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---
title: "A Date with Eternity: Epilogue"
lesson: Do things every day to retain that vital eternal perspective that aids our smaller daily decisions.
---
<!-- TODO: Escape characters and image formatting -->
This story is a follow-on to the original article. It will be an
addition of insights that have come with the perspective of time. I
suppose a better title would be "The Wisdom of Perspective". Please be
patient as I explain what I mean.\
\
In late Summer of this year (2018), Lori and I traveled to California to
meet with Angela Salmon and her family to do a tour of some of the
Redwood forests. It was a delightful drive with great anticipation of
the wonders of nature that awaited us in the forests of California.
However, when we glimpsed the first of the redwoods at a distance, I was
rather disappointed. From a distance, the forest looked a bit like the
following photo.
{width="6.5in"
height="4.44375in" alt=""}
The forest is a pleasant and beautiful sight, but it didn't seem like it
was much different from any other forest. After all, we lived in the
Northwest, where beautiful forest scenes are abundant. What was missing
was some kind of indicator in the scene that would give our brains an
appreciation of the scale of these enormous trees. The following photos
illustrate my point.
{width="6.5in"
height="8.666666666666666in" alt=""}
{width="6.5in"
height="4.875in" alt=""}
When you see Lori and me in the picture, you can see how truly enormous
these trees are. By comparing the size of our tiny bodies with the
mighty trunks of the trees, this new perspective creates a significant
difference in the appreciation of the wonder of the experience.\
\
Thus, I hope you can see that perspective is vital to the full
understanding of what we experience in our lives. To illustrate more
fully, I'll give you another example.\
\
Lori and I celebrated our 40th anniversary on August 26th of this year.
One of the activities to celebrate the occasion was a trip to the
Portland temple to do an endowment session together. We were asked to be
the witness couple in the session. While Lori and I were kneeling side
by side in the endowment room, it brought back a vivid memory of
kneeling across the alter from Lori when we were married 40 years
before. However, this experience now included the perspective added by
the passing of 40 years of time. I was deeply moved by the appreciation
I had for 40 years of happiness with Lori by my side. Forty years ago, I
only had an inkling of what was in store, but I had no real perspective
to add depth to the experience. At this moment of my life, I had not
only the eternal perspective brought by the temple session, but also the
perspective of the passage of 40 years. It was a remarkable realization
of how important perspective can be.\
\
It all boils down to a valuable life lesson. We need to do things often
to retain a perspective of life that will influence every experience we
have and decision we make. A view into the eternities can be had daily
from simple practices like reading the scriptures and praying. I now
have a new resolve to be better at doing the daily things that keep my
perspective wide enough to fully appreciate the experiences of each
day.\
\
Now I'll try to wrap up the reason this article is an epilogue to the
original article. The first article explained how I had a glimpse of the
nobility and greatness of the soul of the person I was hiking with. Now,
with the perspective of time and a deeper understanding of eternal
principles, I more fully realize how fortunate I am to be sharing my
mortal experience with such a wonderful companion. What was only a
glimpse has become a certainty that will forever grace my life.
|
