What Lasts Longest

President Ballard spoke about his wife Barbara who passed away several years ago in the most recent generalconference. He related, “When Barbara passed away, our children put on her headstone several lessons that Barbara wanted them to remember. One of those lessons is ‘what matters most is what lasts longest.’” Supporting this idea, Alma taught his son Corianton about what not to seek for in this life because it is not one of those things that will last long: “Seek not after riches nor the vain things of this world; for behold, you cannot carry them with you” (Alma 39:14). The material possessions we obtain will, no matter what we do, remain when we pass to the other side. On the other hand, the Prophet Joseph Smith taught what can last past the length of mortality: “And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy” (Doctrine and Covenants 130:2). The relationships we nurture here can indeed endure in the life to come.

President Ballard confirmed that it is indeed our relationships that matter most because they will last longest: “First, a relationship with our Heavenly Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is most important. This relationship matters most now and in eternity. Second, family relationships are among those things that matter most.” I feel that this is exactly what the Savior taught in His great intercessory prayer. He prayed, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). We typically think of obtaining eternal life as gaining a place in heaven—Jesus even spoke of how His Father’s house has many mansions (John 14:2). But here Jesus taught that the essence of being saved is found not in our post-mortal house itself but in the relationships we have there, particularly with Him and His Father. This matches the first great commandment as He had explained earlier: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew 22:37). This helps us understand why what we have been taught since the earliest days of Primary are so crucial: daily prayer and scripture study. One of the primary purposes of these activities is to strengthen our relationship with God and His Son. The Savior’s greatest wish for us is to develop that relationship here on earth, just as He prayed to the Father: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am” (John 17:21-24). He wants us to be one with each other, one with Him, and one with the Father. That is the essence of eternal life and will last longer than all the vain things of the world that we might pursue.