"Some young people are amusing themselves to death—spiritual death." - Dallin H. Oaks, "Good, Better, Best", October 2007 General Conference

I was recently pondering what I had done in the past week and settled my thoughts on a significant amount of time and effort that I had spent on determining the entertainment I wanted to participate in or have available for me to view. I had picked out some great shows to watch or things to do! What caused me to reflect was the emphasis I had placed on it. Good, clean entertainment is important in today's world and it can be a wholesome thing. But part of me wondered if it might not just be young people who might be "amusing themselves to death."

Obviously life brings with it an ebb and flow of where our time and attention goes, but this question gave me pause and might be a useful tool to, on occasion, take a measurement of where we are at with this, "Do I spend more time planning and pursuing my entertainment than I do my spirituality?"

President Brigham Young said: “The worst fear that I have about [members of this Church] is that they will get rich in this country, forget God and his people, wax fat, and kick themselves out of the Church and go to hell. This people will stand mobbing, robbing, poverty, and all manner of persecution, and be true. But my greater fear for them is that they cannot stand wealth; and yet they have to be tried with riches, for they will become the richest people on this earth” (in Preston Nibley, Brigham Young: The Man and His Work [1936], 128).

In reality, this "test" is most likely just the modern day challenge that has always been extended to God's people - will we "choose" his way and his goals, or will we choose our own? I heard one of my Church leaders today mention that part of our life's challenges is to come to love the things of God (scriptures, temple, gospel) more than the other things of the world.

The following questions might be useful for reflection:
1. Am I successfully having regular personal religious practice (PRP) daily (prayer, scripture study, etc)? (I'm willing to bet that we find time for our favorite kinds of entertainment daily/regularly)?
2. How much time do I spend daily or weekly on my favorite entertainment activity? (tv, books, movies, video games, scrapbooking, etc)
3. How much time do I spend on church service or my (PRP)?

The point of these reflections is to identify areas to improve, not to initiate feelings of guilt, and to help encourage a wise balance.(Mosiah 4:27). While we will likely never find time for all of the things we'd like or even "need" to do, as we strive to establish the appropriate balance in the leisure and spiritual aspects of our life, we can find the peace and confidence the Lord has promised those who seek to diligently obey.