Monday, April 27

What are your Priorities?

Ahh ....Monday a new week...and almost a new month!

We saw two movies this weekend...State of Play and 17 Again. Both were enjoyable. I liked the idea of going back to a pivotal point in your life and given the opportunity to do it all over again...would you do it the same way even with the knowledge you now have?

We attended a fabulous fireside last night. Bronco and Holly Mendenhall were the speakers. Bronco is the head coach for the BYU football team. Hayden thinks he is pretty great , and after listening to him speak I would have to agree. He is a rule keeper, he holds not only himself but his team accountable and he has his priorities in order. His wife Holly isn't shabby either.
Here is my take on the high points of the meeting:
This was a Young Single Adult fireside so of course it was geared around the twenty somethings....The first thing brought up about the Mendenhalls was the fact hat they didn't get married until they were 30 and 31 years old....not for lack of chance but because they didn't want to settle. The marriage thing is always top of mind for the YSA leaders, that is their charge...to get them married.
Holly spoke about what gifts she would like her children to have. The one she talked best about to me was ... A testimony of their own. She talked about how many YSA don't have a testimony of their own or goals or have made decisions on their own. You need to do it for yourself. She asked in regard to a testimony, do you have a testimony of Jesus Christ? Do you understand the plan of salvation? Do you know why you are here?
Don't get caught up in life's distractions, get caught up gaining a testimony for yourself. There is no Testimony with out a few test.
Bronco talked about becoming the head coach at BYU. He said we/he knows he wasn't the first or even the second pick. He talked about his interview with Elder Eyring for the job. The first and only question he remembers being asked in the interview was "Is the Church of Jesus Christ true?" He said he then bore his testimony. That moment helped him understand that this was not just a coaching job, but an opportunity to represent the Church and share his testimony.
He talked about why BYU is "Returning to Glory?" ( Title of an ESPN article when he took over the coaching position). We strive to meet the universities mission '..quest for perfection and eternal life.' He talked about the priorities he has as a coach and for the players; Faith, Family, Knowledge, Friends , Football. He said because this is his way there have been a lot of guys who choose not to play with BYU. He explained; When asked what Faith has to do with football he responds with "everything" You have to have a faith in God and faith in your abilities.
Family- Eternal families. You have to be worthy to have an eternal family. Knowledge- it is the only thing we take with us into the eternities. Friends- The #1 influencer of young people. Good friends are you only chance. Who you surround yourself with is so important. You have the power to influence others. Then we play Football.
He concluded by telling us that we all are representatives of the Church. That we should always seek to have the Spirit with us. He referred to the cell phone commercial..."Are you there...what about now?" What if that is how we lived our lives, always checking in to see if our communication with our Heavenly Father was still strong? We should never put ourselves in situations where our signal to Heavenly Father is weak.
Trust the Lord, be of service to each other, keep the commandments, try the word of God...go to you meetings to learn and act, have Faith in our Savior.
It was a great fireside...it ended too soon, but I was glad I was there.
The most exciting thing to me was the fact that Hayden knew Bronco's priority line up before he even told us. Bronco is a great example and I am so glad that Hayden looks up to him as one.

Action is what life is all about....do something!
MCC

1 comment:

Melwel said...

Marc, this fireside sounds great. I'm jealous. Thanks for sharing
ME