It Is Easier to Keep Up…

There are some lessons in the passing seasons worth remembering from time to time, and one such is suggested in a sentence from a respected teacher who said: “It is easier to keep up than to catch up.”¹ We sometimes lag and delay, and then in one pressured cramming effort expect to do what we should have done from day to day. This is a good reminder for students near the starting time of school, or at any season, or in any assignment: “It is easier to keep up than to catch up.” The same could be said of many other circumstances and situation. IT is easier to keep well than it is to recover health. It is easier to stay out of debt than to get out of debt. The sooner we start reversing the process the easier it is. It is easier to keep good credit than to regain good credit. It is easier to stay out of trouble than to get out of trouble. It is easier to prevent an accident than it is to try to undo the damage. It is easier to keep the law, than to pay the penalty. It is easier to do what we should have done than to explain what we shouldn’t have done. It is better to live as we should, than to wrestle with conscience and have to reverse ourselves, even though repentance is a blessed principle and is accepted when sincere. Life should thoughtfully be lived with respect for the knowledge of the present, with respect for the experience of the past, and consistently with the commandments God has given. They are not fiction. They are in force. And there is no use going farther on any wrong road⎯or lagging behind and delaying and supposing that we can catch up any time we want to. It isn’t always so. The cramming process is never as effective as quiet consistency. “It is easier to keep up than to catch up.” We well would live each day remembering the words of this cherished song:

I want to live aright from day to day,

I’m sure I shall not pass again this way.²