Enduring to the End – Without Hurling

When I was young, my family would go to an amusement park in Utah called Lagoon. My favorite ride was the roller coaster, of course. It was (is) an old-school wooden coaster, and to this little boy, it was the most thrilling thing on earth. It was – until we went to Disneyland and I discovered Space Mountain. I have loved roller coasters ever since. Just last year two of my sons and I went to Magic Mountain and rode coasters non-stop – or at least until my boys were begging to take a break.

One complaint I have with roller coasters is that the fastest and craziest coasters always seem so short.  I hate waiting in an endless line, then having the ride over and done in 30 seconds. I like them fast and crazy – and they are never long enough.

I have been blessed with an eternal companion (EC) that also loves roller coasters. In fact, all my kids do, too.  The only problem with my EC’s enjoyment of coasters is that she has a little friend she likes to call “motion sickness” that she brings along for the ride,  She is a good trooper, but sometimes her motion sickness kicks in, and her riding day is done.

I don’t have motion sickness, but it seems like it would be miserable. I’ve got to give credit to my EC for taking on some crazy rides even though she knows she might pay for it. I know there have been times where she has been holding onto the bar, with a white-knuckled death grip, fighting off the urge to throw up – simply hoping for the ride to end.

Such is life: Some look at it as a great adventure that is never long enough, others are just hanging on and wishing it would hurry up and be finished. A lot of us bounce back and forth between the two extremes depending on how the day went.

When we talk about the term “enduring to the end,” it usually conjures up the white-knuckled, trying not to hurl, hurry up and end already idea of finishing up. You rarely hear someone say “I sure enjoy enduring to the end, I love it!”  The very word “endure” implies some heavy baggage, and maybe a little nausea. We endure trials. We endure hardship. We endure pain. “Enduring to the End” can be a very intimidating phrase.

Well, that is one way to look at it…

In recent years, I have seen people incorporate the concept of enduring to the end as the 5th principle and ordinance of the gospel. (Which it is not.) For example:

1) Faith

2) Repentance

3) Baptism by immersion

4) Gift of the Holy Ghost

5) Endure to the end.

Joseph Smith chose to stick with the first four when he wrote what we refer to as the 4th Article of Faith – and I think I now why. (I’ll get there in a minute.)

To those of you paying attention, or keeping score, this is NOT the first time I have written about the first principles and roller coasters – here is a link from earlier in the year where I discuss that: Roller Coasters and the Wasted Atonement pt. 2.

The main point from that post was this:

Those are the first steps, that many of us see as a sort of checklist.

Here’s the problem: It is not a checklist!  A checklist mentality gives us a sense that it is over and done with. Some think that after checking off these four, the only thing left to do is to “endure to the end.” Not true!

I believe that the first four principles are much more than a checklist. I think they represent a cycle. A cycle that continues until we die – every day, every week of our lives until we are called home. I also believe that “Enduring to the End” refers to our ability to stay in that cycle.

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So why am I back again talking about roller coasters and first principles? Because I think I underemphasized an important part – the “enduring to the end” part.

I don’t think enduring is considered one of the first principles because it really isn’t a thing on its own. It is not a new principle, it is merely a reminder of the first four. Enduring is merely the spiritual equivalent of the last part of “Wash-Rinse-Repeat.”

Enduring to the end conjures up images of difficulty, burden and weariness, when all it really means is to just keep doing the fist four principles until we are safely dead.

Keep having faith, keep the commandments, and repent when we mess up. Keep being baptized by weekly participation in the sacrament, and keep receiving the Holy Ghost by doing those things.

That’s really all enduring to the end means. Easy-peasy. Maybe a better term than “enduring to the end” would be to “remain faithful” – It doesn’t sound so painful.

Now our life perspective is a completely different issue: Do we see life as a great adventure that is going to be far too short? Or do we see it as something to be tolerated until we can be done with it? Or do we bounce back and forth depending on what obstacles we encounter?

Personally, I am in no hurry for Jesus to come. Yes, I know that the world is a mess. Yes, I know that sometimes I am a mess. Yes, I know that evil is rampant. BUT, there has never been a time on the earth when the Lord has had so many people in his Kingdom, trying to do what is right.

This earth life is where we are tested, and it can be pretty difficult – sometimes it can be brutal beyond description – but it is also the place where we learn, and grow and develop these amazing relationships with each other. It is where we have our families, where we develop our strengths and our intellect. Even with the ups and downs, and occasional bouts of nausea, I’m not in any hurry for it to wrap up anytime soon. I am definitely not going to be hanging on with white knuckles, hoping it is going to end before I can’t hang on any longer. (At least I hope I won’t be.)

I like to think that the longer I have to “endure to the end” just means that I get a longer ride.

PS: Here is a nice talk about enduring to the end form Stephen Robinson, from the Ensign a few years back: “Enduring to the End.”