Timing... keeping the view on eternal!

I was reminded of a talk on Sunday by Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “Timing,” Ensign, Oct 2003, 10–17. After re-reading it, I felt like it was so pertinent to my life and that he made some points that I want to read over and over again (as reminders because my memory is so short!) I condensed his comments, so if you're interested in reading more I highly recommend the entire article! I am just posting what's below as easy access for me to go back and read what I thought was most important

"The Lord has His own timetable.... The first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith means trust—trust in God’s will, trust in His way of doing things, and trust in His timetable.

As Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has said: “The issue for us is trusting God enough to trust also His timing. If we can truly believe He has our welfare at heart, may we not let His plans unfold as He thinks best? The same is true with the second coming and with all those matters wherein our faith needs to include faith in the Lord’s timing for us personally, not just in His overall plans and purposes.”...

In our service in the Lord’s Church we should remember that when is just as important as who, what, where, and how. We prepare in the way the Lord has directed. We hold ourselves in readiness to act on the Lord’s timing. He will tell us when the time is right to take the next step. For now, we simply concentrate on our own assignments and on what we have been asked to do today.

It is not enough that we are going in the right direction. The timing must be right, and if the time is not right, our actions should be adjusted to the Lord’s timetable as revealed by His servants....

Because of things over which we have no control, we cannot plan and bring to pass everything we desire in our lives.... Important mortal events that depend on the agency of others or the will and timing of the Lord... cannot be anticipated or planned with certainty....

[Our] commitments and service can anchor [us].... [Our] commitments and service can also inspire and strengthen others. Wise are those who make this commitment: I will put the Lord first in my life, and I will keep His commandments....

If we have faith in God and if we are committed to the fundamentals of keeping His commandments and putting Him first in our lives, we do not need to plan every single event—even every important event—and we should not feel rejected or depressed if some things—even some very important things—do not happen at the time we had planned or hoped or prayed.

Life has some strange turns....Stand ready to accept the Lord’s planning and the agency of others in matters that inevitably affect you. Plan, of course, but fix your planning on personal commitments that will carry you through no matter what happens.

The most important principle of timing is to take the long view. Mortality is just a small slice of eternity, but how we conduct ourselves here—what we become by our actions and desires, confirmed by our covenants and the ordinances administered to us by proper authority—will shape our destiny for all eternity."