Focus and Priorities ~ Part One

Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening,

this post should take approximately five minutes to read from start to finish.

What is your definition and understanding of the word, "focus"? What is your definition and understanding of the word, "priorities"? This post focuses on a April 2001 General Conference talk called, "Focus and Priorities" by Elder Dallin H. Oaks. This post is part one. I would like to share with you some highlights while I was reading the talk.

Elder Oaks has mentioned, ".. We are accountable and will be judged for how we use what we have received. This eternal principle applies to all we have been given. ... The principle of accountability also applies to the spiritual resources conferred in the teachings we have been given and to the precious hours and days allotted to each of us during our time in mortality.

... Because of increased life expediencies and modern time saving devices, most of us have far more discretionary time than our predecessors. We are accountable for how we use that time. .. we sing in a popular hymn; “we cannot call it back. It comes, then passes forward along its onward track. And if we are not mindful, the chance will fade away, for life is quick in passing. 

’Tis as a single day” The significance of our increased discretionary time has been magnified many times by modern data-retrieval technology. For good or for evil, devices like the Internet and the compact disc have put at our fingertips an incredible inventory of information, insights, and images. 

... With greatly increased free time and vastly more alternatives for its use, it is prudent to review the fundamental principles that should guide us. Temporal circumstances change, but the eternal laws and principles that should guide our choices never change.

He shared a story about a warning and he likes the story because it translates easily into different languages and cultures. .. Because of modern technology, the contents of huge libraries and other data resources are at the fingertips of many of us. Some choose to spend countless hours in unfocused surfing the Internet, watching 

trivial television, or scanning other avalanches of information. But to what purpose?

.. Faced with an excess of information in the marvelous resources we have been given, we must begin with focus or we are likely to become like those in the well-known prophecy about people in the last days—“ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”. 

"Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape
our choices, and choices determine our actions."
- Elder Dallin H. Oaks.

We also need quiet time and prayerful pondering as we seek to develop information into knowledge and mature knowledge into wisdom. We also need focus to avoid what is harmful. The abundant information and images accessible on the Internet call for sharp focus and control to avoid accessing the pornography that is an increasing scourge in our society. 

... The Internet has made pornography accessible almost without effort and often without leaving the privacy of one’s home or room. The Internet has also facilitated the predatory activities of adults who use its anonymity and accessibility to stalk children for evil purposes. 

Parents and youth, beware! There are many gospel implications of this easily accessible flood of information. For example, our Church Website now provides access to all of the general conference addresses and other contents of Church magazines for the past 30 years. ..

Stay Tuned until next time.