We live in a world where answers are accessible at the click of a button. President Uchtdorf emphasizes the need to be patient with answers of eternal value.
Most young adults are in the same boat: trying to make the best decisions we can in the face of important questions, such as whom to marry and what career path to follow. The answers to these questions can determine the outcome of the rest of our lives. But it can be hard to find these answers on our own. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s devotional address titled “The Adventure of Mortality” seeks to lessen our fears by answering some of these probing questions.
At the beginning of his talk, Elder Uchtdorf emphasizes that we live in an age of instant answers. We get impatient if we have to wait for more than a few seconds when loading a webpage. But we must wait for heavenly answers. “Heavenly answers—eternal answers—are priceless.
Receiving these answers often requires sacrifice, work, and patience,” Elder Uchtdorf says. Heavenly Father wants us to work for the answers that matter the most, because what matters the most lasts the longest. Heavenly Father’s love for us is eternal. Waiting is important because it shows that we have faith in the Lord’s timetable, not our own.
He goes on to quote Steve Jobs, who said, ”You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” To illustrate this, Elder Uchtdorf gives the example of neo-impressionism, an art style that consists of dots across a canvas that appear as a greater whole when viewed from a distance. He likens this principle to our lives in mortality, saying, “As we strive to trust God and follow His Son, Jesus Christ, one day we will see the finished product, and we will know that the very hand of God was directing and guiding our steps.” Isn’t that a wonderful thought? We will be able to connect the dots across time and see the Lord’s hand in our lives! As we do everything we can, he will make up for what we lack.
Elder Uchtdorf also addresses the question of decision-making: “The truth is that sometimes it just doesn’t matter to the Lord what you decide, as long as you stay within the fundamental covenants and principles of the gospel. In many cases, the decisions you make may not be as important as what you do after making the decision.” As we make decisions as young adults, what is most important is that we involve God in our decisions and approach them with faith.
Read Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s full talk, “The Adventure of Mortality” to gain a more profound understanding of how we can answer important questions in our lives.
Source: ChurchofJesusChrist.org
—Maddie Hoopes, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY LARA JAMESON
Find more insights
Read more about how you can focus on what is most important in Elder M. Russell Ballard’s talk “What Matters Most Is What Lasts Longest.”
Learn how you can make meaningful life changes by reading Abby Andrus’s Latter-day Saint Insights article “Doing as Dancers Do to Make Meaningful Life Changes.”
Discover how you can navigate finding the path right for you in Natalie Kokol’s Latter-Day Saint Insights article “How to Know You Are Moving in the Right Direction.”