What Else Matters?

Sometimes things happen and they kind of make you question everything. They make you question your beliefs. They make you question why you do the things you do. They make you question your faith. I think it's important to ask these questions from time to time.


Not to get too personal, but something happened the other night that made me start asking these questions of myself. I was kept up late by these particular events and they have been the subject of most of my thoughts since. I started to think about the things that occupy my time. And the interesting thing is that my thoughts have repeatedly returned to a talk from the previous General Conference of the church - Elder Andersen's talk, It's True, Isn't It? Then What Else Matters?

I really believe that. I hope when all is said and done, I will be someone who worried about what really matters. I hope that the legacy I leave behind is a righteous one. I hope that I won't be thought of as someone who pilfered his time away, keeping myself occupied with things that are of no worth. This post is way too serious to fit in with my other ones, but I hope that these thoughts are the kind of footprints I leave behind. I close with some words spoken by Elder Holland, given to me by my mission president:

These gospel principles are the most important as well as the most permanent of life's acquisitions. But there is a war going on over such personal possessions, and there will yet be a bazooka shell or two falling into your life that will prompt - indeed, will require - careful examination of what you say you believe, what you assume you hold dear, and what you trust is of permanent worth.

The war is on and we have conspicuously enlisted. And certainly it is a war worth raging. But we are foolish, fatally foolish, if we believe it will be a casual or convenient thing. We are foolish if we think it will demand nothing of us.

It is so vitally important to revisit and reexamine the reasons why you believe what it is you believe. It is important to be reawakened to the vivid reality of the truths you hold dear. You cannot let the pages of the book of your personal testimony yellow with age and gather dust. That's all.