525,600 Minutes

If you're already lost and wondering what the title of this post means, let me fill you in. Every few months we teach a lesson to the young men and young women preparing to serve missions. We start by asking them how many hours are in a week (168 in case you didn't want to do the math). Then we have them make a list of all the activities they do in a week and how many of those hours are taken. We have them include sleep, eating, showering, sitting on the couch, school, work, friends, church, callings, etc. Whatever they can think of. Then we ask them to really take a look at how much time they are giving to the Savior. I'd invite you to do this same activity. You'll be surprised where your time goes. So back to the title of this post, five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes. Some of you may recognize the lyrics to "seasons of love" a song from the musical Rent. The song poses the question "how do you measure a year in the life?" Sunsets? Midnight's?  Inches? Truths learned? As I reflected on this song and the question it asks, another thought came to my mind. 

"What we sow in thoughts, we reap in actions; what we sow in actions, we reap in habits; what we sow in habits, we reap in character; and what we sow in character, we reap in destiny"

I have been thinking a lot recently about our purpose here on earth. The scriptures teach us that "this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God." But how much of our time is actually dedicated to doing that? We know that our Father's "work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of His children." But are we allowing this work to take place in us? Or are we too busy and too preoccupied with our own agendas. What are we willing to sacrifice in order to be prepared to stand before God on that final day. I can promise you that nothing we sacrifice will be close to enough. For it is only through the grace of our Savior that we are able to come back into their presence. 

So does this mean we stop trying? If we will never make it on our own, what's the point? I think of it in this way. How many of us start out playing the piano with grand dreams of being the most amazing pianist who ever walked the face of this earth? As we begin our lessons we come to realize our fingers sometimes just don't work the way we'd like them to. We find that for every note we are supposed to hit correctly, there are 87 other keys we can hit incorrectly. It's hard, it's frustrating and a lot of the time the "music" we're making sounds a lot more like noise. But our Father in Heaven and Savior continue to beckon "keep practicing". For perfection is what we are searching for and, just like with playing the piano, failure only comes when we decide to stop progressing. 

Back to my question, what are you willing to sacrifice in order to be prepared to stand before God? On your recital day, what will He hear from you?  Elder Holland counsels us to 

"submit ourselves to God even when all our hopes and fears may tempt us otherwise. We must be willing to place all that we have—not just our possessions (they may be the easiest things of all to give up), but also our ambition and pride and stubbornness and vanity—we must place it all on the altar’ of God, kneel there in silent submission, and willingly walk away."

How are you spending your 168 hours a week? Is the Spirit being given ample opportunity to work in you to bring to pass your immortality and eternal life? Or will we find on our "recital day" that we are painfully unprepared. How are your 525,600 minutes being measured? In hope? In faith? In obedience? In charity, the pure love of Christ? I pray with each of us to consecrate the right amount of time to "practicing" heaven, so that when we stand before our Father and Elder Brother, we will not feel ashamed by our lack of effort. Instead we will be comforted by the words, "well done, Thou good and faithful servant." In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.