recklessly or rashly. Insight — those feelings that offer inspired understanding — allows us to “grow from within, not from without.” (President David O. McKay)  That inner growth will curb out impulsivity and decrease those times we lament doing something we wish we had taken time to think about first!

As I ponder over the risks and blessings, I cannot think of a single risk in attempting to be more positive, refreshing and loving. By opening my heart more, I may be hurt more often. I may feel as though I expose my inner thoughts and open myself to ridicule. But the pursuit of Godly things will far outweigh any thoughts of embarrassment here and now as I trade them for peace and joy in the long run. Thus — no risk.

As for blessings — they are as numerous as people I know and breaths I take! The gospel principles become more than a beacon to light my way — they become part and parcel of who I am.  We may be among those of whom Elder Bruce R. McConkie spoke when he said, “In the final analysis, the gospel of God is written, not in the dead letters of the scriptural records, but in the lives of the saints.”

This is what matters in the long run!

Click here to sign up for Meridian's FREE email updates.