December 4th, 2021

It's Saturday December 4th and if my head weren't attached, I would lose that too!! Today I left for the Temple earlier than usual, had a pleasant drive over, parked the car in the underground parking, and then looked at my empty back seat. I had forgotten my temple clothes! How on earth!?! So originally I would have had plenty of time to check in and get dressed for prayer meeting, and now I would be over ten minutes late. But of course it all worked out. I was able to get my clothes and get back to the temple and not be too overly late to my meeting. I am just so lucky that we live close!!

This month I am back on the 3rd floor of the temple. I spent the first hour after prayer meeting in the chapel, the second hour assisting with the endowments, and the last hour in the Celestial Room. I had such a wonderful shift. 

While I was in the Celestial Room I picked up a King James Bible and turned to the book of Mark and just let it fall on any page. After reading a few chapters, I came across a chapter where the Savior tells about the events leading up to the second coming. The last few verses really caught my attention.

Mark 13:31-37

31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

32  But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.

34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.

35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:

36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.

37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

In a post previously, I talked about how much I love the parable of the ten virgins that also talks about the second coming. 

 As I sat in the Celestial Room this evening I could picture this parable in Mark so vividly. The world is a house and we are all His servants and we don't know when the master of the house will return and either catch us carrying His work forward and obeying his commandments or he will catch us sleeping. 

I pictured being that kid with his hand in the cookie jar when I just been told no cookies before dinner, but decided to help myself anyway and was caught in the act. That feeling of being caught doing something wrong, is an awful feeling. I have felt it enough in my life to truly understand how awful it can be. 

 There is a footnote on the word sleeping in the 36th verse that reads "procrastinating". This scripture came to my mind as I thought about those who may be considered to be "sleeping" and "procrastinating":

2nd Nephi 28:8

And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God.

 "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry... for tomorrow we die" are famous words of the adversary that has been planted in the hearts of so many. And the saddest part is that they don't even realize it is the adversary that has planted them there. They say "We are living in a time where Satan doesn't even hide anymore, and the world still can't see him." 1 peter 5:8 How true are those words!

Also the following scriptures found in Alma 34:32-41 that warn us about not procrastinating were brought to my memory:

32 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.

33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.

34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.

35 For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked.

36 And this I know, because the Lord hath said he dwelleth not in unholy temples, but in the hearts of the righteous doth he dwell; yea, and he has also said that the righteous shall sit down in his kingdom, to go no more out; but their garments should be made white through the blood of the Lamb.

37 And now, my beloved brethren, I desire that ye should remember these things, and that ye should work out your salvation with fear before God, and that ye should no more deny the coming of Christ;

38 That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you.

39 Yea, and I also exhort you, my brethren, that ye be watchful unto prayer continually, that ye may not be led away by the temptations of the devil, that he may not overpower you, that ye may not become his subjects at the last day; for behold, he rewardeth you no good thing.

40 And now my beloved brethren, I would exhort you to have patience, and that ye bear with all manner of afflictions; that ye do not revile against those who do cast you out because of your exceeding poverty, lest ye become sinners like unto them;

41 But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.

Circling back to the last verse in Mark 13

37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

What the Savior says to one person, he says to all of us. "Watch" The W is even capitalized. As I drove home I thought about all the people that may not know about this scripture. Or that have read, and since forgotten it. 

Just because people choose to ignore, or allow the adversary to convince them that Christ is not real or that the Second Coming won't happen, doesn't make it any less true.

Our Savior will return again, whether people choose to believe he will or not. It is like the sun coming up every morning, or the change in seasons. It will happen, it is only a matter of when. 

So as much as we can help it, we must not put our heads in the sand, but we must persevere and continue to assist in the Lord's work to help ourselves and others not be considered "sleeping" in his house when he returns from his long journey.