President Monson in the Washington Post. [Emphasis added.]
There was, as many have noted, a remarkable surge of faith following the tragedy. People across the United States rediscovered the need for God and turned to Him for solace and understanding. Comfortable times were shattered. We felt the great unsteadiness of life and reached for the great steadiness of our Father in Heaven. And, as ever, we found it. Americans of all faiths came together in a remarkable way.
Sadly, it seems that much of that renewal of faith has waned in the years that have followed. Healing has come with time, but so has indifference. We forget how vulnerable and sorrowful we felt. Our sorrow moved us to remember the deep purposes of our lives. The darkness of our despair brought us a moment of enlightenment. But we are forgetful. When the depth of grief has passed, its lessons often pass from our minds and hearts as well.
Our Father’s commitment to us, His children, is unwavering. Indeed He softens the winters of our lives, but He also brightens our summers. Whether it is the best of times or the worst, He is with us. He has promised us that this will never change.
But we are less faithful than He is. By nature we are vain, frail, and foolish. We sometimes neglect God. Sometimes we fail to keep the commandments that He gives us to make us happy. Sometimes we fail to commune with Him in prayer. Sometimes we forget to succor the poor and the downtrodden who are also His children. And our forgetfulness is very much to our detriment.
9/11 destruction allowed us
to spiritually rebuild
By Thomas S. Monson, Posted at 11:38 AM ET, 09/08/2011,
Washington Post “On Faith”
The calamity of September 11th, 2001 has cast a long shadow.
Ten years later, many of us are still haunted by its terrible tragedy of lost
lives and broken hearts. It is an episode of anguish that has become a defining
moment in the history of the American nation and the world. This week, the
Mormon Tabernacle Choir, along with Tom Brokaw, will pay its own homage to the
unforgettable events of September 11, 2001.
There was, as many have noted, a remarkable surge of faith following the tragedy. People across the United States rediscovered the need for God and turned to Him for solace and understanding. Comfortable times were shattered. We felt the great unsteadiness of life and reached for the great steadiness of our Father in Heaven. And, as ever, we found it. Americans of all faiths came together in a remarkable way.
Sadly, it seems that much of that renewal of faith has waned in the years that have followed. Healing has come with time, but so has indifference. We forget how vulnerable and sorrowful we felt. Our sorrow moved us to remember the deep purposes of our lives. The darkness of our despair brought us a moment of enlightenment. But we are forgetful. When the depth of grief has passed, its lessons often pass from our minds and hearts as well.
Our Father’s commitment to us, His children, is unwavering. Indeed He softens the winters of our lives, but He also brightens our summers. Whether it is the best of times or the worst, He is with us. He has promised us that this will never change.
But we are less faithful than He is. By nature we are vain, frail, and foolish. We sometimes neglect God. Sometimes we fail to keep the commandments that He gives us to make us happy. Sometimes we fail to commune with Him in prayer. Sometimes we forget to succor the poor and the downtrodden who are also His children. And our forgetfulness is very much to our detriment.
If there is a spiritual lesson to be learned from our
experience of that fateful day, it may be that we owe to God the same faithfulness that He gives to us. We should strive
for steadiness, and for a commitment to God that does not ebb and flow
with the years or the crises of our lives. It should not require tragedy for us
to remember Him, and we should not be compelled to humility before giving Him
our faith and trust. We too should be
with Him in every season.
The way to be with God in every season is to strive to be
near Him every week and each day. We truly “need Him every hour,” not just in hours of devastation. We must speak
to Him, listen to Him, and serve Him. If we wish to serve Him, we
should serve our fellow men. We will
mourn the lives we lose, but we should also fix
the lives that can be mended and heal
the hearts that may yet be healed.
It is constancy
that God would have from us. Tragedies are not merely opportunities to give Him
a fleeting thought, or for momentary insight to His plan for our
happiness. Destruction allows us to rebuild our lives in the way He teaches us,
and to become something different than we were. We can make Him the center of
our thoughts and His Son, Jesus Christ, the
pattern for our behavior. We may not only find faith in God in our sorrow.
We may also become faithful to Him in
times of calm.
~
Thomas S. Monson is president of The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints.
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