“Our priorities determine what we seek in life” – Elder Dallin H. Oaks.
In my Patriarchal blessing, one of the things it mentions quite a bit is the management of my time, making sure that it is time spent fulfilling the purposes of God and nothing else. I have no question in my mind as to why that was emphasized. Time management has always been one of my weaker points, and I think that is really what has set off my other weaknesses. They say that the idle mind is a weak mind, and a weak mind is more susceptible to the temptations and enticing of the devil. In the “Guide to the Scriptures” on lds.org, under idle, idleness it says, “Inactive and uninvolved in righteous works.” If you are not actively engaged in a good cause, then you’re not doing something, or anything really, right. In 2 Nephi 5:24, it says that the Lamanites were “an idle people, full of mischief and subtlety.” Nothing good ever comes form idle hands and minds, just all manner of wickedness.
So, to help me overcome idleness, I have resulted to keep a planner in hand at all times. It has helped me prioritize the events and activities that go on in my life, especially here at college. What I have done is look at all the assignments and events I have for the upcoming week or two, determine how much time each assignment will take me and their due dates, then I consolidate and spread out my work throughout the week accordingly. This helps me both keep track of due dates so I never miss one (resulting in an awful zero), determine what is and isn’t important, and retain a peace of mind, especially at the end of the day. I remember going to sleep at night those first few weeks of the semester feeling awful because I failed to accomplish one or two things in my day for one reason or another. It made me feel unworthy of the spirit, like I was a failure to my parents and to my Heavenly Father. These feelings usually bled into the next day, which hindered my ability to improve on my shortcomings from the previous day, which then caused much anxiety to my mind, which caused me to loose focus in class…and so a domino effect began. First thing I could have done better was to not let little social activities and distractions get in the way of my schoolwork (duh). The second is that I should have let go of my failures from the previous day and moved forward. Lingering on yesterday never got anyone anywhere.
Over Thanksgiving break, my friend told me, “Today should be better than yesterday, but worse than tomorrow.” There isn’t such thing as the perfect day. We are humans, heavenly spirits housed in mortal bodies. Because of our mortality, we will not ever be perfect (until we are resurrected); however, we should not let this get us down. Realize that today is another day, independent from the previous day. Okay, yes, some actions can bleed into the next day, but you can choose whether you will improve on those mistakes and shortcomings or let it sit and spoil. Look forward with an eye of faith and seek to build on each new day, and have faith that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will be there to guide and lift you higher than you ever have before.
That brings me to another aid that has helped me in managing my time wisely: faith. Exercising my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has enabled me to make better use of my time. For instance, I begin each and every day with a prayer, sincerely asking Heavenly Father to help me to discern how to use my time wisely and accomplish all I need to before I retire for the day. It may not seem like much, but I feel like it has helped me tremendously because a) I know that the Lord will strengthen me to overcome my natural tendency to idle my time away, and b) it reminds me why I am here—on Earth and, more specifically, at BYU-Idaho—and why I must do all I can to be worthy of His help. More than anything, realizing that I am not alone in my endeavor to improve and recognizing my purpose, or the Lord’s purpose for me, is what motivates me the most to move forward and work harder than I have the previous day or week or month or year. I am not doing this for myself, I am doing this because I love God and I want to please Him and Him only.
This brings another thing to mind. It is from the film The Saratov Approach. In the scene when Elder Propst asks his companion, Elder Tuttle, if he had always wanted to serve a mission. He said no, not at first. In fact, he was convinced that he never wanted to; then, one mission prep class a brother from his ward made him attend changed his mind. In the class, they were discussing the Savior and His atonement. Elder Tuttle said what impressed him the most about the atonement was that Christ did not want to do it (“would I that I might not drink from the bitter cup and shrink” Doctrine and Covenants 19:18); he did not want endure the excruciating internal pains to the point that he bled from every pore, he did not want to be betrayed, forsaken, spat on, ridiculed, mocked, whipped, beat, nailed to the cross, and then crucified, but he was willing to give into the will of His Father (“nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done” Luke 22:42) because He loved Him.
I believe that what will make me most effective and efficient now, on my mission, and for the years afterwards will be my love for Heavenly Father and the realization of my purpose, or the missionary vision.
After reflecting on all of this, I have decided to change the phrase “Today should be better than yesterday, but worse than tomorrow” into “Today you should be a step closer to God, but farther than you will be tomorrow.” I believe that is more appropriate.
