Momentous

“The challenges and opportunities are momentous. Will you remain hesitant in the shadows of your fears, insecurities, and competing loyalties? Or will you move forward in the light of your divinely instilled call and vision?” (January 17, 2010 Counsel to the Church, verse 9e)


There are a few adjectives in the English language that seek to convey to us that something is beyond the normal, the routine, or the hum-drum. Words such as gigantic or enormous are in that category. It is almost like there is an exclamation point right in the middle of the sentence. No matter what the subject matter, such words alert us to the possibility that this is beyond the usual or customary standard.

Momentous is just such a word. This adjective demands that we pay attention because the idea being explored is of great or far-reaching importance or consequence.

The challenges and opportunities are momentous. The challenges are momentous…but so are the opportunities. The word calls to us and demands that we pay attention and think about it. Somehow it also insists that we make a decision. Everest is before you! Will you walk around it without looking up until it fades into the landscape as something no longer seen, or will you prepare to scale its heights and risk everything in order to see the vistas that await you there? Will you continue in the everyday, habitual activities of life, or will you go where few mortals have ever gone before?

The challenges and opportunties are momentous. The word demands something from us, and to put it out of our minds is already to have decided!

There is so much more to say about this little paragraph.

Posted by Carman