Questions

It is intriguing to me how powerful questions are as a teaching tool. From Preach My Gospel, a manual used by missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to help them become better missionaries, we learn the following about questions: "Jesus Christ often asked questions to help people ponder and apply principles. His questions prompted thought, soul searching, and commitment." (pg. 183)

As I watched the general conference sessions that we had this month, I wrote down questions that would help me ponder and apply the things that the speakers were teaching. Some of these may only make sense to you if you are also a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but I feel that most of them apply to anyone who is trying to follow Jesus Christ and become a better person. Some of these questions are very directly related to what was being spoken about, while others just came to my mind as I listened.

• Do I use the time when I'm taking the sacrament as a time of self-inspection?
• Does my love for God give me strength to overcome any adversity or temptation?
• When I experience pain, do I turn away from God or do I turn to Him?
• Am I willing to suffer and sacrifice all things for the kingdom of God?
• How well do I appreciate and acknowledge the role and contribution of women?
• Do I turn my feelings of sympathy into actions to bless others?
• Do I invite others to give, in addition to giving of myself?
• In what areas of my life do I need to readjust my desires?
• How often do I ask "What can I give?" instead of "What will I get?"
• Are we as priesthood holders living far beneath our privileges?
• What can I do to live up to my potential?
• When I say I'm going to do something, how long do I wait to do it?
• Am I merely going through the motions, or am I experiencing the feeling of joy that God desires for me?
• The heavens are open - how often do I take advantage of that?
• Would I rather push a handcart across the plains than talk about faith and religion with those whom I interact with?
• Who can really measure the influence of a mother's love?
• How well do I really understand the Atonement?

I hope you can learn something from thinking deeply about these questions. I also hope that whenever each of us has an opportunity to teach (believe me, you have them all the time) that we try to ask effective questions that really get people thinking and wanting to act. It's incredible how powerful a well-worded, well-timed question can be.

The "Do It" Switch

Yesterday night as I was watching the priesthood session of general conference, President Uchtdorf said something that really intrigued me. He called me out on something that I have done far too often in my life. He mentioned that far too often, we go to meetings with great intentions, write down some notes, even make an action list of things we should do... and then end up forgetting all about it. I know sometimes I'll come across some notes from a meeting that I went to far in the past and realize that I never called that person I thought of during that meeting, never went and studied those specific scripture verses with that new view on what to look for... and I regret never doing those things.

The way that President Uchtdorf described it was that we have put our "do it" switch to the "later" setting. I am starting to realize that I have left my switch on the "later" setting far too much in my life. President Uchtdorf said that we need to move our switch to the "now" setting. There are so many benefits to just doing things now rather than unnecessarily delaying. First of all, you don't end up forgetting the things you need to do! You also will receive the results of those actions sooner rather than later. For example, one thing that we as mortals often delay is repentance. However, the sooner you make the decision to repent and do all that you can to achieve that, the sooner you will receive the sublime peace and forgiveness that is sure to come. The sooner you decide to share any feelings (positive or negative) that you have about your relationship with anyone, the sooner you can have the open communication necessary to strengthen that relationship. Those are just two of many examples that can show how important it is to not delay things in our lives.

Starting now, I commit to doing the most important things each day, and not delaying big assignments or duties until the last possible hour. I know that the Lord will bless me for planning ahead even better in the future than I have in the past, and that I will achieve much more in my life as I leave my "do it" switch to the "now" setting rather than "later." I would invite anyone who reads this to do the same. We will all miss out on many opportunities in life if we delay pursuing the righteous things that we desire, so don't delay! Do it now.