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| Oliver Cowdery |
Where are my priorities right now?
If we are not satisfied with our answer to that question (which happens to me quite a bit), there has to be a way to change it easily, right? It shouldn't be that hard.
I have learned from experience that it's not that easy.
A priority stems from our innermost desires. Desire influences our actions, and our continued actions constitute evidence of where our priorities really lie. Our priorities are also a glimpse at our ultimate destiny--not in the mystical sort of sense, but in the sense that we can get insight into what the end of our road will look like. A quick review of what things are most filling our time will give us a glimpse into what will fill our time in the future if those same priorities were to persist. This is where the answer to that personal question can get difficult; it hurts when we realize that our current priorities are taking us down a path that we know will not lead us to Christ. At the same time, the adversary attempts to deceive us into thinking that we can change those mistaken priorities easily. He often tries to make us think that we can change them when our circumstances get better or when a certain event happens to us that will then make it easier to be a disciple.
When this trial ends, I can be happy... When I get married, it'll be easier to stop looking at pornography... When I get a new job, I'll start paying my tithing; right now it's too hard...
Like I said, I have learned from sad experience that this mindset is fundamentally flawed. Our desires don't change on the flip of a switch, and so neither do our conditioned actions and habits. If we want our priorities to change, we have to think about what we truly want, and then make the conscious and prayerfully consecrated decision to act in full faith according to those desires.
One of my favorite talks of all-time is one called "Desire," given by Elder Dallin H. Oaks in April of 2011 (Read it here). In the talk he clearly articulates what it takes for the desire of sin to be relinquished. The words of the Lord to Oliver of "if you desire" take on new meaning:
"When people are described as 'having lost their desire for sin,'" Elder Oaks says, "it is they, and they only, who deliberately decided to lose those wrong desires by being willing to 'give away all [their] sins' in order to know God. Therefore, what we insistently desire, over time, is what we will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity....As important as it is to lose every desire for sin, eternal life requires more....It is our actions and our desire that cause us to become something."
It is our own conscious decision to change which will ultimately allow us to shift our priorities. It comes first from a conscious and humble decision to let our desires for the things of God overpower our desires for the carnal, temporal things of the world. This can only be done in open and humble correspondence with our Heavenly Father, leaning on the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. Our own personal decision to act on this change is the next and most important step. Even if we make a decision to change, no change happens unless we act on it. Like the Lord told Oliver:
Even as you desire of me so it shall be unto you; and if you desire, you shall be the means of doing much good in this generation.
It's on us.
One point that I would like to make in closing is something that I have pondered on a lot lately, and that is how we can be happy amidst terrible tragedies and deep disappointments in our lives. It is only natural to be sad or to be depressed by these occurrences, which seem to plague us. The main question, again is: how can we be happy in the midst of these struggles. The answer in theory is easy, and I'll elaborate. In practice it's not so easy.
We must make being happy no matter what a priority in our lives.
An example from Church history will provide greater insight. The early Saints' arrival to the state of Missouri set off a series of some of the most terrible tragedies and deepest disappointments that any of us could ever imagine. Mobs, expulsion into freezing conditions, slaughter. It was easy for many members to lose faith and lose hope as the hatred against them began to build. But on November 12, 1838, more than five years after they had arrived in Missouri and the terror began, there was an incredible miracle. Parley P. Pratt recounted:
"To our great astonishment all the firmament seemed enveloped in splendid fireworks, as if every star in the broad expanse had been hurled from its course, and sent lawless through the wilds of ether. Thousands of bright meteors were shooting through space in every direction, with long trains of light following in their course. This lasted for several hours, and was only closed by the dawn of the rising sun. Every heart was filled with joy at this majestic display of signs and wonders, showing the near approach of the coming of the Son of God."
Wait a second. Did this event change their circumstances? Were they suddenly allowed to go back to their homes? Did the freezing temperatures change to a nice 70 degrees? Were the dead raised and families restored? Obviously not.
And yet it was this event which inspired WW Phelps to write:
Now let us rejoice in the day of salvation
No longer as strangers on earth need we roam
Good tidings are sounding for us and each nation
And shortly the hour of salvation doth come.
In faith we'll rely on the arm of Jehovah
To guide thru these last days of trouble and gloom,
And after the scourges and harvest are over,
We'll rise with the just when the Savior doth come.
Then all that was promised the Saints will be given,
And they will be crown'd with the angels of heaven
And earth will appear as the Garden of Eden,
And Christ and his people will ever be one.
(Now Let Us Rejoice, LDS Hymn #3)
(This story recounted in Meridian Magazine. Read here)
These faithful Saints made the conscious decision, based on what they felt was a divine manifestation, to "rejoice" of the blessings to come, instead of sulking midst the trials that were happening to them. This decision, based on the desire that they had to have not temporal peace, but eternal peace and joy in the celestial kingdom, led them to act. This pattern of desire-based action by thousands of Saints show forth their true priority in that time: build the kingdom of God. This is a proven formula to being happy in the midst of terrible trial, and one that we should ponder right away. Sulking is an attitude that Satan loves. He loves when we dwell that those things we can't control. He loves when we feel like we can't change those we can. But happiness and joy only come from God. "If we desire," that happiness is ours, no matter what our circumstances may be.
So where are we at in our desires? Our actions? Our priorities? If they're not where we'd like them, it's up to us to change them. It takes a simple reflection and time on our knees. It takes effort. But that effort will be worth it. If we can let the desire to please God and build His kingdom on earth drive our actions, without a doubt we will "be the means of doing much good in this generation."
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