N. Eldon Tanner on choosing today to serve God

President Nathan Eldon Tanner (1898-1982) was ordained an apostle in 1962.  A year later he was called as a counselor in the First Presidency, and continued in that role during the administration of four Church presidents until his death in 1982 at age 84.

"I was greatly impressed as I listened to the BYU alumni president, Ernest L. Wilkinson, M.D., tell of an emergency call that took him to the Intensive Coronary Care Unit of the LDS Hospital, where a close personal friend of his of several years' duration was in critical condition with a massive coronary thrombosis. He said: 'As I approached his bedside he grasped my hand and through an oxygen mask, though gripped with pain and breathing in a labored manner, he muttered, "Oh, Doctor, can you save me? I have so many things I have been putting off and wanting to do."

"'As we labored into the hours of the morning, utilizing all of the modern electronic gadgetry that medical science can provide, and as it became increasingly evident that my friend would not survive, I was haunted by his comment and its inference. Are we thinkers or are we doers? How many of us procrastinate the really important decisions in life? Will we be found wanting when we too are at the crossroads of life and death?'

"This is a serious and urgent question indeed. We are all nearing the crossroads of life and death ourselves. How fortunate we are to be able to make a choice. What a glorious thing it is to know that we can choose our course, write our destiny and determine our blessings. It is not too late to choose. The choice is ours, but we must choose this day whom we will serve."

- N. Eldon Tanner, "Choose You This Day," Ensign, June 1971, pp. 11-15
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President Tanner presents the poignant example of a man on his deathbed, desperate for a second chance to complete the unfinished business of his life; then he asks these pointed questions:

President Tanner then warns, "We are all nearing the crossroads of life and death ourselves." It's easy to forget that. We just don't know how near we are.  But we do know that accidents happen; fatal diseases sometimes appear suddenly; circumstances can change overnight. All of us know someone, and probably a number of people, who faced an "untimely" end.

It's truly vital that we "not procrastinate the day of [our] repentance" (Alma 13:27) — or of our resolve to improve, to be more committed, to apologize, to change direction, to improve habits, to serve more faithfully. This is a great message: "What a glorious thing it is to know that we can choose our course, write our destiny and determine our blessings. It is not too late to choose."