Feast Upon the Words of Christ

Yesterday my seven-year-old daughter expressed frustration after her soccer game. She explained to me that she was not able to focus on the ball because of a squirrel that was running across a power line and distracting her. She exclaimed, “I couldn’t focus on the ball because of that dumb squirrel running across the power line!” Her attention was taken away from the game for a while because of the squirrel, and she was upset because she didn’t focus like she had wanted to. As I thought about her experience, I realized that it has perhaps a lesson for us in our lives. There are usually many things that try to distract us from what is most important that we should be doing. It can be hard to figuratively keep our eyes on the ball because there are so many distractions that try to get our attention and pull us away from what matters most. The most important thing for us to focus on is the Savior and His gospel, and we should strive to not let other things in the world pull us away from that. President Nelson taught, “As we diligently focus on the Savior and then follow His pattern of focusing on joy, we need to avoid those things that can interrupt our joy. Remember Korihor, the anti-Christ? Spewing falsehoods about the Savior, Korihor went from place to place until he was brought before a high priest who asked him: ‘Why do ye go about perverting the ways of the Lord? Why do ye teach this people that there shall be no Christ, to interrupt their rejoicings?’” In the Book of Mormon, Korihor tried to make the people lose focus on what was most important and pull them away from the Savior. But we must strive to put Him first and not let anything become more important in our lives than Him.

                Elder Kelly Johnson of the Seventy once told a story about distractions in a basketball game. He explained how in high school he had the opportunity to play at the Marriot Center at BYU against a challenging opponent in a tournament. He related that the opposing team was “very intense defensively. Their defensive pressure was like nothing I had ever played against. The player guarding me would position himself so we were face-to-face—seriously, just inches apart. He also loved to trash talk. The pressure began to get to me as I struggled to shake my opponent enough to even touch the ball. A scramble for a loose ball resulted in a jump ball. Following the call, our coach immediately called a time-out. We gathered in a huddle around our coach to receive his direction. Following the time-out, we returned to the court and lined up around the circle at the foul line for the jump ball. My teammate tipped the ball to me. I immediately made a spin move and rose for a wide-open jump shot. As I released my shot, I heard gasps and laughter coming from the crowd … I had shot at the wrong basket.” That must have been terribly embarrassing, and he told how he has thought often about that experience and what he has learned from it. He said, “What happened? Why did I shoot at the wrong basket? It happened because I lost focus during the time-out called by my coach, and I also became so intimidated by the defensive pressure of my opponent and his trash talking that I lost focus on more important things in the game, such as which basket was mine.” Just like the squirrel distracted my daugher from the soccer ball, the pressure of the game and the opposing team distracted him from where his own hoop was. Elder Johnson continued, “I have learned that I must be careful and not allow myself to become distracted or to lose focus on things that matter most. If we are not careful, we can easily get distracted and divert our energies to less important things.” None of us want to shoot at the wrong basket, but if we do not focus on what is most important, we can find ourselves in our lives giving our time and energy to the wrong things.  

                So how do we stay focused on the Savior? A great place to start is with daily time in the scriptures. Nephi encouraged us in these words, “Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do” (2 Nephi 32:3). Just as we do not forget to eat, we should not forget to feast spiritually on the scriptures every day. As we do that, they help us to put everything else in perspective and make sure we are putting the Savior first in our lives. Even when figurative squirrels are running around us, reading the scriptures each day will help us stay focused on those things that matter most.