"Are there different ways to endure to the end?"
From GayLDSCrossroads, chapter 10:
Each member of our family . . . has a different ability to ignore others’ views . . . or to hold up under the pain of the constant pokes to our wounds brought about by demeaning General Conference talks on LGBTQ matters (which then get discussed during church lessons on Sundays). Ironically, we have never felt closer as a family, as we’ve united to express love to each other and talk about each of our respective capacities to tolerate the emotional pain and the “dark cloud” that the church’s doctrine on this topic produces.
As I have thought about our situation recently, the word “endure” has come to mind often. How much church can we endure? It’s interesting that one of the commandments we have in the church is to “endure to the end,” which means to basically always stay active in the church until death. (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1977/03/i-have-a-question/what-does-it-mean-to-endure-to-the-end-and- why-is-it-necessary). With that being a commandment, I have wondered how guilty I should feel if I fail to serve in the church in the same ways I have been up until now in my life. But I had an epiphany come to my mind one day some time ago while thinking about why the church is okay with some people being exempt from following certain commandments."
From my journal: "...If someone’s heart and soul would be broken by keeping a commandment, maybe that commandment just doesn’t apply to them. And if someone doesn’t have the strength to keep a commandment in full, maybe God only sees it as a commandment for them to the extent their strength allows it to be. We love God by keeping His commandments, but maybe Christ said we only need to love Him with our own respective hearts, souls, strengths, and minds for a reason – so we understand that obedience is a personal, subjective matter – just between us and God – not something about which we should be compared to others."
So, with that understanding, maybe I should view the commandment to endure to the end a bit differently. Maybe God will understand if I (or members of my family) are not able to keep serving in the church as actively as we have before. That means each of us may end up walking our own unique path, which is consistent with the scriptural teaching that the righteous path is entered into by a strait (i.e., narrow) gate and then continues on a narrow way (Matthew 7:14). I think that suggests a path that is unique to each of us, because the narrowness of both the gate and the path doesn’t allow anyone else to be on it.
We honor and respect any and all life paths, wherever they begin and end, and whatever journey they take.
Image from en.paperblog.com/endure-till-the-end-1152569