"And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions"
So much for the audio cd's I was making.. I caved in and bought myself a 16GB iPod today haha. That's going to make it so much easier porting my music around, as well as shuffling through it in the car (less dangerous, yay!). Technology is simply amazing these days. The day or so after a talk is given in General Conference, you can download it to your computer, and then onto a small 8 ounce device that can hold thousands of simliar audio recordings, and then listen to it whenever or wherever you want to. Astounding!
When I think of things like that I think back to the days of King Benjamin and his address to his people. He had to build a tower simply so that more people could hear his speak than otherwise would be able to. In addition they had people writing down and/or repeating the address so that all those who were gathered 'round could hear (or read) the message. People spent days or even weeks preparing to hear the words of the prophet, and here we are with the ability to sit in the comfort of our own homes and listen to the same type of message. Yet some of us are too caught up in the world around us to even pay attention to that.
People in the past had to travel for weeks on end to visit the temple, even now some people have a day or more worth of driving to do to visit a temple. And some people have a temple almost literally in their back yard, yet are too lazy (or whatever) to make the effort to go when the opportunities arise.
What is it about our current generation that seems to put such little effort or desire into feasting upon the words of our prophet and apostles? Just because things are more readily available doesn't mean the message is any less applicable or meaningful. Instead of being complacent with the availability of such powerful messages, we should be capitalizing on the ease of it by taking the small amount of time required to be edified and uplifted by these words.
I think the problem is with the numerous media avenues that are readily available 24/7. We get distracted by the television, by less than inspiring music, by books that do us no good, by movies that do nothing but numb the mind and so forth. These replacements for quality use of time, time which could be spent striving to feel the spirit, lead us down nothing but a downward path.
All that being said, I didn't use to think this way once, nor did these perceptions cross my mind. I find myself almost instantly holding everyone around me up to a different standard that I used to, and I've realized that I shouldn't be doing so necessarily. My life used to be completely different, and it took me a while, but I turned it around. I shouldn't be expecting others to live up to the standards I have for myself simply because one day a thought came to me, and not to them. All I can do is accept my own current state of mind and my own current desires, and continue to live them to the best of my abilities, while at the same time extending a hand of fellowship and love to my brothers and sisters. Words of encouragement and inspiration are what should be coming out of my mouth as opposed to words of accusation and beratement. That is how Christ would do it, therefore that is the example I should be following.
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