I
guess Heavenly Father is trying to tell me something. I heard President
Uchtdorf’s talk, “Forget Ne Not” a while back. When I was ordering a book from
Deseret Book, I saw that he made the talk into a book. Of course I had to get
that too. Well… it came last week. As I was reading, the part that stood out
the most was,
“... forget not
the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice.
An acceptable sacrifice is when we
give up something good for something of far greater worth.
Giving up a little sleep to help a
child who is having a nightmare is a good sacrifice. We all know this. Staying
up all night, jeopardizing our own health, to make the perfect accessory for a
daughter’s Sunday outfit may not be such a good sacrifice.
Dedicating some of our time to
studying the scriptures or preparing to teach a lesson is a good sacrifice.
Spending many hours stitching the title of the lesson into homemade pot holders
for each member of your class perhaps may not be.
Every person and situation is
different, and a good sacrifice in one instance might be a foolish sacrifice in
another.
How can we tell the difference for
our own situation? We can ask ourselves, “Am I committing my time and energies
to the things that matter most?” There are so many good things to do, but we
can’t do all of them. Our Heavenly Father is most pleased when we sacrifice
something good for something far greater with an eternal perspective.
Sometimes, that may even mean nurturing small but beautiful forget-me-not
flowers instead of a large garden of exotic blooms.”
Isn’t that SOOO powerful!!! If you
read my Week in the life in the Moxley’s, you would know why this was so
powerful to me. The part that keeps ringing in my ear is, “An acceptable
sacrifice is when we give up something good for something of far greater worth.”
I thought about that a lot last week. I’ve actually thought about it for
months. But it hard last week. When we talk about “uncluttering” our life, I keep telling Barry that
everything that our family is doing is good, so what do we give up??? So… now I need to
decide what is of greater worth. And it is SOOOO hard!!!
With that weighing on my mind so
hard, I attended Megan’s Governors School graduation. One of the speakers
talked about the same thing!!! With tears in my eyes, I looked at Barry and
said, “I think Heavenly Father is trying to tell me something, and I guess I
need to listen.” I don’t remember her name,
but she was only 23 or 24, maybe a little younger. She had been the FFA State
President, and had accomplished so many other things. She was talking about a lesson that she
learned a couple of summers ago. (She was a great speaker!! You could just image
how it all went by the way she told the story!) She was driving the truck that
pulled the hay. One of her rules was to not go too fast. She had made several
trips, but on this particular trip, the truck got away from her, it slid all
the way around, and the corner of the hay trailer was wedged inside of the
truck. (Her father’s BRAND NEW truck) When she told her dad that she was really
not going too fast, he told her, “You may not have been going too fast, but you
were going fast enough.” She said that was one of the most profound things he
had ever told her. She said how many times in life are we going fast enough to
miss out the on the more important things.
I am afraid that I do that way too much! So, next goal, slow down and
Heavenly Father will help me know what is of greater worth.
Then… on Sunday, two of our High Counsel
members spoke. The second speaker talked about… idol time!!! Spending our time
on the better things in life. Again I looked at Barry, crying a little more and
said, “I am really trying to do better!!!”
If all of that was not enough, I got
an email from Jenny Phillips. I just LOVE her music, her FHE ideas, her talks,
just all of her things!! Well… she has a new talk CD/Download. Guess what the
title is?!?!? “What Matters Most”!!!!!
I made Barry come look at the computer
screen!!! I just couldn’t believe it!!! She also has made these little notepads
to go with her CD. The notepad
is designed to help you focus your day (and your life!) on "What Matters
Most." So of course I had to order that too! LOL
So,
how have I been doing with all of this knocking me upside my head??? I don’t
usually read, but I have been told to read good books. I have often felt guilty
because sometimes, I do not do well finding time reading my scriptures. I told
myself, if I can’t find time to do that important thing, then I don’t need to
be reading anything else. Well, I am doing a little better reading the
scriptures, and I have fallen in love with historical fiction books. Right now
I am reading “Abinadi” by H.B.Moore. As I was reading, Abbie wanted me to read
with her. Of course it was a good part. (It’s all been good! LOL) But I put the book down and read with her.
That little voice was telling me, “This is of greater worth.”
I
am vowing to declutter my life and try to listen for that still small voice to
tell me what is of greater worth!! I know Heavenly Father will help me with
this, and I am going to try my best!!
