Time for Mastery
Hey, hey, hey....it's _______ Can you finish the line? I don't know why that came into my head, but it did. I guess I am digressing in age, mentally.
How has the week been? I have seen some pictures of sunburns, tans, jumping skills, flowery bouquets, and wooded hills. I just have not heard the full report from all. Our week has been pretty mundane, as usual, but what more do you expect.
In my head, I have been doing math. I don't know why, but it has been in and out of my mind all week. I guess it starts with my verses of ponder:
2 Nephi 9:1-3. What stands out? "...I have READ these things that ye might know concerning the covenants of the Lord that he has covenanted with all...", "...that he has spoken...even from the beginning..."
These thoughts have been rolling around in the empty noggin of mine. They have been enhanced by Elder Cook's remarks from conference, a little bit of Ammon, and a few words from Alma, mainly chapters 26 and 29 of Alma. Let me see if I can put my thoughts together...
I have been thinking a great deal about the basics as of late. I went out with the Elder this week to check on individuals who appear to have recently moved into the ward. There was good and bad from the evening. Unfortunately, I walked a way from several of the homes wondering why. There did not seem to be any joy or happiness in their eyes. They confirmed or denied that they were the said individuals were looking for and then quietly closed the doors in our faces. Why? Are we not social in today's world?
Then I listened to the routine conversations that have happened in my home and in the homes of hundreds over and over again through out the centuries..."Why do I have to go to seminary, Sunday School, Primary, Church...?", "Why do we have to read scriptures, pray, or even have family home evening?", "We just talk about stuff I already know or have heard before, over and over and over again." Sound familiar?
My mind jumped back to 2 Nephi, he was reading these things to his people, to his brothers, to his family. How many of them were saying or thinking the same thing as above? I am sure there were many. Heck, I have been guilty of the same thing.
Then I was taken to points in my life were the some have said, "I just don't understand the scriptures.", "The church does not make sense to me.", "I am not a chosen one", "I am not good enough to be spoken to.", etc... That is when Elder Cook's talk came to me. Do you remember his words? He talked about Mastery. How many of us dream of being Masters of something?
Though there are times that some are given special gifts, it is extremely rare that those we admire and dream of being like had the gift handed to them on a silver platter. In fact, Elder Cook quoted a scholar who said, to become a master of something, one needed to put in 10,000 hours of dedicated time to said thing. Isn't that what we are here to do, self-mastery? To discipline ourselves enough to develop our talents and resources? So, let's do some math baby...
How long does it take to gain scripture mastery? 10,000 hours right, well... If you follow the council of many leaders as of late and do a minimum of 10 minutes a day, when will you become a master?
10,000 x 60=600,000 minutes. Divide that by 10 to obtain mastery = 60,000 session or days. Divide that by 365 = 164.38 years. So there you go, but yeah, we don't start reading for understanding from birth, we have to add a few years there right? So when let's say 8 to 18 more years, but then we would have to ask ourselves, have we truly given that minimum of 10 minutes? Truly?
President Benson suggests we do at least 30 minutes a day. That is a in improvement right, so it would only take 54 years to master the scriptures, again, add some years there. What if you did an hour? That would be about 28 years. Is that what Christ did?
This one really got me, what about Sacrament meeting? We spend 1 hour each week, but not every single week of the year, take out Conferences would be 48 times a year. We would need to go to Sacrament Meeting for 208 years and seriously pay attention to the meeting to master it.
Sunday School, Priesthood, and Relief Society are less than a Sacrament Meeting, so it would be much longer and we would have to add 12 years to it.
Seminary? If you have seminary every day of 1 hour. You are in school for 180 days for 4 years. We are really only in class for 540 hours, not even close to mastery.
You can do the math for missions, remember to only count the time you are really focus on the work of mission, some of that goes to scripture study, sleep, P-day, and time you are just trying to keep your eyes focused. But they all over lap right?
When we are studying scriptures, are we preparing for Sunday School, Priesthood and Relief Society? What about our callings? How long would we need to serve to master it?
With all that said, are we truly working towards Mastery? Are we putting in the time, effort, and dedication to become Masters? What is it we are becoming masters of? TV, Netflix, Social Media, Sleep, or what? What do we value more?
Think about it. I know I have been and I am only talking about the Spiritual stuff. We are promised that if we put the Kingdom first, everything else will fall into place. What are you putting first?
Ok there are my random thoughts.
This week has been pretty routine.
The Queen had a dentist appointment. We wen to 2 wedding receptions, had a family BBQ to meet future family, worked, slept, and had an occasional bite to eat. Just the norm.
The Professor met her new classroom and the parents who were willing to come to Back to School night. She is starting another adventure.
Tall Man and Ehl-Bo stopped in for a bit. They are take each day one at a time, doing the same, working, sleeping, and the occasional bite to eat.
Puddin and Lady Hawkins shared each side of the family with each other this weekend. It was fun. They also spent some time in the mountains doing Bridals, running all over the state, watching drag races, and spending as much time together as they can. They are still on the hunt of living accommodations as well as employment opportunities up north.
There you have it. Mundane stuff. How was yours?
How has the week been? I have seen some pictures of sunburns, tans, jumping skills, flowery bouquets, and wooded hills. I just have not heard the full report from all. Our week has been pretty mundane, as usual, but what more do you expect.
In my head, I have been doing math. I don't know why, but it has been in and out of my mind all week. I guess it starts with my verses of ponder:
2 Nephi 9:1-3. What stands out? "...I have READ these things that ye might know concerning the covenants of the Lord that he has covenanted with all...", "...that he has spoken...even from the beginning..."
These thoughts have been rolling around in the empty noggin of mine. They have been enhanced by Elder Cook's remarks from conference, a little bit of Ammon, and a few words from Alma, mainly chapters 26 and 29 of Alma. Let me see if I can put my thoughts together...
I have been thinking a great deal about the basics as of late. I went out with the Elder this week to check on individuals who appear to have recently moved into the ward. There was good and bad from the evening. Unfortunately, I walked a way from several of the homes wondering why. There did not seem to be any joy or happiness in their eyes. They confirmed or denied that they were the said individuals were looking for and then quietly closed the doors in our faces. Why? Are we not social in today's world?
Then I listened to the routine conversations that have happened in my home and in the homes of hundreds over and over again through out the centuries..."Why do I have to go to seminary, Sunday School, Primary, Church...?", "Why do we have to read scriptures, pray, or even have family home evening?", "We just talk about stuff I already know or have heard before, over and over and over again." Sound familiar?
My mind jumped back to 2 Nephi, he was reading these things to his people, to his brothers, to his family. How many of them were saying or thinking the same thing as above? I am sure there were many. Heck, I have been guilty of the same thing.
Then I was taken to points in my life were the some have said, "I just don't understand the scriptures.", "The church does not make sense to me.", "I am not a chosen one", "I am not good enough to be spoken to.", etc... That is when Elder Cook's talk came to me. Do you remember his words? He talked about Mastery. How many of us dream of being Masters of something?
Though there are times that some are given special gifts, it is extremely rare that those we admire and dream of being like had the gift handed to them on a silver platter. In fact, Elder Cook quoted a scholar who said, to become a master of something, one needed to put in 10,000 hours of dedicated time to said thing. Isn't that what we are here to do, self-mastery? To discipline ourselves enough to develop our talents and resources? So, let's do some math baby...
How long does it take to gain scripture mastery? 10,000 hours right, well... If you follow the council of many leaders as of late and do a minimum of 10 minutes a day, when will you become a master?
10,000 x 60=600,000 minutes. Divide that by 10 to obtain mastery = 60,000 session or days. Divide that by 365 = 164.38 years. So there you go, but yeah, we don't start reading for understanding from birth, we have to add a few years there right? So when let's say 8 to 18 more years, but then we would have to ask ourselves, have we truly given that minimum of 10 minutes? Truly?
President Benson suggests we do at least 30 minutes a day. That is a in improvement right, so it would only take 54 years to master the scriptures, again, add some years there. What if you did an hour? That would be about 28 years. Is that what Christ did?
This one really got me, what about Sacrament meeting? We spend 1 hour each week, but not every single week of the year, take out Conferences would be 48 times a year. We would need to go to Sacrament Meeting for 208 years and seriously pay attention to the meeting to master it.
Sunday School, Priesthood, and Relief Society are less than a Sacrament Meeting, so it would be much longer and we would have to add 12 years to it.
Seminary? If you have seminary every day of 1 hour. You are in school for 180 days for 4 years. We are really only in class for 540 hours, not even close to mastery.
You can do the math for missions, remember to only count the time you are really focus on the work of mission, some of that goes to scripture study, sleep, P-day, and time you are just trying to keep your eyes focused. But they all over lap right?
When we are studying scriptures, are we preparing for Sunday School, Priesthood and Relief Society? What about our callings? How long would we need to serve to master it?
With all that said, are we truly working towards Mastery? Are we putting in the time, effort, and dedication to become Masters? What is it we are becoming masters of? TV, Netflix, Social Media, Sleep, or what? What do we value more?
Think about it. I know I have been and I am only talking about the Spiritual stuff. We are promised that if we put the Kingdom first, everything else will fall into place. What are you putting first?
Ok there are my random thoughts.
This week has been pretty routine.
The Queen had a dentist appointment. We wen to 2 wedding receptions, had a family BBQ to meet future family, worked, slept, and had an occasional bite to eat. Just the norm.
The Professor met her new classroom and the parents who were willing to come to Back to School night. She is starting another adventure.
Tall Man and Ehl-Bo stopped in for a bit. They are take each day one at a time, doing the same, working, sleeping, and the occasional bite to eat.
Puddin and Lady Hawkins shared each side of the family with each other this weekend. It was fun. They also spent some time in the mountains doing Bridals, running all over the state, watching drag races, and spending as much time together as they can. They are still on the hunt of living accommodations as well as employment opportunities up north.
There you have it. Mundane stuff. How was yours?
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