E is for Endure to the End

Endure to the end. It's probably a phrase most of us are familiar with. It is similar to the principle of diligence. It means to continue in following the example of Christ the rest of our lives. The first way we follow Christ is through baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost (see Bible Dictionary "Holy Ghost"). It's after that process though, that enduring to the end kicks in.

Enduring to the end means that we must be "continually exercising faith in Jesus Christ, repenting, making commitments, and following the Spirit" (Preach My Gospel: Lesson 3: Endure to the End)

Enduring to the end also makes me think of sports. You have to keep playing your hardest until the end of the game, not just to half-time, in order to achieve the desired results.

I'm reminded of a time years ago, back in my freshman year of high school. I was a part of the freshman girls basketball team which consisted of five girls, myself included. For those of you less familiar with the sport of basketball, this is a very small number for a team, teams usually hold 10-15 players. Five is the number of players on the court for each team at one time, so we had barely enough. Needless to say, we had our work cut out for us. It was a season that I learned a lot from in many ways and it was during this season the I experienced some of the best and worst times of my basketball career.

One game in particular, I recall like it was yesterday as it is experience not many can say they have. Our small team of five had a player sick that day so our game was a forfeit since you must start the game with five players. We were asked if we wanted to continue to play, of course we did and so the game commenced. Our team of four girls, and our opponents, having a team of twelve girls (3 times as many players). Despite the odds against us, we managed to pull ahead. Then, at the beginning of the third quarter, our best player fouled out (meaning she reached the maximum number of violations and so was forced to sit out the rest of the game), so there was just the three of us on the court. We managed to maintain our lead and then another teammate had an asthma attack leaving just me and one of my teammates on the court. And do you know what happened? We won that game by fifteen points.

At the end of the game, we were all exhausted and were on the verge of collapsing, because enduring takes a whole lot of work and effort. But, we had our reward, the victory. In the same sense, after we pass through this life, if we endure faithfully to the last second through Christ, we "shall stand before him; then shall [we] see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto [us]: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father" (Enos 1:27).

Our little team of five girls got third place in the league that year because we never let anyone tell us that we couldn't. We put our trust in our coach and in each other and endured faithfully to the end of each game, no matter how often we appeared to be the underdog.

That's how this particular basketball season had such a great impression on me. It  helped me to understand on a more personal level that enduring to the end means to push through and choose to fight the good fight, even when all the odds seem against you. I also came to understand that you don't have to endure to the end on your own. God gave us teams, and he calls them families. You gain charity and love for people when you go through difficult things together.

In this same basketball season, during the pre-season training, I was diagnosed with athletically-induced asthma. This proved to be a great stumbling block for me as I had to go through several brands of inhalers before we found one that was effective and it took me several years and a couple of hospital trips to actually recognize when I needed to stop and to get it under control. Yet, I continued to play the sport that I love. After my freshman year, I played a year on the junior varsity squad and then did two years on the varsity team. Why? Because I had the principle instilled in me that you always endure to the end. You don't just give up when the first obstacle is thrown in your path. Was it easy? No, far from it. It took a lot of dedication and patience and will-power, as does any sport or anything you want to achieve in life.

On a similar note, Elder Richard B. Maynes stated:

"To play basketball successfully, you need to get into good shape. Being in good physical condition comes at a price, and that price is dedication, perseverance, and self-discipline. Spiritual endurance also comes at a price. It is the same price: dedication, perseverance, and self-discipline.

A testimony, like your body, needs to be in shape if you want it to endure. So how do we keep our testimonies in shape? We cannot get our bodies into good basketball shape by simply watching basketball on television. Similarly, we won’t be able to get our testimonies in shape by simply watching general conference on television. We need to study and learn the fundamental principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then we must do our very best to live them. That is how we become disciples of Jesus Christ, and that is how we build an enduring testimony" ("The Strength to Endure" Elder Richard B. Maynes, General Conference October 2013).

Now you may be thinking that enduring to the end is impossible because we are all imperfect beings. 'Tis not so my dear readers! You endure step by step and become better each day. We slip and fall sometimes, but our Heavenly Father knows that we'll take a detour or two. As such, He has mercifully given us multiple ways to get back on the right path, mainly through the atonement.

I'm reminded of another story my father shared with me about a freeway detour he had to take late at night while heading home from a football game in Irvine due to some freeway construction. He said the following of the experience:

"Small signs marked the route of our detour as we traveled though lightly populated areas near the Pacific Ocean. I relaxed a bit, regarding the detour, and felt confident of eventually getting back to the freeway due to the high number of vehicles following the same route we has to follow. Not long later, I noticed that traffic had thinned considerably and we were in areas of heavy night life crowds, but not traffic. Clearly I had missed a sign, and with it our detour route leading back to the 405 freeway. Anxiety began to set in as we were in unfamiliar areas, having never been in the particular area, I felt that if I continued on in the direction we were heading, we might come across something familiar. Not long passed, and my confidence was restored as we entered areas I was a bit familiar with decades earlier. Making the correct adjustments to our driving route, and traveling down memory lane a bit back to a time my mother, brother & I had visited the area, we eventually found our way back to the 405 freeway...
Seems clear to me that our journey home from Irvine mirrors life in the following regard. Often times in life we are faced with a detour which leads us away from our desired path. These detours can be of our own making or come about due to the influences of others. Sometimes they are just plain hurdles meant to make us stronger. Either way, these detours lead us away from the route we want to take. As we continue the journey sometimes we lose our focus...just like I did on the way home from Irvine. This loss of focus then leads us seemingly farther away from where we want to go. Yet, by refocusing and continuing on the path we know is right we end up back on the right rout despite the temporary loss of focus. Just as memories from my past helped me along our journey of getting back to the 405 freeway, knowing who we are helps guide our path here on earth. The knowledge that we are spiritual beings having a mortal experience humble us enough to understand that, through prayer, we have access to Heavenly guidance."

I testify to each of you that you can endure to the end day by day. Sometime we will stumble and fall but as we seek Heavenly guidance, we will be directed back to the one and true path which will lead us back to our Heavenly home.

Heed the invitation of Christ for He said, "Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life" (3 Nephi 15:9).