Q.Over the past week, what have you done?
List on the board activities as offered up by the class. (Sleep, work, eat meals, watch TV, exercise, read books, etc.) Ask the class to write down any that are relevant to them and their circumstances. When the list is finished, have the class tally up next to each item how many hours they have spent on it in the previous week.
Discussion: Considering there are 168 hours in a week, what observations can you make about how we account for our time?
(This obviously varies from person to person, but making some assumptions about most people sleeping eight hours a night, working 42 hours a week, commuting one hour a day, and taking two hours a day for meals, we still had 49 hours of the week to account for. Even adding in other activities, a lot of the class had more than 24 hours of the week that they struggled to account for.
"We are accountable and will be judged for how we use what we have received... [including] the precious hours and days allotted to each of us during our time in mortality... Because of increased life expectancies and modern timesaving devices, most of us have far more discretionary time than our predecessors. We are accountable for how we use that time...Q. How does the Lord expect us to use our time?
"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. Along with fast food, we have fast communications and fast facts. The effect of these resources on some of us seems to fulfill the prophet Daniel’s prophecy that in the last days “knowledge shall be increased” and “many shall run to and fro” (Dan. 12:4)...
"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?" - Dallin H Oaks, "Focus and Priorities"
Class members read aloud and discuss the following scriptures, and summarize the key points on the board:
- Alma 12:24 (This life is a time to prepare to meet God)
- D&C 60:13 (We're commanded not to idle away our time)
- D&C 58:27 (We should be "anxiously engaged" in a good cause)
- D&C 88:76, 77, 118, 121, 123, 124 (various points to be made, including commandments to "seek out of the best books" and "retire early and arise early")
Q. How can we avoid "idling away" our time? (We discussed the importance of planning - if you just aimlessly go on facebook you may idle away a few hours, but if you go on the Internet planning to spend half an hour on facebook, you're more likely to do what is most important in that time - replying to messages etc rather than aimlessly browsing. It was also pointed out that there's nothing wrong in having some unstructured time for relaxing and browsing etc - but we shouldn't make a regular thing of it!)
"Our priorities are most visible in how we use our time...Q: How are our priorities visible in the personal lists we made at the start of the lesson? Are there things we're not doing that we should be doing, or doing more of? Are we doing too much of some things that have little or no eternal value? Are we doing some "good" things at the expense of the "better" and "best" things? (These questions may be better for personal reflection rather than class discussion)
"Consider how we use our time in the choices we make in viewing television, playing video games, surfing the Internet, or reading books or magazines. Of course it is good to view wholesome entertainment or to obtain interesting information. But not everything of that sort is worth the portion of our life we give to obtain it. Some things are better, and others are best. When the Lord told us to seek learning, He said, “Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom” (D&C 88:118; emphasis added)...
"Good choices are especially important in our family life. For example, how do family members spend their free time together? Time together is necessary but not sufficient. Priorities should govern us in the precious time we give to our family relationships. Compare the impact of time spent merely in the same room as spectators for television viewing with the significance of time spent communicating with one another individually and as a family.
"To cite another example, how much time does a family allocate to learning the gospel by scripture study and parental teachings, in contrast to the time family members spend viewing sports contests, talk shows, or soap operas? I believe many of us are overnourished on entertainment junk food and undernourished on the bread of life." - Dallin H Oaks, "Focus and Priorities" and "Good, Better, Best"
"Sometimes when we are terribly busy and under a lot of pressure, with many commitments and involvements, we become neglectful of the only instruments or tools we have to do our work. We think we haven't time to consider them. In a sense we are literally saying, "I am too busy sawing to take time to sharpen the saw." - Stephen R Covey, "How to Succeed With People"Q. In what ways can we "sharpen the saw"?
(The suggestions from Covey are to take an hour a day to do three activities: 1) get some exercise, even just running on the spot or round the block; 2) planning - set priorities, goals, objectives for the day; 3) make time for spiritual wellbeing - reading the scriptures and time for prayer. Taking an hour to do these things will immeasurably improve the remaining 23 hours.)
Conclusion: Invite the class to review how they spend their time, and what they could do to make better use of the time they have in the week. Privately set some goals to achieve this.
No comments:
Post a Comment