July 1, 2012
I've noticed a pattern in life. When one decides to do something that will have a significant spiritual impact, the devil does his best to derail those plans.
On day one, Matt and I were already feeling a tug away from our goal. It began without our even noticing; happily distracted doing less important things, we didn't remember our goal until late in the evening. By then, reading our scriptures for thirty minutes seemed like an unappealing use of our last moments of weekend. There was some tension in the apartment as we grudgingly began our goal.
Matt and I both received an answer to these feelings through our study.
As I read the beginning of the Book of Mormon, I noted that Lehi is a consistently positive and faithful man. Even when he learned of the upcoming destruction of Jerusalem (his home) he responded by praising God for his mercy. How easy it would have been to curse God for the great loss that was looming in the future. Instead his perspective was open to the eternal plan that God had for His people and he saw the mercy that guided all of His actions.
Matt's answer came during our abbreviated couple study. We read a short section of President Uchtdorf's talk, titled
"The Why of Priesthood Service" from the April 2012 General Conference. This paragraph seemed to speak directly to some of the feelings Matt had expressed earlier that night:
"...the fact that something is good is not always reason enough to require
our time and resources. Our activities, initiatives, and plans should be
inspired by and grounded upon the
why of our
priesthood
service and not by any flashy trend or interest of the moment.
Otherwise, they can distract our efforts, dilute our energy, and get us
caught up in our own hobbies, spiritual or temporal, that are not at the
center of discipleship."
As always, we felt good after reading. It's interesting how common it is for human kind to resist doing things that they
know will make them happiest.
