Articles of Faith 1:13

Question

Each day we get to decide how we spend our time, and there will always be distractions to keep us from doing those things that matter most as mentioned in the quote below. What are some of the distractions in your life? What can you do to eliminate these distractions and focus on the things that bring true happiness?

Scripture

13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Articles of Faith 1:13

Quote

To have the peace the Savior speaks of, we must devote our time to the things that matter most, and the things of God matter most. As we engage with God in sincere prayer, read and study each day from the scriptures, ponder on what we have read and felt, and then apply and live the lessons learned, we draw nearer to Him. …
Satan will tempt us to misuse our time through disguised distractions. … Hiram Page, one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, taught us a valuable lesson about distractions. He had a certain stone and through it recorded what he thought were revelations for the Church. On Hiram’s being corrected, an account says the stone was taken and ground into powder so it would never again be a distraction. I invite us to identify the time-wasting distractions in our lives that may need to be figuratively ground into dust. We will need to be wise in our judgment to ensure that the scales of time are correctly balanced to include the Lord, family, work, and wholesome recreational activities. As many have already discovered, there is an increase of happiness in life as we use our time to seek after those things which are “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy.”

Elder Ian S. Ardern