Lived With Serenity

In the book Amkoullel, l’enfant peul, Amadou Hampâté Bâ told the story of his childhood growing up in Mali in the early 20^th century. His stepfather Tidjani was wrongly imprisoned after becoming the chief of a certain city, and he was taken hundreds of miles away to another city and suffered immensely in prison and in forced labor. Eventually the local commander in charge announced to him that he was being freed from prison but it was required that he stay in the same city and could not return to his home. The commander was surprised at Tidjani’s imperturbable response. He said to the halfway freed man, “Dis-moi pourquoi ni mauvaise nouvelle ni mauvais traitement n’ont de prise sur toi.” (“Tell me why neither bad news nor bad treatment have any effect on you.”) Tidjani responded calmly, “Mon commandant, on ne peut m’annoncer une nouvelle plus grave que celle que le destin m’a assignée au jour de ma naissance en me disant : « Tu es entre dans une existence dont tu ne sortiras pas vivant, quoi que tu fasses », et nulle force humaine ne pourra jamais me loger plus étroitement sur cette terre que je ne le serai dans ma propre tombe. C’est pourquoi aucune mauvaise nouvelle ne peut réellement m’assombrir. J’ai appris à voir venir la mort avec le même calme que je vois tomber la nuit quand le jour décline. A chaque réveil, je me considère comme un condamne en sursis. Mais je ne suis pas pessimiste pour autant, mon commandant, et je ne serais nullement surpris si, un jour, je redevenais le grand chef que j’ai été. La vie est un drame qu’il faut vivre avec sérénité.” (“My commander, no one can give me more serious news than that which fate assigned me on the day of my birth, saying: ‘You have entered an existence from which you will not emerge alive, whatever you do,’ and no human force can ever house me more tightly on this earth than I will be in my own grave. That is why no bad news can truly darken me. I have learned to see death coming with the same calm that I see night fall as the day declines. Each time I wake up, I consider myself a condemned man on probation. But I am not pessimistic for all that, my commander, and I would not be at all surprised if, one day, I were to become again the great leader that I once was. Life is a drama that must be lived with serenity.”) I love his attitude about facing life’s challenges with a perspective on our whole existence, and to face whatever comes to us with serenity is a powerful way to live. That is no easy task to respond calmly and patiently and with assurance to whatever happens in our lives, but surely to have serenity define our deeds is how we should strive to live.   

Though not a scriptural word, Elder Richard G. Scott—one who seemed to embody serenity in the way he lived—taught, “Many voices from the world in which we live tell us we should live at a frantic pace. There is always more to do and more to accomplish. Yet deep inside each of us is a need to have a place of refuge where peace and serenity prevail, a place where we can reset, regroup, and reenergize to prepare for future pressures…. Be certain that every decision you make, whether temporal or spiritual, is conditioned on what the Savior would have you do. When He is the center of your home, there is peace and serenity.” With faith in the Savior, we should seek to make serenity triumph in our lives despite the pressures and stresses. We can strive to live such that “bad news and bad treatment” do not disrupt the prevailing peace of the gospel can have. As Paul put it, “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).     

            As believers in the Resurrected Savior we would disagree with one point of Tidjani’s message to this commander: though his grave will hold him tightly for a time, it will not hold him forever. We rejoice in the message of prophets such as Abinadi who declared, “But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death” (Mosiah 16:8-9). The apostle Paul rejoiced in the Savior’s triumph over death this way: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?... Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55,57). We who understand that death is not permanent, that our grave cannot hold us forever, that we will rise because of Jesus Christ, should be filled with the serenity of which Tidjani spoke even more so. All of life’s challenges should be put in the perspective of a future resurrection and the triumph of the Savior over all pain and sorrow. I love how Isaiah put it: “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaiah 25:8). Knowing that, we can face each day with serenity founded in faith in Jesus Christ.