What an exciting time to be on earth! Within my own short lifetime, it’s hard to believe how rapidly things have changed, particularly in terms of knowledge, communication, and opportunities.
Listen to what is only a few touches or swipes away on my personal device: the entire standard works with the footnotes already linked for me, decades of church magazines, institute manuals, all the church music, lesson manuals including the instructor's manuals, video clips, and more.
And that is just in my gospel library app. I also have quick access to endless apps, websites, forums, ways to communicate, social media, and games. These are also available with similar ease. No matter how much of this information-age we take in, we can still find ourselves mindlessly scrolling for more. In this day of information overload, how can we avoid drowning in it all? With the staggering amount of information available at the click of a button, how can we actually make use of all that is available at our very fingertips?
“Information overload is a term used to describe the difficulty of understanding an issue and effectively making decisions when one has too much information about that issue...
Information overload occurs when the amount of input to a system exceeds its processing
capacity. Decision makers have fairly limited cognitive processing capacity. Consequently,
when information overload occurs, it is likely that a reduction in decision quality will occur...
In many ways, the advent of information technology has increased the focus on information
overload: information technology may be a primary reason for information overload due to
its ability to produce more information more quickly and to disseminate this information to a wider audience than ever before” (Source).
We can easily be overloaded in just our everyday life, let alone our quest to know God!
Listen to this and think about how these seagulls relate to information overload. “Years
ago the seagulls in St. Augustine, Florida, USA, were starving. For generations the gulls
had learned to depend on the shrimp fleets to feed them scraps from their nets. The
shrimpers eventually moved from the area. The seagulls had not learned how to fish
for themselves; nor did they teach their young how to fish. Consequently, the big,
beautiful birds were dying even while there was plenty of fish all around them
in the water.” (Source)
We live in a time of light and great progress! Yes, Satan and his minions are rampant,
but the gospel of Jesus Christ is rolling forth with power! The Restoration continues to
unfold! Couple this with the incredible advances in technology to access and understand
the word of God and to share it in our missionary endeavors on both side of the veil---it
is astoundingly exciting what we can do as we focus on the work at hand!
We need to learn to “fish for ourselves.” There may be plenty of “fish” out there. These
fish may be information, opportunities, or ways to spend our time. There are things that
could nourish us and be for our eternal benefit, but if we don’t know how to go about
“fishing,” or filter through the water to find the fish, we too will starve. Spiritually, we can
be just like these seagulls who had everything they needed right there, but had no idea
how to use it!
This is a very personal process. We need to understand how the gospel works for us as individuals. You must understand how it works for YOU. It isn’t enough to have all the
information. If we are not having personal experiences, if we are not applying the gospel in
a personal way, we have completely missed the point. You must come to know how the
Spirit whispers to YOU. We we look at the patterns together, yet the details will be so
personal.
"From the days of Adam and Eve until the days of Joseph and Emma Smith, the world
changed rather slowly from one generation to another. People living in the past enjoyed
an abundance of natural heavenly light and comfortable darkness, without streetlights,
headlights, and light pollution found in all our cities across the world. In the cities of today,
it is almost impossible to see the night sky as Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Elisabeth, Jesus,
and the early Latter-day Saints did.
“They also enjoyed a natural silence, with few man-made sounds interrupting their days and especially their nights. Modern noise from cars, planes, and something some of you may refer to as music has completely drowned out the natural world. (You have to understand, from my generation, what you think is music and what I think is music—we’re a long ways apart.) You can no longer go to a restaurant without music being played in the background. Even in remote forests in the world, the silence is often broken by the flight of a jet above inthe sky.
“Finally, the people of earlier times experienced solitude in ways we cannot imagine in our crowded and busy world. Even when we are alone today, we can be tuned in with our
handheld devices, laptops, and TVs to keep us entertained and occupied.
“As an Apostle, I now ask you a question: Do you have any personal quiet time? I have wondered if those who lived in the past had more opportunity than we do now to see, feel, and experience the presence of the Spirit in their lives.
“Seemingly, as our world gets brighter, louder, and busier, we have a greater challenge
feeling the Spirit in our lives. If your life is void of quiet time, would you begin tonight to
seek for some?
“It is important to be still and listen and follow the Spirit. We simply have too many
distractions to capture our attention, unlike any time in the history of the world.
“Everyone needs time to meditate and contemplate. Even the Savior of the world,
during His mortal ministry, found time to do so: ‘And when he had sent the
multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening
was come, he was there alone.’
“We all need time to ask ourselves questions or to have a regular personal interview with ourselves. We are often so busy and the world is so loud that it is difficult to hear the
heavenly words ‘be still, and know that I am God.’”
In this world of noise, of chatter, of opposing voices, do you make the time to be still?
Do you relax your mind and body long enough to detect spiritual things? Do you take
time every day to slow down, to really listen, and to pay attention? Do you make time
to tune into the Spirit, God, and those things or eternal significance? Do you rush from
activity to activity, from commitment to commitment day after day, week after week? Is
your day bursting to overflowing with appointments and to do-lists? Do you hit the
ground running and keep up the pace all day long?
In this day and age we have more information, opportunities, and interactions with others available right at our fingertips than ever before. Previous generations would likely not
believe it possible. It’s like drinking from the fire hose, though. Just because it’s available
doesn’t automatically mean we are making use of it. We are surrounded by resources,
yet how can we avoid drowning in them? The key is deciphering between what is important
and what isn’t. It is learning to be able to give attention to that which is meaningful and
turn away from that which is merely a distraction, no matter how seemingly harmless
it may be. And not just on a general level, but again, personally.
Why has there been such an emphasis on Sabbath day observance from our leaders in recent years? Listen to this one reason in light of learning to be still. “What did the Savior
mean when He said that ‘the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath’?
I believe He wanted us to understand that the Sabbath was His gift to us, granting real
respite from the rigors of daily life and an opportunity for spiritual and physical renewal.
God gave us this special day, not for amusement or daily labor but for a rest from duty, with
a day during which we can be still. It is because God knows we need to set aside time to be
still and be able to sink down and relax in.
Contrast this fast-paced, overloaded world with what Sister Wixom describes as her beautiful definition of be still. "Have you discovered the peace you can feel when you are alone, when the world is quiet and your thoughts explore into the corners of your mind, when you can quietly pray and talk to God and then take the time to listen for His response? Jeremiah teaches us there is rest for those who quietly walk with God. He said, 'Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk [walk with God] therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.' 'Be still, and know that I
am God.'"
I love the way she describes this time to be still! If you have yet to “[discover]” this peace, I invite you to do so now. TODAY. Let’s walk together in this process. Let’s experiment and
discover together.
Do you feel the contrast in busyness and being still? Are you already reflecting on your ownlife, your own routine, your own way of being right now? For me, busyness feels rushed.
It feels hollow and empty---full of hot air. It is fleeting as I am off to the next task. It seems
concentrated on appearances or at a superficial level. Be still for me feels refreshing and
filling. It is focused, purposeful, and thoughtful. It is an emphasis on those things that last.
It is making a conscious choice to accomplish some things and allow others to be left
undone.
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