Powerful or Powerless

At the end of this last April I attended BYU Women’s Conference. It’s a two day conference with lots of workshops, speakers, service activities, and plain fun for two days. It’s a faith based conference with this year’s theme being “Choose Ye This Day to Serve the Lord.”  I had such a wonderful uplifting time.  The highlight and most impactful part of the conference was an address give by Julie B. Beck. I love this woman. She is the  Relief Society General President, and she always has the right thing to say at the right time in my life.

Her talk this  year was no different. It came at such a needed time as I was having inward battles about some heavy decisions I needed to make. Conflicts of desires to serve and recognizing I was had nothing left to give.  A time when I was trying to determine exactly where all my energy should be focused.  I was feeling powerless, overwhelmed, and in need of some heavenly guidance to apply to my life right then.  My father in heaven sent it through her.

One of her overarching themes she continually talks about is the need for personal revelation.  That this one thing should the MOST important thing we obtain in this life, and the ability to act on it.  We need it more than anything else. We need direct revelation, answers and help from heaven in relation to everything we do, our time, our families, our faith, our work…. everything…  We need to develop that capability.

We live in a world that is full of noise, voices, and enticements. There are so many things to get caught up in, and things to spend our time on.  Most of them can be of very little value, and will leave us feeling empty.  But when we seek out the spirit and revelation we will learn and do those things that are truly of the most importance, of the greatest value, and the things that will truly fill us.  We will hear the Lord’s voice tell us specifically what he needs us to do right now. What a great comfort.  And when we hear that voice and heed it we become powerful.  So how do we find this voice, how do we hear it, and what do we do right now?  We make sure our priorities are in order.  She gave a great way of describing what and where our priorities should be.

 

ESSENTIAL THINGS: These are the things that we MUST do to obtain Eternal life in the next life. These are the things that are the most essential things we can do in this life.  Things that enable us and our families to be together forever. These are things that if we let them slide, or push them aside for the time, will leave us lacking, wanting and unable to obtain the Eternal Life that is promised us. If we miss these things then we’ve missed the entire plan and purpose for our coming to earth in the first place. 

So what are those essential things?  For me they are Personal revelation – being able to obtain it, listen to the spirit and to obey. In order to have personal revelation I must have meaningful prayer and scripture study.  I must make and obtain covenants that are essential to eternal life. I must renew those covenants regularly by attending the temple often. I must build my family spirituality by reading scriptures together, praying together, working together, having Family Home Evening, etc.  Service in the church and to those around me.  Taking care of myself physically so I can keep up and give to others. etc

NECESSARY THINGS:  These are the things that we must do in daily life. The daily mundane things that lead to homes and lives of order and filled with the spirit.  These are things like cleaning my home so that it is a place where there is order, love and a place where the spirit can dwell, It becomes a place where me and my children can hear and heed the promptings of the spirit. These are things like making meals so we have time to sit and spend time together as a family.  They are things like financing, budgeting, work, provident living to help make sure that the time and effort my husband spends working is not being taken for granted and spent on things that are of no worth.  Organization and orderliness that will make our home run smoother, reduce stress levels, and will make everyone happier. These are things like teaching, reading, and playing with my children to develop better relationships, and help them grow up with a sense of worth and unconditional love. These things are things that help build a home that is filled with love, peace, the spirit, and where happiness abounds.  These are things that relate to my divine role as a mother and wife.

LIKE TO DO:  These are the things that are my loves and passions in life. They are things that are hobbies, girl friend time, me time, sewing, traveling, design, art, reading, blogging, reading the blogs, face book etc… these are the fun things that make each of our lives unique and wonderful.  These are things that bring joy, and fill us up, they are things that are truly enjoyable.

But the thing that hit me so strong when she was talking about these is this.  If we do things in the correct order… we will be powerful.  We will accomplish more than we ever thought was possible. We will have incredible influence on people and the ones we love the most.  We will be doing what the Lord wants and needs us to personally be doing.

But…..

When we spend most of our time in the “Like to Do” category, while pushing aside the other two, we will loose power. We will become powerless.  It hit me like a ton of bricks. Powerless…. How often do I spend more time in the ‘like to do’ category, or push off the other two things… and what usually results. Tiredness, feeling overwhelmed or burdened, feeling behind, feeling unsettled, not feeling at peace, contentious, overly sensitive etc.

For months I’ve been thinking about this. It’s become a theme within my new calling in the Stake Relief Society Presidency. There is such a huge need for this.  It has been something that has been on my mind ever since I heard her talk about it. In a way blogging has fallen to the side as possibly one of those things that is just a ‘like to do’…. and yet… I’m not sure that’s completely correct, as I think there is a bigger purpose for it. I’ve set it aside and have tried to think about where I want this blog to go, what I want it to be accomplishing and what I want it’s purpose to be. I want it to be a part of those essential and necessary things because of what I’m posting here, rather than something that is just in the category of ‘like to do'.

I want it to have a purpose, I want it to reflect the most important things to me in my life, some of those essential things. Which is why I’ve made a few changes to it. As I’ve been learning more with this new church calling I’ve been reflecting on the sole purpose of what Relief Society is, and how I personally am doing on accomplishing this great purpose.  Which is why I’ve decided that a lot of what I post on this blog is going to be about those three main purposes.

Building Faith, Strengthening Home and Family, and Providing Relief.  I want to share my own personal experiences, thoughts and projects relating to these purposes.  (I’m sure there will still be ‘creative’ ‘art’ ‘design’ type of posts, because that is still a huge part of who I am, but I hope to give a greater purpose to this blog and to help myself focus on that greater purpose.

I hope you’ll join me. I hope I still have some readers after a very long departure.  I hope you’ll take a honest look at your life and determine what are your essential, necessary and like to do things, and honestly evaluating where most of your time is spent.  God is all loving, and ironically when we really do put our time and efforts into the first two categories, he gives us time to also do those things we love to do. I hope you’ve seen this in your own life.

hope you’ll have a desire to become powerful over powerless….

(If you’d like hear all of Julie B. Becks message she gave she can watch it here. You can also just read her message here.)

(Click on the photo’s for credits.)