Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Charles Ellicott notes that "No precept of divine wisdom has found so many echoes in the wisdom of the world. Epicurean self-indulgence, Stoic apathy, practical common-sense, have all preached the same lesson, and bidden men to cease their questionings about the future." (http://biblehub.com/commentaries/matthew/6-34.htm) However, Ellicott recognizes that the command to "take no thought for tomorrow" has an important difference from the traditional carpe diem charge.
How does "seizing the day" fit in with Christ's teachings? I believe Christ wants us to trust in Him. We should look forward to the future calmly, trusting that if we do our best to follow Jesus Christ's teaching, he will compensate for our inevitable shortcomings. Does Christ want us to skip goal setting and planning, and go with the flow each day? Of course not. I do believe, however, that he wants us to be at peace each day, looking forward to the future calmly, without fear. Watching the news recently, peace may seem like a far-flung, unreachable destination. Hurricanes in Texas, Florida, and the Isles of the Sea. Massive earthquake in Mexico. Fires across multiple states. The reverberations of bomb testings by North Korea. It seems like this year, there are more natural and man-made disasters than ever before. With all this mess, how can we experience peace? Jesus Christ taught, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14: 27). The source of Christ's peace is not--in fact, cannot--be our external circumstances. It comes from an eternal perspective and understand of Heavenly Father's plan, and how we fit into that plan. Perhaps President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's plea for us to be grateful "in our circumstances" was in anticipation of the many difficult circumstances we would soon experience. Said President Uchtdorf, My dear brothers and sisters, the choice is ours. We can choose to limit our gratitude, based on the blessings we feel we lack. Or we can choose to be like Nephi, whose grateful heart never faltered. When his brothers tied him up on the ship—which he had built to take them to the promised land—his ankles and wrists were so sore “they had swollen exceedingly,” and a violent storm threatened to swallow him up in the depths of the sea. “Nevertheless,” Nephi said, “I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions.” I yearn to develop the ability to be grateful in my experiences. If I were about to be swallowed up in the depths of the sea, on Nephi's ship or as waves came rushing in to Houston or Miami, would I praise God? Would I put off the natural man's instinctual response of asking, "Why me?" I don't know that I would. And yet this is God's command. I believe that the more we can sincerely praise God in our trials, the more Christ-given peace we can experience in this life and the life to come.
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But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Not using vain repetitions in my prayers is can be hard. I do not think that many of us use vain repetitions to impress others by our verbose language, as the heathens did. Rather, we use vain repetitions because we aren't willing to put in the time and effort required to truly commune with God.
As the Bible Dictionary states, "Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings." (“Prayer.” Bible Dictionary. Emphasis added.) The more work I put into my prayers, the more I get out of them. The same is true with all of my relationships; the more attention, focus, and thought I devote to others, and to my conversations with others, the more I understand them and the stronger our relationships become. Two instances come to mind of times that I feel more naturally inclined to offer sincere prayers. The first is on Fast Sunday, when I plead to the Lord for something I am in need of. The second is in the temple, where I come to feel close to God. I realize, however, that I do not have to wait until Fast Sunday, or until I am in the House of the Lord, to have meaningful prayers. I truly believe that God, our Loving Father, is eager to hear and respond to our prayers. What can we learn from the Lord's prayer? What things aspects of Christ's prayer can we incorporate into our own prayers? Here are a few elements that stood out to me:
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