Do you have a minute?

[Joshua Nelson]

I spent 10 - 15 minutes out of my life to type this up and so hopefully it ends up being "time well spent." What will you do with the time that was given to you today? We always hear people say, "I don't have time" and I am guilty of thinking and saying the same thing if not a similar excuse. Everyone has time, actually the exact same amount. It is not different for one or the other. It has been that way since the beginning of time (don't think too long on that one, just read on.) Think of thousands of years ago, hundreds of years ago, and even the stages in your life and what you and everyone used to do with the time given to them and and t you each and every day. Nowadays with technology, our lives are so much easier and things are done quicker and more productive, shouldn't we have more time (free/available time). We have machines that do things for us. We have cars that drive so much faster and safer, and on and on. 

The life expectancy is getting longer and longer with the help of advances in medicine and other technologies; so what are we doing with all of that extra time? I read that they predict that the average life expectancy for someone my age will be about 100 years old, no matter how you look at it, Millennium or not. Some quick math: 1440 minutes in a day, 10,080 minutes in a week, 43,200 minutes in a 30 day month, 525,600 minutes in a year, and 52,560,000 minutes in my expected lifetime. Take 1/3 of each away for sleep (wouldn't that be nice). Give the Lord 10% of your awake time: 1 1/2 hrs a day, 11 hrs. a week, 48 hrs. a month, 24 entire days a year, and 6-7 entire years average for your lifetime. 10% is a good place to start. Search for the word time on this page: http://mormon.org/service "Find" (Ctrl + f) to see if 10% is really what we're asked to do. 

There must be a reason God allowed our bodies to age slowly and last so long. He must have a lot for us to do and a lot for us to learn. Otherwise he would have given us the life expectancy and aging similar to His other creations. Our purpose must be great! One might think, "Well I have a lot of time to spare to just wait" or "I'll do that later or when I have more time" but once that minute, day, week, month, year, life is gone, then it's gone and we don't have do-overs. Instead of dwelling on things that we may look back on and realize they were a waste of time, lets change and focus on the better and best things to use our time for to better ourselves and those around us, to lend a hand to someone in need.

[Joshua Nelson]

I'll spend another hour or so listening/reading to the Conference addresses below

Elder Ian S. Arden - "A Time to Prepare"

Elder Dallin H. Oaks - "Focus and Priorities"

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf - "Of Things That Matter Most"   

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf - "Of Regrets and Resolutions"

[Joshua Nelson]

For the last few weeks or so, I feel that I have neglected my Church priorities. Sure, I've been busy and it would be easy to say that I haven't had time. Is it making a difference anyways? There are so many other things that I need and want to do, but I continue to feel that there is so much more that all of us can be doing in the Gospel. See the below article for the Youth to help with this topic:

First Things First