We need to examine all the ways we use our time: our work, our ambitions, our affiliations, and the habits that drive our actions. It should have nothing to do with trying to stay in the fast lane. It must be our best understanding of those things that are important as opposed to those things that are just interesting. It must be the product of inspiration and prayerful judgment between the things we really need and the things we just want. This list must follow the gospel pattern and contain the elements needed for our sanctification and perfection. To do this we need to develop a list of basics, a list of those things that are indispensable to our mortal welfare and happiness and our eternal salvation. It is nice to get better organized, but that is not enough. I have learned that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to unclutter one’s life by starting at the top of the pile with the idea that the solution is to just get things sorted and better organized. Let me repeat: We give our lives to that which we give our time. We also have agency and may do what we will with our time. As I have said, while here in mortality we are subject to time. We give our lives to that which we give our time. If by his subtle means he can become our silent partner, he can then influence us to make wrong choices that use up our time unwisely and prevent us from doing that which we should. He also knows that while in mortality we are subject to time. He knows that we have agency and are at liberty to make choices for ourselves. Nothing suits the devil better than to become a silent partner with us. Whenever I think of something subtle-you know, kind of hidden, something we know is there if we stop to think about it but do not suspect it of cluttering up or negatively influencing our lives-whenever I think of something subtle like this, I know that Satan is busy at his work. They are more subtle and just seem to evolve, taking control of us. Other things that clutter our lives and use up our time are not as obvious as the material. Look around and you will see all the gadgets and toys and the nice and the fun things that cause us to squander and pay and to wander and play. Suffice it to say, if you need help in this, there are better experts than I to teach you.īut how well I know that we can surround ourselves with the material things to the extent that we have no time for the spiritual. My wife says that I have a subconscious rule that I must move things from one place to another at least a hundred times before I can bring myself to give them away. Then I realized that all I had really done was move them from one place to another. When I was finished I was so proud of myself. The last time I worked on that kind of a project, I spent nine hours moving things around, changing them from one box to another, stacking some here and some there. I really wish I were able to give a lesson on how to prioritize the material things, how to sort them, dispose of some, and put the rest in order, but I’m not qualified. Some are obvious, such as material things, the stuff we collect. ![]() Our lives can become cluttered by many things. It is a life in which the things you have surrounded yourself with, and allow to use up your time, are controlling you and negatively influencing your happiness and eternal progress. ![]() I also believe that there are a great many people in the so-called “fast lane” that want their lives back.Ī cluttered life is a life that you do not have control of. I believe that a cluttered life can create a great deal of sorrow and sadness and be the cause of much sobbing. This would be funny if it were not true in so many cases. His father answered, “I can’t see her, but I know she’s in there somewhere. The story is told of a boy who arrived home from school and found his father standing at the open door looking into a very cluttered house. This concern has persuaded me to say something about uncluttering our lives and getting back to basics. It is what they call “the fast lane.”īut those last words, “I WANT MY LIFE BACK,” have stuck in my mind, and the more I have thought about them the more concerned I’ve become. All of our children are caught up in a very busy life. When we read the letter, we gave each other a knowing smile. I hate it when the kids are sick.” Then in capital letters, “I WANT MY LIFE BACK!” Anyway, nobody in this family is sick in the head, we are just all sick. I’m changing my ambitions from psychiatrist to nurse. I would like to read a paragraph from a letter one of our daughters recently sent: This means the letters go back and forth. ![]() On our present assignment, my wife and I live a long way away from our children.
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