The celestial is on my mind. And not because six general authorities quoted President Nelson’s admonition to “think celestial!” in this recent general conference.
I was fortunate enough to drive to the path of totality for this week’s solar eclipse. It is truly hard to put in words the awe I felt in those brief three minutes.
The event is over, but my thoughts have lingered on how to cherish the joy that comes from living in the moment.
In President Nelson’s Think Celestial talk he said, “The baseless notion that we should “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us”6 is one of the most absurd lies in the universe.”
But I disagree that living for now or living for the future is a rigid binary. The people I know who choose not to think celestial are living lives of intention and care for the gifts and problems of the present.
And while I agree that having a long term perspective can be helpful, I fear that too often how this plays out is putting off care in the present because if you think celestially – God is just going to take care of it all in the end.
Women are being harmed by current sealing policies? No problem! Think Celestial! God will sort it out in heaven!
People in need of housing and food now? No problem! Let’s set aside a hundred billion dollars for a rainy day when Jesus comes again. But you’re suffering now? Think celestial!
The earth is heating up from our actions? Think celestial! It’s paradisical glory is around the corner!
What would change in the church and in our personal lives if we didn’t think celestial, but instead enjoyed the ephemeral?
*N. Skye wrote a wonderful post last year about the unintended ramifications of Pres. Nelson’s talk. As think celestial becomes the new Mormon catchphrase, her post is worth reading again.
2 Responses
Love this. Thanks.
I am sure that when Pres Nelson “thinks Celestial” he is thinking of a patriarchal place where Wendy continues to worship him and he is this supper important dude with godhood added to all his earthly glory. Um…when I think celestial people like him end up as worms. The patriarchy will be smashed and women who got their power by worshipping the likes of him will just have to grow up into their own power. So, I don’t know what it will be like, I just know that nobody gets to lord it over anyone else.