Of Things That Matter Most

Recently, one of my dear friends sent me a talk from President Uchtdorf, titled "Of Things That Matter Most".  When I first received the talk I was nearing the end of the election and read through it quickly.  It didn't have much of an impact at the time, but I knew there was something a little more to it.  Finally, yesterday when I was preparing my Sunday School lesson, I thought of this talk.  I printed it up so that I could "read it later".  That later was this morning.  I turned off all the noise and distractions of the day and just devoured the talk.

Reading the talk I realized that I had heard it before, can't remember if I used it to give a lesson previously, or if I had caught the talk when President Uchtdorf first presented it in conference.  The talk reminds us to simplify our lives and focus on the basics.  There were a couple of things that stood out to me.  The first of which was to watch how "busy" our lives have become:

"Let’s be honest; it’s rather easy to be busy. We all can think up a list of tasks that will overwhelm our schedules. Some might even think that their self-worth depends on the length of their to-do list. They flood the open spaces in their time with lists of meetings and minutia—even during times of stress and fatigue. Because they unnecessarily complicate their lives, they often feel increased frustration, diminished joy, and too little sense of meaning in their lives.

It is said that any virtue when taken to an extreme can become a vice. Overscheduling our days would certainly qualify for this. There comes a point where milestones can become millstones and ambitions, albatrosses around our necks."

Instead we are to focus on the basics and the four key relationships in our lives.  They are the following:

1.    Focus on your relationship with God
2.    Focus on your relationship with your family
3.    Focus on your relationship with our fellow man
4.    Focus on your relationship with your self

While it might be still a few weeks out.  In the upcoming year, I instead of creating new year's resolutions, I intend to simplify my life and focus on these 4 key relationships.  Won't you join me in 2015 to focus on these same relationships?  Regardless of your religion or your relationship with your own Deity, all of these are relationships that can only help better our lives as well as the world we live in.

If you would like to listen to the talk, I have included a link to the talk here:

Of Things That Matter Most