Priorities

Talks

Quotes

Charles Francis Adams, the grandson of the second US president, was a successful lawyer, a member of the US House of Representatives and the US ambassador to Britain.  Amidst his responsibilities he had little time to spare.  He did, however keep a diary.  One day he wrote: “Went fishing with my son today, a day wasted.”  On that very same date, Charles’ son Brooks Adams, had printed in his own diary “Went fishing with my father today, the most wonderful day of my life.”

The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. 

“Anything that is a priority is not an interruption.” 

Steven Covey has said, “I am convinced that if we as a society work diligently in every other area of life and neglect the family, it would be analogous to straightening deck chairs on the Titanic.”

You can never get enough of what you don’t need because what you don’t need will never satisfy you. – Mary Ellen Edmunds

We spend a lot of money we don’t have buying things we don’t need to impress people we don’t like. – Dave Ramsey

 “We need to look at what we have in terms of what we need as opposed to looking at what we have in terms of what we want.”

If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God first, it will in the end make no difference what you have chosen instead. William Law

Think about your future.  That’s where you’re going to spend most of your time.

This life is not a dress rehearsal.

Isn’t it true that we often get so busy? And, sad to say, we even wear our busyness as a badge of honor, as though being busy, by itself, was an accomplishment or sign of a superior life. Is it? I think of our Lord and Exemplar, Jesus Christ, and His short life among the people of Galilee and Jerusalem. I have tried to imagine Him bustling between meetings or multitasking to get a list of urgent things accomplished. I can’t see it. Instead I see the compassionate and caring Son of God purposefully living each day. When He interacted with those around Him, they felt important and loved. He knew the infinite value of the people He met. He blessed them, ministered to them. He lifted them up, healed them. He gave them the precious gift of His time.  (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, October 2012 Conference)

Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life. – Dolly Parton

Life is something that happens while you’re making other plans. – Allen Saunders

The next time you pass a rose bush in bloom without stopping to smell, ask yourself honestly if the place you’re rushing to get to will give you more joy than what you’re just passed up.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe — ‘Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.

 “Like Mary, I hunger to feast at the Savior’s feet, while, like Martha, I need to somehow find the laundry room floor, empty my in-box, and serve my husband something other than cold pizza.  I have 15 grandchildren whose tender little spirits and daily challenges I want to better understand, yet I also have a slightly demanding Church calling!  I don’t have lots of time.  Like all of you, I have to choose.  We all are trying to choose the good part, which cannot be taken from us, to balance the spiritual and the temporal in our lives.  Wouldn’t it be easy if we were choosing between visiting teaching or robbing a bank?  Instead, our choices are often more subtle.  We must choose between many worthy options.” (Bonnie D. Parkin, “Choosing Charity: That Good Part,” Ensign, Nov. 2003, 104.)

I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car,

wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed,

with long perfectly manicured fingernails.

I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.

I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenck’s lawn

I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making a sandwich for a sick neighbor’s children.

I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone’s garden.

I want to be there with children’s sticky kisses on my cheeks and tears of a friend on my shoulder.

I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.

            – Marjorie Pay Hinckley

            1911-2004

We all have more to do that we can possibly do.  I think God intentionally made it that way.  His purpose of putting us here on earth was to see where our loyalties lie, to see where our priorities are.  If we have 10 things to do and we get 10 things done, it tells Him nothing.  But if we have 20 things to do and we can only do 10, it tell Him very quickly what is important to us. – Shannon Williams

Putting God first in our lives is not like a hierarchy pyramid – God first, family second, etc.  Rather think of it as a mobile.  God is at the center of our lives and everything else revolves around Him. – Shannon Williams

Every man is a diary in which he writes one story while intending to write another.  His humblest moment is when he compares the two.  Hugh B. Brown

Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things you have for which you would not take money. – Anonymous

Anonymous:

Money will buy a bed but not sleep; books but not brains; food but not appetite; finery but not beauty; a house but not a home; medicine but not health; luxuries but not culture; amusements but not happiness; religion but not salvation; a passport to everywhere but heaven. – The Voice in the Wilderness

Use your life to acquire things that you can carry with you into the next life – testimony, relationships with family and friends, intelligence, covenants, ordinances. 

Many people become so immersed in daily life that they ignore eternity.

Materialism – It’s not how much money you have but how you feel about the money you have that determines happiness. 

Don’t forget to breathe.

Until you can learn to say no to the unimportant, you can’t say yes to the important.

A balance between success in our relationships and success in our achievements is crucial.

If you chase two rabbits, both will escape – author unknown

No family will accidentally end up in the Celestial Kingdom; any more than someone accidentally ends up competing at the Olympics.  It requires a great deal of hard work.   Shannon Williams

Barbara Bush to students at Wellesley College Commencement “As important as your obligation as a doctor, a lawyer or a business leader will be, you are a human being first, and those human connections with spouses, with children, with friends are the most important investments you will ever make.  At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, winning one more deal.  You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend or a parent.

You have 80 years to live your life and an eternity to think about it.

We will give our lives to that which we give our time – William R. Bradford

The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of childhood into old age, with boundless curiosity about the future, flexibility, growing, hoping, trying and ready at all times for any worthwhile change. – Carlyle

A speaker once posed the question of whether it is best to live a “planned life” or a “spontaneous life.”  That seems to be like asking whether it is best to create an oil painting with a brush or with paint.  They are teammates not enemies or opposites.

On your final trip to eternity, be sure to pack the things you can use when you get there.

Who do you spend time with when you don’t have to?

Time is much like manna, we can’t hoard it; we can’t save it, the Lord allots each day its own supply. – Elder Richard L. Evans

Sometimes you have to prioritize your priorities.

Elder Uchtdorf once posed the question, “When is the best time to plant a tree? The answer is – twenty years ago.  When is the second best time to plant a tree?  Right now.”  Even if you haven’t been having family prayer, family scripture study or family home evening, you can start right now and still reap the benefits.  If we make family a priority, our lives and the lives of our family members will be blessed for years to come. – Shannon Williams

First Comes Love – Brinely/Ogletree pg 174-176

Prophets have warned us that the acquisition of wealth could become a hindrance to our spiritual growth.  Specifically, Brigham Young declared: “The worst fear I have about this people is that they will get rich in this country, forget God and His people, wax fat, and kick themselves out of the church and go to hell.  This people will stand mobbing, robbing, poverty, and all manner of persecution, and be true.  But my greater fear………is that they cannot stand wealth (in James S. Brown, Life of a Pioneer (1900), 122-23).

As Latter-day Saints, we have unique expenditures that demand good management practices. After you pay the Lord, pay yourself. Besides the primary contributions to the Church, such as tithing and fast offerings, our lifestyle requires additional income. You may be blessed with a few more children than your neighbors, which will necessitate a slightly larger home, a larger vehicle perhaps, and more funds for music lessons, athletics, and college. You need to anticipate future expenses to prepare for emergencies. We also have things like missions and food storage that take much of our income.

God blesses us according to our need, not our greed.  When we put God first in our lives, greed disappears and we are content with life.  When God is not first in our lives, greed reappears and we go seeking joy elsewhere.

Make a list of all the things you could do.  Give everything on the list a 1, 2, or 3.  One – super important and needs to be done in the next twelve weeks.  Two – Something you need to do eventually.  Three – It’s on the list but you’re realistically not going to do this.  Put 2 and 3 aside and look only at the 1’s. Take all 1’s and give them a 1,2, or 3.  Continue to prioritize until you are down to 10 items, and then prioritize those.  Spend next 10 weeks on top 10.

As we turn to our Heavenly Father and seek His wisdom regarding the things that matter most, we learn over and over again the importance of four key relationships: with our God, with our families, with our fellowman, and with ourselves. – (Dieter F. Uchtdorf October 2010 “Of Things that Matter Most”)

Olympians work years and years for a four-minute performance.  Then they have the rest of their lives to think about it.  It reflects the same proportion of eternal life to earth life.  We will have an eternity to think about what we did during this brief period of time.  This is your moment; this is your four minutes. (Your Four Minutes. By Bishop Gary E. Stevenson. April 2014)

 “A spiritual eclipse can occur when we allow minor and troublesome obstructions – those we face in our daily lives – to get so close that they block out the magnitude, brightness, and warmth of the light of Jesus Christ and His gospel.  When you put on gospel glasses, you find enhanced perspective, focus, and vision in the way you think about your priorities, your problems, your temptations, and even your mistakes.  You will see brighter light that you could not see without them.   Don’t let life’s distractions eclipse heaven’s light.” -Elder Gary E. Stevenson “Spiritual Eclipse” 

Brothers and sisters, whatever we embrace instead of Jesus and his work will keep us from qualifying to enter His kingdom and therefore from being embraced by Him. Neal A. Maxwell

“We live in a society that constantly pushes us.  We are told to play classical music to babies before they’re even born, told to teach them to read when they’re three.  We run them to this lesson and that.  It’s okay for kids to just be kids and parents to just be imperfect human beings and for all of us to just be happy and enjoy this business of living. – Jean Benson

“One of the big secrets of motherhood is that we can’t do it all.  But another important secret is that we can usually find a way to do the things that matter most to us if we will consciously let go of the things that matter less.  So what matters most to you as a mother?  Is it having family meals together?  Is it being sure to share those fun stories from The Friend with your little ones?  Or, is it taking time to be fully present for a period of time each day with your child without rushing? (10 Secrets to Being a Happy Mother of Young Children, LDS Living March/April 2007)

“Declaring our testimony of the gospel is good, but being a living example of the restored gospel is better. Wishing to be more faithful to our covenants is good; actually being faithful to sacred covenants—including living a virtuous life, paying our tithes and offerings, keeping the Word of Wisdom, and serving those in need—is much better. Announcing that we will dedicate more time for family prayer, scripture study, and wholesome family activities is good; but actually doing all these things steadily will bring heavenly blessings to our lives.” Dieter F. Uchtdorf

It has been said that a mother is only as happy as her most unhappy child.  That is especially true with adult children.  As you make family a priority, not only will your children be happier, but you will be happier as well. – Shannon Williams

In April General Conference 2008, Elder M. Russell Ballard gave a wonderful talk entitled “Daughters of God.”  He said, “There is no role in life more essential and more eternal than that of motherhood.” He then added, “There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. The choice is different and unique for each mother and each family. Many are able to be “full-time moms,” at least during the most formative years of their children’s lives, and many others would like to be. Some may have to work part-or full-time; some may work at home; some may divide their lives into periods of home and family and work. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else.”

“The hand cart pioneers had to be very selective about what they put in their handcarts.  If they loaded their handcarts with too many non-essential items, their progress would be slowed or even stopped, the handcarts would be more likely to break down, and when they reached steep inclined or difficult muddy areas, they wouldn’t make it through.  Today our lives are the same.  We can fill our lives with so many non-essential things that we have a hard time making any progress…..Filling our lives with too many activities not essential to our journey can leave no room for the essential things….The pioneers’ journey reminds us that we need to keep moving forward on our own journeys.  If there are things that we need to take out of our handcarts, let us do so that we may also continue to move forward.”

I would like to share two quotes – one by Mary Ellen Smooth and the other by Richard G. Scott:

“As a Relief Society, we have done much.  But I am here today to invite you to do more.  Maybe you feel that you are too busy to do more of anything.  If you feel this way, you probably are too busy.  If you consistently feel that you don’t have time for that which matters most, maybe it’s time to reevaluate.”  “When things of the world crowd in, all too often the wrong things take highest priority.  Then it is easy to forget the fundamental purpose of life.  Satan has a powerful tool to use against good people.  It is distraction.  He would have good people fill life with ‘good things’ so there is no room for the essential ones.”  Keep in mind that a distraction does not have to be evil to be effective.

            If you can’t eliminate or delegate a task, is there a way to simplify it?  Most people have the motto “A job worth doing is worth doing well.”  That is a worthy goal.  But I like my mom’s motto better: “It’s good enough for who it’s for.”  If the Queen of England is coming over for crumpets and tea, go ahead and make crème Brule’ and other fancy dishes.  But if you’re asked to bring a dessert to a Cub Scout pack meeting, run to Walmart and buy some Oreos.  They’re honestly not going to know the difference. – Shannon Williams

Spencer W. Kimball has said, “The time will come when only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the gathering evil around us.”

Sister Julie B. Beck from October 2008 conference, “Nothing in your life should interfere with basic nurturing responsibilities.”

I remember hearing a talk by an apostle who explained that sometimes our greatest strengths become our greatest weaknesses.  I think this is true when it comes to making family a priority.  Let’s take physical fitness, for example.  The Lord wants us to exercise, to take good care of the bodies he created for us.  He wants us to be healthy and obey the word of wisdom.  However, if we spend all our time training for marathons to the neglect of our children, we have a problem.

Or take, for example, our friends.  I could give an entire talk about how important it is to have women friends.  I have several dear friends that are my lifeline to sanity.  I simply couldn’t live without them.  However, if we spend more time with our friends than we do with our husbands, we have a problem.  We aren’t sealed to our friends; we haven’t made temple covenants with our friends.  We won’t spend eternity with our friends.  It’s so easy to let things get out of balance, especially since motherhood is not very glamorous and doesn’t provide a lot of earthly accolades or rewards. For that reason it is easy to focus our attention on things outside of our families. – Shannon Williams

I know of only one way to prevent our priorities from getting mixed up.  At the beginning of every month, at the beginning of every week, at the beginning of every day, we must sit down with a permanent marker and write in all of the eternally important things we would like to accomplish, and then let life fill in around it.  I know for a fact that if we don’t, we will not end up where we want to be. – Shannon Williams

Sometimes we try so hard to give our children the things we never had that we fail to give them the things we did have – like a happy, relaxed mother, a secure childhood and a stable home. 

There are certain nonnegotiable activities that must take place in our homes – family prayer, family scripture study, family home evening, and regular temple attendance.  I can’t overemphasize the importance of these things.  Does it honestly make sense to eliminate these activities, which are eternally significant, and replace them with activities that are not?  – Shannon Williams

An interesting thought occurred to me the other day.  I realized that even though I have five children, they each only have one mother.  As far as they’re concerned, I’m it. This realization made me want to focus on each individual child and each of their individual needs.  Children know if they are a priority in our lives or not.  – Shannon Williams