“Do Not Run Faster or Labor More than You Have Strength and Means”
Doctrine and Covenants 10:4
4 Do not run faster or labor more than you have strength and means provided to enable you to translate; but be diligent unto the end.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell said:
“A revelation was given to the Prophet Joseph Smith at a time when he must have been exceedingly anxious to finish the important and urgent translation of the Book of Mormon:
“‘Do not run faster or labor more than you have strength and means provided to enable you to translate; but be diligent unto the end’ (D&C 10:4).
“Thus, the Lord has given us what might be called the ‘wisdom and order ‘and ‘strength and means’ tests. Unwisely, we often write checks against our time accounts as we never would dare do, comparably, against our bank accounts. Sometimes we make so many commitments that they become like the vines in the allegory of Jacob, threatening to ‘overcome the roots,’ including the ‘roots’ of family relationships, friendships, and relationships with God.
“On my office wall is a quote from Anne Morrow Lindbergh: ‘My life cannot implement in action the demands of all the people to whom my heart responds.’ For me, it is a needed reminder. A few years ago, already weary, I foolishly went late one afternoon to two different hospitals to give blessings to three individuals who were dying of cancer. Not only was I worn out, but worse, the last person really didn’t get much from me. Things had not been done in ‘wisdom and order.’ I was running faster than my supply of strength and energy on that occasion. Those blessings would have been better given over two or three days, and I would have had more empathy and energy.”
(“Wisdom and Order,” Ensign, June 1994, 41.)
