On A DIME

There's that old saying that goes something like, "It can turn on a dime". In other words, things can change suddenly, and if you, like me, have been watching the current financial news with some trepidation over the status of your retirement, or ability to ever achieve that status, you know how real the adage is.

Ponder the counsel we Latter-Day Saints have been receiving steadily for the past years--get out of debt; prepare, prepare, prepare; live within your means; save, save, save; lay in store. . . Now is the time we ask ourselves, "Did we listen? Did we follow their counsel?"

I wonder if more people than usual will make it a point to listen to more sessions of Conference this October. My guess is, yes. That would be a sad commentary on our spiritual motivations, but whatever brings us to the well, it's just good to gather there . . and to bring our neighbors along.

I keep thinking about President Hinckley. After Sister Hinckley's passing, he indicated how ready he was to follow her, but how as a willing servant, dedicated to the Lord's work, he vowed to exhaust himself in the work to which he was called for as long as he was needed. And work he did. He wore his life out in the Lord's service. And not without a cost. He endured the first hospitalization of his life, and surgery as well, to extend his life and service. And why? Perhaps because he saw the events about to unfold, and as the Watchman on the tower, he tried to remain at his post, warning, warning, warning for as long as he was able.

All those warnings and counsels? The Brethren were right, and they continue to be blessed with the ability to see "afar off". Will we be all right? Yes, if we heed the counsel we're given. All of it. And then we too can be Watchmen . . .for others who don't yet know what we Latter-Day Saints have been blessed to know.