I ran across a talk given by Ardeth G. Kapp and thought it was appropriate for this time of year. We can take the entire holiday season to ponder this not-terribly-new idea, then decide what the new year will bring. It takes six weeks to form a habit, right?
First, she explains how the pioneers sacrificed so much to come to Zion. It wasn’t easy to give up some of their precious belongings, but it was more important for them to join the Saints. “In the early days of the church, members were tried and tested, they learned what they stood for, what they were willing to live and die for, what was of highest value.” This is what Sis. Kapp wants us to think about.
So, for example, the older I get, the faster the year goes by. I look back and wonder what in the world I accomplished. I was busy, right? I was doing something with my time, right? Sometimes, I’m at a complete loss. When December rolls around, I worry that I will forget to take time out to really focus on Jesus Christ. It is soooooo easy to get caught up in other things; too many other things.
I like the example Sister Kapp uses in her talk about growing peaches. Her father taught all the kids how to prune the trees so that the harvest would produce large, juicy, perfectly shaped, beautiful peaches. He even left three trees unpruned, so that in the fall they could see for themselves the difference. Sure enough, there was a big difference.
Her example shows us the importance of sacrificing the non-essentials in our lives. “The adversary would keep us busily engaged in a multitude of trivial things in an effort to keep us distracted from the few vital things that make all of the difference.” What Christmas activities are essential to making your festivities spirit-filled? And what might be more frivolous and time-consuming?
That’s the big question. What makes us so busy at Christmas time that we forget to enjoy the peace and joy of celebrating Jesus Christ’s birth, life, sacrifice, and gift of eternal life? And what are we willing to sacrifice to experience that peace and joy?
Sister Kapp says, “In our season of abundance and excess, even while we are counseled to reduce and simplify, there will be a high level of frustration until we understand the value of pruning. When someone asks the question, ‘How do you do it all?’ our answer should be, ‘We don’t.’ We must be willing to let go of many things but defend with our lives the essentials.”
This analogy of packing our wagons with only essentials and recognizing the non-essentials is worth figuring out and making into a habit of always testing and always looking to eliminate where we can. Especially around Christmas time.