As we follow four important words in Alma 34:32, the purpose of life can become clearer, and our journey through life can become easier.
Photo by Artem Kovalev
It’s easy to become overwhelmed with all that living the gospel entails. The long list of to-do’s can distract us from the true purpose of life. In a BYU devotional entitled “The Four Steps on the Stairway to Heaven,” Dan Clark, an adjunct BYU professor, discusses four important words that can transform our journey through life. Using Alma 34:32, he discusses the words life, time, prepare, and perform.
As he discusses life, Brother Clark shares a few simple lessons that he has learned over the years:
- We become the average of the five people we spend the most time with, so it’s important to surround ourselves with those we want to be like.
- Success is not always significant, and it can become a serious distraction. “Are any of you chasing cars you really won’t want? Are any of you becoming desensitized to what matters most, which is what lasts the longest . . . ?”
- True happiness requires us to accept that we are human and that we will mess up. “So the question isn’t, Are you going to crash and burn every once in a while? Of course you are—you are human!”
- When we fall—and we will—depending on the Atonement of Jesus Christ is essential to learning from our sins. Brother Clark says, “In life there are no mistakes, only lessons.”
Life is short and there’s a lot to be learned, so we should embrace these simple truths.
To discover Brother Dan Clark’s take on the three other transformational words (time, prepare, and perform), see “The Four Steps on the Stairway to Heaven.”
Source: BYU Speeches
—Emily Russon, Mormon Insights
feature image courtesy of pexels.com
Find more insights
Read or watch “The Mystery of Life” by President Boyd K. Packer to learn more about what gives life purpose.
Read or watch Elder Ian S. Ardern’s talk “A Time to Prepare” to discover the importance of using time wisely.
To find out more about performing the extraordinary, read or watch Elder Jack H. Goaslind‘s talk “In His Strength I Can Do All Things.”