Doctrine and Covenants 61:36-39

"And now, verily I say unto you, and what I say unto one I say unto all, be of good cheer, little children; for I am in your midst, and I have not forsaken you;
And inasmuch as you have humbled yourselves before me, the blessings of the kingdom are yours.
Gird up your loins and be watchful and be sober, looking forth for the coming of the Son of Man, for he cometh in an hour you think not.
Pray always that you enter not into temptation, that you may abide the day of his coming, whether in life or in death.  Even so.  Amen."
Doctrine and Covenants 61:36-39


This scripture combines two themes which seem on the surface to be contradictory... joy and the second coming.  Usually the second coming is associated with war and death and scariness.  but here God tells us to be cheerful. :)  And why should we be cheerful?  :)  Because he is with us, he hasn't given up on us, or left us alone... we're his little children, and we need to be humble and acknowledge the fact that he knows a lot more about how to deal with all of it than we do... he tells us to be ready for the second coming, because it won't come at some obvious time... and that we need to pray... always.  So that we can stay away from temptation, and also that we'll be able to deal with the second coming... and not just in a physical way, war and death-wise... but spiritually... whether in life or in death, that we'll be able to see God again and tell him how we did on the test... maybe we got stuck on that first essay question and missed a bunch on the multiple choice section... but we really tried. :)  And you know... if we tried, we'll pass.  It's the tendency that we have to give up that we have to fight.  We're just little children.  We have a long way to go.  If we have a hard time learning addition, that's okay... we'll get to division when we're ready.  But we can't give up, or we'll never master even the simplest arithmetic.  God will teach us everything we want to know... help us become artists or poets or architects or doctors... but we can't just skip first grade and think we're going to make it there.
Anyway, I am babbling... the thing is, God never forgets us, and the second coming *will* be joyful... if we try.  If we haven't given up, yelled at the teacher, and tried to hide in the sandbox.  If we have, then we'll be scared when our dad comes to find us, because we know we'll get in trouble.  But if we're in class... even if we aren't getting it very quickly... then we'll be where we're expected to be, and we can get in the car and go home with him.