Getting Up Each Time We Fall

This poem and talk was given in church today, it really touched my heart.

                                                     "The Race"                                                          

Whenever I start to hang my head in front of failure’s face
My downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.
A child’s race, young boys, young men … how I remember well
Excitement sure … but also fear … it was not hard to tell.

They all lined up so full of hope, each thought to win the race.
Or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.
And fathers watched from off the side, each cheering for his own;
And each child hoped to show his dad that he would be the one.

The whistle blew, and off they went, young hearts and hopes afire.
To win … to be the hero … that was each young child’s desire.
And one child in particular whose dad was in the crowd,
Was running in the lead and thought my dad will be so proud.

But as he sped down the field across a shallow dip,
The child, who thought to win, lost his step and slipped.
Trying hard to catch himself, his hands flew out in brace.
And mid the laughter of the crowd the child fell on his face.

So down he fell with lost hope; he couldn’t win not now.
Embarrassed, sad, he only wished to disappear somehow.
But as he fell his dad stood up, and showed his anxious face;
This to the child so clearly said; “Get up and win the race.”

He quickly rose … no damage done … behind a bit, that’s all.
And off he ran with all his might to make up for his fall.
So anxious to restore himself, to catch up, and to win;
His mind went faster than his legs …he slipped and fell again.

He wished then that he had quit before, with only one disgrace.
I’m hopeless as a runner now I should not try to race.
But in the laughing crowd he searched and found his father’s face.
That steady look that said again, “Get up and win the race.”

So up he jumped to try again, 10 yards behind the last.
If I’m going to gain those yards I’ve got to run real fast.
Exerting everything he had … regaining eight then ten.
But trying hard to catch the lead he slipped and fell again.

Defeat; he lay there silently … a tear dropped from his eye.
There is no sense in running anymore … three strikes, I’m out, why try?
The will to rise had disappeared all hope had fled away.
So far behind, so error prone I’ll never go all the way.

I’ve lost – so what’s the use he thought. I’ll live with my disgrace.
But then he thought about his dad who soon he would have to face.
“Get up” … an echo sounded low … “Get up and take your place …
You were not meant for failure here … get up and win the race.”

“Get up” it said, “you have not lost at all.
For winning is no more than this – to rise each time you fall.”
So up he rose to run once more refusing to forfeit.
He resolved, that win or lose the race, at least he would not quit.
So far behind the others now … the most he had ever been,
So he gave it all he had and ran as though to win.
Three times he had fallen, stumbling … three times he had rose again.
Too far behind to hope to win … but he still ran on to the end.

They cheered the winning runner as they crossed the line first place.
Head high ... proud and happy … no falling, no disgrace.
But when the fallen youngster crossed the line … last place
The crowd gave him the greatest cheer for finishing the race.

And even though he came in last with head bowed low un-proud.
You would have thought that he had won the race to listen to the crowd.
And to his dad, he sadly said –“I did not do so well.”
“To me you won”, his father said. “You rose each time you fell.”

Now when things seem dark and difficult to face,
The memory of that child helps me in my race.
For all of life is like that race with ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win – IS RISE EACH TIME YOU FALL.


And when depression and despair shout loudly in my face,
Another voice within me says, “Get up and win the race!”

The Promise of Enduring to the End

Exactly what does it mean to endure to the end? Endure what, and how? And when is the end? Nephi explains that we must “be reconciled unto Christ, and enter into the narrow gate, and walk in the path which leads to eternal life, and continue in that path until the end of the day of probation/ until the end of this our mortal life!.Thus, to endure is to continue in the path we adopted at baptism/keeping our commitments to Christ, 

 The covenants of baptism and of the temple are solemn promises we make to God about how we will conduct our lives. Enduring to the end is keeping those promises throughout our lives—no matter what! It means we don’t quit because of life’s difficulties or temptations. Conversely, failing to endure means backing away from what we’ve started—first promising loyalty to God and then withholding what we promised. Endurance is not so much a matter of stamina as it is a matter of loyalty and integrity. Can you be trusted to faithfully hold your course? Just as a spouse who can be trusted to keep the marriage covenant is called faithful, so those who can be trusted to keep their gospel covenants are called faithful.

I once knew a man who had to decide whether to pay his tithing every time his check came, whether to go to his meetings every time they were held, whether to take an alcoholic drink every time he was offered one. Finally a friend asked him: “Why can’t you just decide once and for all which side you’re on?  
Why do you have to re-examine your loyalty every time a decision is called for?
You are spiritually reinventing the wheel over and over again, and you will never make any progress until you can build on what you already know.”

A few weeks later he called his friend and asked for a ride to some stake meeting. The friend was pleased he was going, and when he told him so I said
“You know, I wouldn’t like it if my wife told me she had to decide every morning whether she still loved me or not, or if she told me she only stayed with me because she hadn’t found a reason to leave—yet. my friend said "I guess the Lord is entitled to more of a commitment than that from me. I’m ready to stop reinventing the wheel."

God does not want excuses from those who leave the Church, thinking that they have good reasons or that they can keep covenants made in and through the Church while still rejecting the Church.
 No matter what their intentions, they are deceived.

A testimony isn’t like a hypothesis in science, which may be supported by evidence one day and destroyed by it the next. It is a conviction based on the evidence of things not seen that some things are eternally true. (See Heb. 11:1.) The provisionally converted are those who just haven’t found a reason to leave—yet. Just as such a relationship would be unsatisfactory in a marriage, so it is unsatisfactory in the spiritual marriage of the gospel. Such individuals need to become converted, to receive the witness of the Spirit and the conviction that accompanies faith.
Just as partners in a truly celestial marriage say, “we are sealed, no matter what,” so a truly converted member says: “I am a member of the Lords church. My lot is cast with the Apostles and prophets—no matter what!
Above all other issues, loyalties, agendas, and commitments,
This is where I stand.

Out there now, there are many voices !!

All wanting your attention
 —social voices, intellectual voices, political voices, and other voices.

I know a man who is going through a difficult time. He is listening to other voices and has transferred his  loyalty to other than the Lord. Tragically, his politics have become the idol to which all else in his life must bow—even over the Church.

 He said that he wanted to straighten his life out. I asked him if he had a testimony, and he said no, he didn’t. Surprised, I asked him why he wanted to repent and regain his membership if he didn’t have a testimony. I will never forget his answer: “I don’t know right now that the Church is true, but I know that I once knew, and I know God knows I once knew. The Church didn’t change between then and now—I did. 
 And now I want to know again what I knew before, and I am willing to repent to do it.”

Even when one’s endurance has failed before the end, repentance can bring about a new beginning.

Trials, deception, and iniquity—these are the enemies of endurance. 
Those who can bear the pain of trials, who can ignore alternate voices, whose loyalty can’t be bought ...these are they who will not betray their Master’s trust. They will faithfully maintain the charted course.
 They will get up each time they fall and endure the race!!