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the journey of mortality

So often in life, it seems, a blessing is quickly succeeded by a stretching.  Spiritual exhilaration is often short lived, being soon followed by vexation, temptation, and even tribulation.  Perhaps this is so because we cannot handle exhilaration for any length of time.  Or it is because we need to get on with the next challenge, there being so little time for languishing?  Or it is that experiencing the sharp, side-by-side contrast of the sweet and the bitter, almost continuously, is essential until the very end of this mortal existence?  Or are we at risk if in extended spiritual reveries we quickly forget others in need?  Whatever the reasons, the Lord hastens us forward--submissively on to the next work to be done.  Handcarts are to be picked up again promptly, after pausing whether for gladness or for sadness.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell, "Not My Will But Thine" p. 13
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