PRIORITIES!!!!

I'm usually not one to just write a post about what's on my mind...but today it seemed like the message that the Lord was trying to teach me is to PRIORITIZE and since this blog is like my journal I better write what is on my mind so I can always remember this lesson that I am learning! The Stake President spoke to us today and really emphasized the need, then Matt and I had lengthy discussions on it today, when I talked to the Relief Society President in our ward and asked her what the lesson was in Relief Society that I missed because I'm in YW, she said it was on prioritizing....and then tonight I was reading over the lesson that I have to give in Young Womens in a couple of weeks and wouldn't you know it is on "Avoiding Crisis Living" or PRIORITIZING!!!! Hmmmm is Heavenly Father trying to get my attention or what????


My friends and I do some of these triathlons together and we are really good at encouraging each other to work out everyday to prepare for them, etc. but I am realizing that we need to help encourage each other EVEN MORE in the things that really matter eternally! The Stake President mentioned that going to the temple once a month is NOT enough! The R.S. President made a good point that it is great if we can have the time to run 6 miles a day or whatever, but is that when our scripture study is already done, and our Visiting Teaching needs are met???? OR are we putting those things off to get in shape, watch our shows, read our novels, or have a good time socially???? These things have really hit me today and made me want to make some changes...maybe I won't let myself train or work on the next triathlon until I am 100% visiting teaching, I have read the scriptures FIRST in my day, and I have been going to the temple a couple of times a month. It is so important to have the important things put first in our lives because as we all know time FLIES and sometimes the important things are the first to go!

Here are a few quotes that hit me from my lesson I am preparing that really hit me....

Keith K. Hilbig, “Quench Not the Spirit Which Quickens the Inner Man,” Ensign, Nov 2007, 37–39
"The beckoning invitations of the world attempt to divert our attention from the strait and narrow path."

It is interesting how some of the beckoning things of the world are actually good things, but they need to come AFTER the BETTER things! Like in Elder Oaks Oct. 2007 talk Good, Better, Best.

Another quote:
Keith K. Hilbig, “Quench Not the Spirit Which Quickens the Inner Man,” Ensign, Nov 2007, 37–39
"We determine the level of our current personal contribution by examining our present choices and priorities against questions such as these:
· 1. Do I spend more time with sports than Church attendance or callings?
· 2. If I have a free day, do I choose to attend the temple or to visit the mall?
· 3. Do I resort to computer games or surfing the Internet rather than offering meaningful service to others in my home and community?
· 4. Do I read the newspaper religiously but find it difficult to read the scriptures daily?
There are other questions you might formulate which will reveal the appropriateness of your current choices and priorities.
Whatever level of spiritual development each of us may presently have, there always exists a higher level within our reach. Time is a most precious asset. Would you consider investing more of your time in the things of eternity in order to merit the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost and to benefit more fully from His influence? "

Another quote from the YW lesson manual..."President Spencer W. Kimball said: “Jesus … taught us how important it is to use our time wisely. This does not mean there can never be any leisure, for there must be time for contemplation and for renewal, but there must be no waste of time. How we manage time matters so very much, and we can be good managers of time without being frantic or officious. Time cannot be recycled. When a moment has gone, it is really gone. The tyranny of trivia consists of its driving out the people and moments that really matter. Minutia holds momentous things hostage, and we let the tyranny continue all too often. Wise time management is really the wise management of ourselves” (“Jesus: The Perfect Leader,” Ensign, Aug. 1979, p. 6)."

And the last from the manual "Life gives us two precious gifts—time and the freedom to use that time as we wish. The way we choose to use our time largely determines the type of life we live."

There you go do you feel like you were sitting in my YW class getting lectured to???? Now I have it down on paper (well in the computer on a post). This is for me to remember my goals!