The word endure often leads to a miserable line of thought. From the thesaurus we fine: "undergo", "cope with", "deal with", "face", "suffer", "tolerate", "put up with", "brave", "bear", "withstand", "sustain", "weather" and then in a slightly more upbeat tone, but still kind of dismal we can continue in that same way to find "go through", "live through" and "experience".
When I first think about enduring to the end and try to think about it in an upbeat practical way the first thought that comes to mind has to do with training for an endurance sport. Like, doing an Ironman marathon. But, I mean... come on, look at me... This thought creates all kinds of other feelings inside.
We have to try a little harder than that to find a better meaning to attach to this idea of Enduring to the end. If we stop at the surface level, I think that most of us would tend to think "That's too hard" and turn to an easier path. It is mankind's tendency after-all to follow the path of least resistance.
Just take a moment and take stock of how you feel right now - recognize the feelings inside you feel after hearing what I've just said.
I think that most people when they hear the phrase "Endure to the end" without having thought beyond this point - will feel the anxiety that you are feeling now, feel overwhelmed, and maybe even become overwhelmed.
But there is a better way.
Think about the word "love". What does it mean to you that our "love will endure forever"? (Now we're on the right track). Along that line of thinking we can find in the thesaurus saying words like "last", "live", "live on", "go on", "survive", "abide", "continue", "persist", "persevere", "remain", "stay". The dictionary goes on in the same line of thought to say "remain in existence"; or "to last": e.g. "these cities have endured through time".
Think about the great cities of the world. Think about the great civilizations. How many of them have lasted all of time? How old is the oldest standing structure?
If each of us is to "endure to the end" it's going to take some serious architecting. We really need a good, proven, strategy. To the end? That's a long time. And then what happens after that? Are we meant to "endure to the end" just to fall flat on our face after the day of judgement? No, we're meant for much more than that.
If we're going to make it, we're going to have to learn some new tricks along the way.
One of the greatest examples of something I can think of that has "Endured" far longer than anything else I can think of - is The Book of Mormon.
Which is actually quite appropriate to think about when we think about enduring. The Book of Mormon has survived many thousands of years, and has still maintained purity of truth. It is a great example of something that has endured.
I think it very appropriate when thinking about "enduring" to look to The Book of Mormon as a type of something that has endured well. If we look to The Book of Mormon as an example of how to endure well, and follow that strategy, we will do very well indeed.
Who buried The Book of Mormon? Has he "endured" well? Well, according to reports, I'd say Moroni has done very well in the "endurance" department.
The scriptures are the iron rod in Lehi's dream. They lead the way to the tree of life - to God's love. If we're going to endure well, we should do so always in the presence of God's love. This means, that we need to follow the iron rod to the tree of life, and we need to stay there.
As I said before, we need to have a good strategy if we're going to endure to the end, and beyond. Stay by the Tree - By Elder Kevin W. Pearson Of the Seventy is a wonderful example of a prescribed strategy on how we can endure well.
For me especially at 6:25
Remember, to endure well to the end, means to find our way to the tree of life by following the iron rod, and then to stay there.
And if we have ever found ourselves to be lost again... Grasp hold of the iron rod, get back to the tree and then stay there.
Every day, every day, every day.
Perhaps the closest thing we can get to standing directly under the "Tree" would be to go to the Holy Temple and participate in making covenants there. And then to continue to go back to the temple as frequently as possible. Regular prayer, scripture study, church attendence and temple attendence are all key aspects to "enduring to the end" during our day and time.
And now that we have the Philadelphia temple so close to us, this is an even easier task to accomplish.
For The Iglehart's FHE.