We really have a very short life, even if we were to live a century.
There is only so much we can accomplish and become.
However, within our short days and years we can choose to consecrate ourselves to good causes.
"In this fast-paced life, do we ever pause for moments of meditation—even thoughts of timeless truths?
When
compared to eternal verities, most of the questions and concerns of
daily living are really rather trivial. What should we have for dinner?
What color should we paint the living room? Should we sign Johnny up for
soccer? These questions and countless others like them lose their
significance when times of crisis arise, when loved ones are hurt or
injured, when sickness enters the house of good health, when life’s
candle dims and darkness threatens. Our thoughts become focused, and we
are easily able to determine what is really important and what is merely
trivial.
I
recently visited with a woman who has been battling a life-threatening
disease for over two years. She indicated that prior to her illness, her
days were filled with activities such as cleaning her house to
perfection and filling it with beautiful furnishings. She visited her
hairdresser twice a week and spent money and time each month adding to
her wardrobe. Her grandchildren were invited to visit infrequently, for
she was always concerned that what she considered her precious
possessions might be broken or otherwise ruined by tiny and careless
hands.
And
then she received the shocking news that her mortal life was in
jeopardy and that she might have very limited time left here. She said
that at the moment she heard the doctor’s diagnosis, she knew
immediately that she would spend whatever time she had remaining with
her family and friends and with the gospel at the center of her life,
for these represented what was most precious to her.
Such
moments of clarity come to all of us at one time or another, although
not always through so dramatic a circumstance. We see clearly what it is
that really matters in our lives and how we should be living.
Said the Savior:
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
“But
lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
("The Race of Life, April 2012 General Conference)
In the Screwtape letters, C.S. Lewis writes in the voice of devils who seek to bring men and women down. Some of their tactics are illustrated here:
“As the uneasiness and reluctance to face it cut him off more and more from all real happiness, and as habit renders the pleasures the vanity and excitement and flippancy at once less pleasant and harder to forgo...you will find that anything or nothing is sufficient to attract his wandering attention. You no longer need a good book, which he really likes, to keep him from his prayers or his work or his sleep; a column of advertisements in yesterday's paper will do. You can make him waste his time not only in conversation he enjoys with people whom he likes, but also in conversations with those he cares nothing about, on subjects that bore him. You can make him do nothing at all for long periods. You can keep him up late at night, not roistering, but staring at a dead fire in a cold room. All the healthy and outgoing activities which we want him to avoid can be inhibited and nothing given in return, so that at last he may say...'I now see that I spent most my life doing in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
The object of the tempters in this story was to keep a man comfortable doing nothing and thinking of nothing very significant. To literally waste his life away.
The challenge for all of us is to see the significance in our daily lives. To seek to bless others in the few precious days we have on the earth.
An apostle, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, gave a great talk on priorities entitled "Good, Better, Best".
"A
childhood experience introduced me to the idea that some choices are
good but others are better. I lived for two years on a farm. We rarely
went to town. Our Christmas shopping was done in the Sears, Roebuck
catalog. I spent hours poring over its pages. For the rural families of
that day, catalog pages were like the shopping mall or the Internet of
our time.
Something
about some displays of merchandise in the catalog fixed itself in my
mind. There were three degrees of quality: good, better, and best. For
example, some men’s shoes were labeled good ($1.84), some better ($2.98), and some best ($3.45).
As
we consider various choices, we should remember that it is not enough
that something is good. Other choices are better, and still others are
best. Even though a particular choice is more costly, its far greater
value may make it the best choice of all." (October 2007 General Conference)
Goal today: try to make the best choices in the way I use my time and mind.
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