This is a talk that I am giving at a Leadership Training Meeting on Aug. 24, 2008.
I want you to know that the topic of this talk is not a topic that I myself would have chosen, but as I was preparing for this leadership meeting, it became very clear to me that this is the topic that the Lord would have me speak on. I know that it has been a very good reminder for me, and hope that it will be for you, also.
Several years ago I noticed a trend in the Christmas letters we were receiving from our friends across the country. The letters seemed to be almost a competition of “how much my family and I were able to accomplish this year.” As I would read this or that letter, friend A was accomplishing this or that, friend B was serving on multiple boards, PTA’s, and church callings, friend C’s child was involved in 300 sports plus music lessons, etc. I decided that I wanted to opt out of that contest!!!!
We each have to make a decision about how much to put on our plate and, most importantly, what the Lord would have us do.
We live in such a hectic time. A favorite quote of mine is by Marjorie B. Hinckley. She says, “Last Thursday at [the General Authorities] Wives luncheon two of the granddaughters of Susa Young Gates gave a musical skit of her life. She was a prolific writer, do-good-er, organizer, etc., etc., etc. I turned to Sister Kimball and said, “It makes me wonder what I am doing with my life.” “You are running to and fro,” she quipped. She was right. I am running to and fro and shiver to think that someday I will have to account for the time spent.” (Glimpses into the Life of Marjorie Pay Hinckley, p. 87).
In reading through the transcripts of the “Worldwide Leadership Conference” from Feb. 2008, I noticed, especially in the roundtable discussion, a heavy emphasis on the need for us to make sure that we are not so busy that we are neglecting needful things.
Sister Lant talks about how sometimes a woman is called to a position, say as a primary worker, “and she thinks, ‘OK, how am I going to do all of these things?’ And she works at doing those things, and then she looks for what else she can do.”
Elder Holland quoted Elder Scott from the 2004 Leadership Conference when he said that sometimes to magnify your calling is to do less, not more. Elder Holland continues, “We’ve got to have the wisdom and the judgment to be able to kind of ‘do it all.’ It’s just that we can’t do it all at once, and we sometimes don’t need to do all the things we’ve done. But the essential things we will be blessed to do.”
Elder Holland, later in the discussion, mentioned the pioneers. When they came across the plains they had handcarts. They had to carefully load those handcarts and be choosy about what they would put in them; they had a long way to go, and if they put too much in them the handcarts would become too burdensome. He says, “Just as our ancestors had to choose what they took, maybe the 21st century will drive us to decide, ‘What can we put on this handcart?’”
Are we putting the important things on our handcarts? Are we reading our scriptures and attending the temple? I remember telling my visiting teachers, when I had several young children, that I was too busy to read my scriptures EVERY day, but that I did several days a week. But I have learned in more recent years that reading my scriptures NEEDS to happen every day to help me through the other things I am doing.
Carol J. Rasmuss has written a new book called, “Simplify: How to Control Stress by Caring for the Soul.” I haven’t read it yet, but I read the excerpt from it on the Deseret Book website. I want to share a few thoughts from that with you.
She talks about the book “Gift from the Sea” by Anne Morrow. (A dear friend loaned me this book a few days ago and suggested I read it – I guess I will!!!) In Anne’s book she writes, “What a circus act we women perform every day of our lives. It puts the trapeze artist to shame. This is not the life of simplicity but life of multiplicity that the wise men warn us of. It leads not to unification but to fragmentation. It does not bring grace; it destroys the soul.”
Carolyn Rasmuss goes on to say, “As we think to simplify and make it a spiritual quest, we are reminded that the Lord commands us to be still and to listen.”
She reminds us that prayer is not a one-way communication, but rather that we need to take time to listen AS WELL as to pray. She also talks about the importance of “scheduling in” time to ponder and reflect. Our lives are so busy that if we don’t make a conscious effort for alone and quiet time, it won’t happen.
I am grateful that as I look around at you and many wonderful people in our ward and community, that Satan is not winning our souls through sin. However, I do worry that he might be able to win us through distraction, through things like not having time to tend to the needful things (scripture reading, church and temple attendance, serving others), and through keeping the “noise” level so high that we cannot hear the gentle whisperings of the Spirit.
I hope that something I have said today will prompt you to take some serious time in reflection. Take a good look at your life and what you are doing and make sure that you are allowing yourself the time and the quiet to commune with the Lord. Learn to simplify.
I want you to know that the topic of this talk is not a topic that I myself would have chosen, but as I was preparing for this leadership meeting, it became very clear to me that this is the topic that the Lord would have me speak on. I know that it has been a very good reminder for me, and hope that it will be for you, also.
Several years ago I noticed a trend in the Christmas letters we were receiving from our friends across the country. The letters seemed to be almost a competition of “how much my family and I were able to accomplish this year.” As I would read this or that letter, friend A was accomplishing this or that, friend B was serving on multiple boards, PTA’s, and church callings, friend C’s child was involved in 300 sports plus music lessons, etc. I decided that I wanted to opt out of that contest!!!!
We each have to make a decision about how much to put on our plate and, most importantly, what the Lord would have us do.
We live in such a hectic time. A favorite quote of mine is by Marjorie B. Hinckley. She says, “Last Thursday at [the General Authorities] Wives luncheon two of the granddaughters of Susa Young Gates gave a musical skit of her life. She was a prolific writer, do-good-er, organizer, etc., etc., etc. I turned to Sister Kimball and said, “It makes me wonder what I am doing with my life.” “You are running to and fro,” she quipped. She was right. I am running to and fro and shiver to think that someday I will have to account for the time spent.” (Glimpses into the Life of Marjorie Pay Hinckley, p. 87).
In reading through the transcripts of the “Worldwide Leadership Conference” from Feb. 2008, I noticed, especially in the roundtable discussion, a heavy emphasis on the need for us to make sure that we are not so busy that we are neglecting needful things.
Sister Lant talks about how sometimes a woman is called to a position, say as a primary worker, “and she thinks, ‘OK, how am I going to do all of these things?’ And she works at doing those things, and then she looks for what else she can do.”
Elder Holland quoted Elder Scott from the 2004 Leadership Conference when he said that sometimes to magnify your calling is to do less, not more. Elder Holland continues, “We’ve got to have the wisdom and the judgment to be able to kind of ‘do it all.’ It’s just that we can’t do it all at once, and we sometimes don’t need to do all the things we’ve done. But the essential things we will be blessed to do.”
Elder Holland, later in the discussion, mentioned the pioneers. When they came across the plains they had handcarts. They had to carefully load those handcarts and be choosy about what they would put in them; they had a long way to go, and if they put too much in them the handcarts would become too burdensome. He says, “Just as our ancestors had to choose what they took, maybe the 21st century will drive us to decide, ‘What can we put on this handcart?’”
Are we putting the important things on our handcarts? Are we reading our scriptures and attending the temple? I remember telling my visiting teachers, when I had several young children, that I was too busy to read my scriptures EVERY day, but that I did several days a week. But I have learned in more recent years that reading my scriptures NEEDS to happen every day to help me through the other things I am doing.
Carol J. Rasmuss has written a new book called, “Simplify: How to Control Stress by Caring for the Soul.” I haven’t read it yet, but I read the excerpt from it on the Deseret Book website. I want to share a few thoughts from that with you.
She talks about the book “Gift from the Sea” by Anne Morrow. (A dear friend loaned me this book a few days ago and suggested I read it – I guess I will!!!) In Anne’s book she writes, “What a circus act we women perform every day of our lives. It puts the trapeze artist to shame. This is not the life of simplicity but life of multiplicity that the wise men warn us of. It leads not to unification but to fragmentation. It does not bring grace; it destroys the soul.”
Carolyn Rasmuss goes on to say, “As we think to simplify and make it a spiritual quest, we are reminded that the Lord commands us to be still and to listen.”
She reminds us that prayer is not a one-way communication, but rather that we need to take time to listen AS WELL as to pray. She also talks about the importance of “scheduling in” time to ponder and reflect. Our lives are so busy that if we don’t make a conscious effort for alone and quiet time, it won’t happen.
I am grateful that as I look around at you and many wonderful people in our ward and community, that Satan is not winning our souls through sin. However, I do worry that he might be able to win us through distraction, through things like not having time to tend to the needful things (scripture reading, church and temple attendance, serving others), and through keeping the “noise” level so high that we cannot hear the gentle whisperings of the Spirit.
I hope that something I have said today will prompt you to take some serious time in reflection. Take a good look at your life and what you are doing and make sure that you are allowing yourself the time and the quiet to commune with the Lord. Learn to simplify.
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