In the past few weeks, we have been beyond busy. Between vacations, birthday parties, church callings, college, re-arranging the entire house, hours of important phone calls, and oh ya, being a mom, I've felt like there has been no time to even sleep. I'm actually surprised I'm able to have time to occasionally write my thoughts every once and a while. I'm sure we all have those times throughout the year where the to-do list is longer than the hours of the day.
In my times of business, I have found that the one thing that should always be at the top of my priority list, has gotten pushed back further and further: my time with my Heavenly Father and Christ's Gospel.
I've noticed that as we got ready for bed, we'd be "too tired" to read our nightly family scriptures. We'd say shorter family and personal prayers because all we want is sleep. And because of the lack of these immensely important rituals, we've been rotten poop faces to each other. Ya. Rotten. Poop. Faces.
No matter what sect of Christianity you follow, they preach to have a little more Jesus in your life. So why aren't we even slightly following this counsel? Sure, we're not all criminals living crazy rebellious lives. But other than lead on pretty okay lives, what else are we doing to be more than a Christian? To be an actual DISCIPLE of Christ?
A long time ago, I found a story in what was called a "14 Day Walk With Christ". It's a pretty popular thing in Relief Society, and each one is filled with different stories/poems to make you have a more Christ-like look at life. With a few changes to help make it more up-to-date, maybe it can strike a chord with you:
Satan's Convention
Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels, he said, "We can't keep the Christians from going to church.""We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth"
"We can't even keep them from conservative values."
"But we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding experience with Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to church, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can't gain that experience in Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do angels. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" shouted the angels
"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent unnumbered shams to occupy their minds," he answered.
"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince the wives to go to work and the husbands to work six or seven days a week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work. Over stimulate their minds so they cannot hear that still small voice."
"Entice them to play the radio or iTunes whenever they drive, to keep the TV, their phones, and their computer's going constantly in their homes. And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."
"Fill their coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade any other moments with order catalogs, every kind of newsletter and promotional offerings, free products, services and false hopes."
"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out in nature. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, and concerts instead."
"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotion."
"Let them be involved in soul-winning. But crowd their lives with so many good causes that they have no time to seek the power from Christ. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family unity for the good of the cause."
It was quite a convention in the end.
And all the evil angels went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and rush here and there.
Has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the judge.
With ever-changing technology, we are "busy" from the moment we get up to the seconds before we go to bed. Our phones, tablets, TVs, and laptops absolutely CONSUME us. Even on days that we don't have much to do, we are constantly occupied with news feeds, likes, comments, videos, memes, pins, tweets, follows, views, notifications, chats, messages, favorites, and everything else under the sun that MEANS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
Last night, for the first time since I created my blog, I got an "enormous wave" (more like a tiny ripple) of followings and viewers. I was so excited that the things I wrote about were actually being read. I was glued to my screen. As we struggled to get Oliver to sleep for the night, I still couldn't help but check just one more time. Andrew finally looked at me and asked why I was so obsessed with it all. Flabbergasted that he wasn't at the excitement level that I was, I got offended (we were already grumpy from a busy day and short fuses from lack of scriptures that night). I tried defending my excitement and obsession until he finally just gave up.
With a whole day of contemplation after, "Satan's Convention" is what kept popping in my head.
Truly, his scheme is working on me.
While there are many worth while and wholesome things to consume our times with, we need to remember what is truly important.
Today, I need to remember what is important.
My baby boy learning to blow kisses. Appreciating ice cold water and God's amazing creations after hard work in the yard. The ability to run and dance. To love someone so deeply I can't imagine how I survived before him. Knowing my potential as a child of God. My little family and their happiness with the Gospel.
Not likes. Not views. Not notifications.
So without further adieu, goodnight internet.
-Sarah
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