I have a message to every person I know. It is what I taught to my children this evening. As you get older (those of you who are still under the age of 20), you will find that time passes slowly at first, then it picks up and goes faster, and faster, and faster, and then faster than you were even able to imagine when you noticed it was accelerating. It will do this whether you are having fun or not.
If you base your happiness in what you enjoyed for breakfast and what movie you will enjoy this evening, and your favorite song, you will experience anxiety in having to wait for many of the things you are trying to obtain in life as you go up the hill to middle age (at first, because time moves slowly; later, because it's going by quick and you are falling behind schedule). Then when you hump and descend, you will feel regret and sadness as you begin to notice wrinkles forming on your body, your hair turning gray and kinky or disappearing, your knees stiffening up, etc. You will feel an emptiness and wonder what it's all for as death approaches.
Your joy will be Time-Dependent.
If on the other hand, you pray, study the Book of Mormon and the scriptures and love and serve other people, the Lord will give unto you His Spirit which will cause joy in your spirit and health in your body.
And a special gift: The Gift of Timelessness.
You will continue through life with the sensation that it doesn't matter when. Or even where. Maybe not even who. Only what. It will only matter to you what you did, what your spirit has. You will not be sad to think of your 6th birthday party and your high school prom being so many years ago. You will not be sad about your favorite things from the good old days changing or disappearing. It won't even bother you too much that the government and society are going to pot - as long as you are doing your best to help slow or prevent it. You will not be sad about the past going fast into the distance nor will you look to the near, intermediate or far future with anything but anticipation and enthusiasm. You will see your entire life, not as something past and gone (so what does it matter what really happened) but as something tangible - where your 6th birthday party is as real and near as the present, and where death is just one more thing in your bright future. It will not bother you that there are people younger than you. When loved ones pass on, you will not be sad.
Your joy will be in the good things that happen - independent of when they happen. This joy in its absolute form is only available through the Gift of the Holy Ghost. And just so that you know I am not kidding, I tell you these things in the name of Jesus Christ.
Here's a caveat: I know I am a prophet only in the sense that I have received a testimony of Jesus through the Holy Ghost and that I am not your leader. It is possible that the Gift of Timelessness I describe above is one of the specific spiritual gifts given to some and not to others. I really do not know. It is possible you will never realize what I am saying. But I do know that I have this gift. I do think it is available to everyone. If not, I know whatever your gift, it will be as sweet to you as mine is to me.
Therefore, I share a verse or two from 2 Nephi that strike me as possibly the very best invitation to the gospel:
Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness.
To every person I know, I say this is real.
