I felt a Godly rebuke today.
During Sunday School, we were talking about burying our talents – and how much Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father do not like us doing that. Our teacher then asked us about times when we have not buried our talents and used them to advance the Kingdom of God. I raised my hand and talked about how I used my talent for writing in a weekly blog. It felt good to share that.
Then, the Spirit slapped me in the face. I realized I hadn’t posted an article in over 2 months. Talk about burying my talents!
(Hold on, I just checked - it's been 5 months. Yikes.)
What excuse do I have? None that are legitimate. But you know what? Busyness happens. It’s part of our mortal life. Busyness allows agency to thrive. We must decide what to do or not do and when to do or not do it. We, in essence, choose our priorities. What our priorities are shapes who we become – as President Monson used to say, “decisions determine our destiny”. Where we spend our time translates directly into our character. As the scripture says, “for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:21). Busyness forces us to choose where our treasure – and thus our heart – lies.
(And, clearly, my treasure has not been in spiritual writing on my blog.)
I have experienced this dilemma firsthand as a college student – as have most of you, I’m sure. It’s hard to decide where my heart lies. My heart could be devoted to making money so I can pay for my wife and I’s apartment. My heart could be devoted to school and keeping a 4.0 GPA and taking as many classes as possible. My heart could be devoted to friends and having a “good time while we’re still young”. It could be on Ultimate Frisbee. It could be on drumming. I have a myriad of options to choose from.
But wait… aren’t I missing something?
Why is that when I think of my priorities and my future, God sometimes drifts to the back?
Does this happen to any of you?
Here, then, is the lesson that the Lord has recently helped me to learn:
“The test is whether or not you will put God first when so many other things fight for that position.”
And they’re viable, legitimate things! My wife and I need to work to make money. We need good grades in school. We need to invest time in family and friends. And we need hobbies. But we also need God.
It’s far easier to say, “yeah I’ll put God first”, than to do it. The crisis comes when that exam is right around the corner and studying suddenly feels like more of a need than doing Come Follow Me, or when work has you so tired that by the end of the day you haven’t picked up your Book of Mormon and you really, really just wanna sleep, or when you realize that you haven’t done Family History work for the past year while also realizing that you have frisbee practice and band practice and a party with friends and TV shows to watch and work to be done and relaxation to be had.
This is me. Is it you too?
Let me share something I’ve done to broaden my perspective a bit. A couple of months ago, a project for my Book of Mormon class here at BYU required me to pick a doctrine that I want to better live for the next 2 weeks. I decided to set a goal to do 15 minutes of family history research every morning. Yeah, sounds easy, but when it’s the difference between waking up at 7 or sleeping in until 7:30, it suddenly becomes a lot harder. And it was a struggle for me at times.
But I did it.
And oh, did it change me!
My days improved. I was happier all the time. I had more hope. I had less stress. Even though I got less sleep I had more focus. I was guided by the Spirit more than I’d been in a long time. I felt stronger against temptation. Miracles happened in my life that I absolutely know had something to do with my ancestors watching over me as guardian angels.
Through it all, my perspective shifted.
I imagined myself standing in heaven after this life. I was approached by my ancestors and rejoiced to be with them again. However, they seemed a bit sad, even disappointed in me. They asked me why I never sought them out, why I never used my time to offer them saving ordinances or learn from their stories or pass their stories on to my descendants. I looked at them and shrugged, offering this reply: “Oh, well, sorry, didn’t you see I was busy? I was busy keeping a 4.0 GPA all the way through college. I was busy making millions as a statistician, then spending it all on a luxurious house for my family to enjoy. Couldn’t you see that I didn’t have any time?”
Even as I said this, I realized how foolish I sounded. My ancestors looked at me, smiled, and said, “yes, and we’re proud of you. But aren’t we more important than school and money? Could you not have spared just a little of your time to spend on us?”
This is the moment when things changed for me.
What is more important, the salvation of my ancestors or getting an A in linear algebra?
I DO NOT want to stand before my ancestors and admit that an A was more important than their salvation. I DO NOT want to sit through eternity wondering why I was so caught up with my grades that I never thought to serve the dead. That is a hell that I do not want to live in.
I don’t wish to sound too harsh, preachy, or dramatic. I just want to get the point across that some things are far more important than we give them credit for.
If important things like school and work must slide for some aspect of our spirituality that we feel we must work on, then let them slide. Even those important things are not NEARLY as important as the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Some things are far more important than we give them credit for. And some things are far less important than we give them credit for.
I close now with the words of President Spencer W. Kimball, given in the January 1977 Ensign:
“If we live in such a way that the considerations of eternity press upon us, we will make better decisions.”
Life is all about choices. Let’s make better ones each and every day.
Eternity, truly, hangs in the balance.
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