“The Harvest Is Past”

Yesterday, I had a conversation with two friends about missed opportunities. We agreed that dwelling excessively on the past is unproductive—one of them called it “driving in the rear-view mirror.” Our primary focus should be on the present and on preparing for the future.

Still, the past can be a useful teacher. A sense of regret can spur a useful sense of urgency.

When the children of Israel were passing through a particularly tumultuous time, the prophet Jeremiah described the probable outcome of their foolishness in terms of seasons of the year:

The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

Jeremiah 8:20

This imagery must have resonated in an agrarian society. When the crops are ripe, it’s time to get to work. You can’t delay indefinitely; you can’t wait to harvest until it’s convenient.

In 1831, the Lord used the same imagery to instill a sense of urgency in a group of church members in Kirtland, Ohio:

Hearken unto my voice, lest death shall overtake you; in an hour when ye think not the summer shall be past, and the harvest ended, and your souls not saved.

Doctrine and Covenants 45:2

The author of Hebrews encouraged us to “exhort one another daily, while it is called To day” (Hebrews 3:13). The Lord echoed that call in the 1831 revelation as well:

Hear my voice while it is called today, and harden not your hearts.

Doctrine and Covenants 45:6

Amulek urged both the Ammonihahites and later the Zoramites to act now and not “procrastinate the day of [their] repentance” (Alma 13:27, Alma 34:33-35). This from a man who had been “called many times” and “would not hear” until an angel directed him to the prophet Alma. (See Alma 10:6.) His regret helped to motivate his eagerness to act promptly.

Jesus shared the message of a real, if unknown, deadline for accessing grace as He spoke with His disciples in the Americas:

Wide is the gate, and broad the way which leads to death, and many there be that travel therein, until the night cometh, wherein no man can work.

3 Nephi 27:33

Today, I will avoid regret by acting promptly, hearing intently, and repenting quickly. I will remember that most worthwhile activities must be completed within their window of opportunity.