Review
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Title: Now Is Your Time A Message to The Rising Generation
Author: Russell M. Nelson
Publisher: Deseret Book
Genre: Doctrinal
Year of Publication: 2023
Number of Pages: 48
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781639931484
Price: $13.99
Reviewed by Trudy B. Thompson for the Association For Mormon Letters
Now Is Your Time A Message to The Rising Generation by President Nelson, is an uplifting, motivational, and at times funny volume aimed at the youth of today. It is an edited version of a talk he gave years ago. It is stylized in such a way that makes the pages artistic and beautiful.
President Nelson begins by retelling the story of the Restoration and its importance to us all. He tells the reader that of all the previous assignments he had received as a general authority, the most significant to him at that time was when he dedicated the Priesthood Restoration site at the Sacred Grove in September 2015.
He then goes on to briefly describe some life experiences: growing up during the Great Depression, being a teenager during WW II, having several brushes with death, visiting six continents many times, dealing with the grief of losing two beloved daughters to cancer, and losing his wife, the mother of their ten children. He has seen friends and family members make heroic choices and live exemplary lives. He has seen others that have made disastrous decisions that derailed their potential.
With his varied and wide experiences, he is in the perfect position at this time of his life to instruct, warn, and teach us all what is important in this life and the next. His 98 years of life bring a wisdom that very few will obtain in this life. He goes on to state: “In short, I have lived a long time and I have stopped buying green bananas!”
He goes on to state that the truths he is expounding upon ought to prompt our ultimate sense of FOMO-or fear of missing out. The ultimate FOMO would be missing out on the celestial kingdom because some would choose to live the laws of a lesser kingdom here on Earth.
There are so many short and to-the-point gems of truth in this book. The purpose of this review is not to relate all of them here but to inspire and motivate everyone to obtain this book. Read it yourself, ponder, and absorb the beautiful Spirit this brings to your home and your family.
In the back of the book there are footnotes to the different scriptures and quotes that he uses in this small volume; as well as lined pages to write your own notes.
As a 67-year-old grandmother of four beautiful children ranging in age from eight to seventeen years old, I look forward to giving this to our son and daughter-in-law to share with those precious children as they see fit. I can truly see many evenings where thought-provoking gems are used to teach the whole family that our decisions and choices here affect every aspect of our lives in mortality and in the eternities.