The Chosen

Today was fast Sunday, of course. Pairs of Aaronic priesthood deacons canvassed the ward in cold temperatures. That's a lot of ties, shirts, coats, and shoes to complete a task that could be easy as filling in just one more line on the tithing receipt. 

But all the homes were reached today, including inactive or alias members, and before church even started. 

Efficient? I think not. Productive? Very much so.

How often do you think about your rain-gutters or those of your neighbors? Hopefully, not too often. They consistently do their job after it rains and when snow melts without us even thinking about it. But when was the last time you had a discussion with a neighbor or read in the paper about the benefits of the many rain-gutters on the roofs of homes throughout the city, state, and nation? I am not trying to be trite. Efficient? Yes. Productive? Not really.

On the farm one year, I needed a way to earn some money for youth conference. I coordinated a pizza delivery in Castle Valley of all places. Residents thought it was unique because there had never been anything like it in those parts, so I made more money than I even needed. But it was anything but easy. First I had to visit every home and sell my idea. Then I took orders from the menu selections I had prepared and arranged a time for delivery. The night of the pizza deliveries, I was driving up-and-down the valley in our old truck with hot pizzas, but I couldn't do it alone because I needed someone to hold the pizzas while I was driving. Meanwhile back at the house, Granny and her team were making bread dough, cooking sauce, grating cheese, cutting vegetables, and meats to make and arrange pizzas according to delivery times, so I could come and get them for distribution and drive back up the valley to deliver them...we only had one oven! You get the idea. I am laughing as I type this remembering that evening. Efficient? No way. Productive? Not really. It would have been less trouble, time, and cost if Granny and Grandpa had simply paid the dues. But they weren't so much paying for youth conference as they were rearing a boy.

So why do we do the things we do? Goals. If you don't have a goal, you can neither measure productivity, efficiency, or effectiveness. You're kind of just tossing in the sea like a boat without a rudder. 

Setting goals builds confidence, provides direction, and results in progress--for that's what progress really is, right? Movement towards a goal. 

Men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause and do much of their own free will and choice D&C 58:27 

An everlating dominion without compulsion D&C 121:45,46

Set a goal. Achieve and surpass it. Then repeat.

And start today.