Thursday, May 31, 2007

What happened to my other 88.15 years?

And the days of the children of men were prolonged...that they might repent while in the flesh. (2 Nephi 2:21)

Wait a minute. Our days, the number of days (or years) in our earthly lives, were lengthened to give us time to repent? So what does that mean?

Adam lived 930 years. His son, Seth, lived 912 and Seth's son, Enos, lived 905. Methuselah lived 969 years. Okay, he sort of throws off the bell curve so maybe we shouldn't count him. But still, Noah lived 950 years.

900+ years? I think I could sufficiently repent if I had 900 years.

Even at half that number, I might do okay. Enoch was translated at 430 years old. If I lived to be 430, maybe I could be translated too.

Even Abraham, who was relatively short-lived by comparison, sojourned on this earth for 175 years. Okay, I'm not greedy. I'll take 175 years.

But my life expectancy? That's 86.85 years.

Just think of all the repenting I could do if I had another 88.15 years. I mean, really, we spend the first quarter of our lives just learning how to function in this world. Then another quarter trying to decide what we want to do when we grow up. At 50, we're finally mature enough to start raising children (that's why grandchildren are so much easier to get along with). If we took the next 25 years to love and teach and train those children, then at 75 we would finally have learned most of life's lessons (do you suppose?) and we'd be ready to sufficiently repent for all our past mistakes and to go forward for the next 100 years with an eye single to God.

But that's not the way it works. No. I have to learn to pack everything into a measly 86.85 years.

No wonder I'm so exhausted!