Video 97 🌿 What I Know Now That I Didn't Know Then

 

🌿 What I Know Now That I Didn't Know Then

 

The older I get, the less certain I become about many things.

That may sound strange.

When we're young, we assume age brings certainty.

We imagine older people have everything figured out.

We picture them sitting quietly because they already know all the answers.

But life has taught me something different.

The older I get, the more I realize how much I don't know.

And strangely enough, that realization has brought me more peace than certainty ever did.

If you and I were sitting together on the porch this evening, watching the sun sink behind the mountains, and you asked me what I know now that I didn't know then, these are some of the things I might tell you.

🌿 I Know That People Matter More Than Being Right

When I was younger, I spent a lot of time trying to be right.

I wanted the correct answers.

The correct doctrines.

The correct interpretations.

The correct opinions.

I still care about truth.

In fact, I care about it deeply.

But I've learned something that took me many years to understand.

Winning an argument rarely changes a heart.

Loving someone often does.

Some of the most important people in my life disagree with me about things that matter deeply.

Yet I have discovered that preserving a relationship is often more valuable than winning a debate.

Truth matters.

But people matter too.

Sometimes we forget that.

🌿 I Know That The Lord Is More Patient Than We Are

Looking back over my life, I can see how impatient I have been.

I wanted answers immediately.

I wanted direction immediately.

I wanted understanding immediately.

The Lord rarely works that way.

He seems perfectly comfortable teaching us one step at a time.

Looking backward, I can now see His hand in places where I couldn't see it then.

There were seasons when I thought nothing was happening.

Yet years later I realized He had been arranging things all along.

Preparing people.

Preparing circumstances.

Preparing me.

The Lord is rarely early.

But He is never late.

🌿 I Know That Some Of God's Greatest Blessings Arrive Disguised As Problems

There are events in my life that I once viewed as disappointments.

Some felt unfair.

Some felt painful.

Some felt completely unnecessary.

Yet many of those same experiences became turning points.

The things I would have removed from my life were often the very things that changed me for the better.

I would never volunteer for suffering.

But I no longer assume that every hardship is an enemy.

Sometimes it is a teacher.

🌿 I Know That Most Of What We Worry About Never Happens

I wish I had learned this one earlier.

How much time do we spend worrying?

How many sleepless nights?

How many imagined disasters?

How many conversations that never occur?

How many fears that never become reality?

Life has taught me that worry borrows trouble from tomorrow and drags it into today.

Most of the things I feared never happened.

And many of the things that did happen were not nearly as terrible as I imagined.

🌿 I Know That The Savior Is Real

Of all the things I have learned, this is the one that matters most.

I have read books.

I have studied scriptures.

I have examined history.

I have explored ideas.

But none of those things mean as much to me as the quiet witness that has come through the years.

I know He lives.

Not because someone told me.

Not because I was raised to believe it.

Not because I belong to a church.

I know because there have been moments when His presence became more real than the chair I'm sitting in.

Moments when prayers were answered.

Moments when peace arrived without explanation.

Moments when heaven felt very close.

Those moments have carried me through many storms.

🌿 I Know That Family Is A Gift

The older I get, the more precious family becomes.

Not perfect family.

Real family.

The kind that occasionally disagrees.

The kind that sometimes hurts each other.

The kind that struggles.

The kind that forgives.

The kind that keeps trying.

Time has taught me that relationships are among the few things we carry with us through every season of life.

They deserve more patience than we usually give them.

🌿 I Know That The Journey Matters

When I was young, I focused on destinations.

Goals.

Achievements.

Milestones.

Now I see things differently.

Some of life's sweetest moments happened while traveling toward something else.

The journey itself became the blessing.

The lessons.

The friendships.

The experiences.

The growth.

The Lord seems far more interested in who we become than where we arrive.

🌿 One Final Thought

If I could sit down with my younger self for five minutes, I wouldn't spend much time discussing doctrine, politics, money, or success.

I would simply tell him this:

Slow down.

Trust God.

Love people.

Don't be afraid of detours.

Most things work out.

The Lord is closer than you think.

And one day, when you're sitting on a porch watching the sun go down, you'll discover that His hand was guiding far more of your life than you ever realized.

That's what I know now.

And I didn't know that then.

— The True Remnant

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