Applied personally, this label meant you stayed on the job while others tried out working from home or were furloughed when the COVID -19 pandemic hit. Applied to activities, it involved a decision making process for individuals, families, and communities to determine what was worth leaving the relative safety of home and entering a public and possibly infected place for. That decision, that spotlighted choice, turns out to be much more important than many of us would have supposed.
The Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth is going to be much different than the first. The silent night and the tender babe of centuries past will be contrasted by a prelude of destructions and a magnificent public and glorious descent from heaven. Scripturally, however, it will catch many people unprepared. Likened to a thief in the night, many will be simply unaware until it is too late. The chilling arithmetic of the parable of the ten virgins leaves half of even those invited to attend the grand occasion - woefully underprepared, frantic, and ultimately shut out of where they desperately want to be.
As a young seminary teacher observing summer vacation scripture reading habits, I used to joke that to catch people unprepared the Second Coming was likely to happen in the three months seminary wasn’t held. The daily reading of the text for the course was carefully watched and reinforced there. Summer seemed to be a time when many took a break. It was probably more a result of the significantly changed structure of many schedules during those months than seminary or anything else though. When structure changes significantly we make important personal, familial, and societal decisions, consciously or not, about what is essential and what will be left behind. Being conscious of and deliberate about such makes an immense an eternal difference.
Elder Bednar spoke In the last two months to a religious freedom forum about the powerful wake-up call that this crisis should be for us. And while his words certainly have governmental and societal implications, the familial and personal wake-up call seemed of primary importance to me. Blessed to live in a land with a government by, for, and of the people, how can we expect our them to place higher value on spiritual essentials than we ourselves do. Am I awake to the absolute essential nature of communing with my Father in Heaven meaningfully and regularly? Do I esteem the value of family gospel teaching and study as non-negotiable?
I’m convinced that this wake-up call comes from a loving Father who desires for each of his children to be as well prepared as they can be for the Second Coming of His Son — and for whatever might come between now and then.
