Reflections of a Consecrated Life

Every once in a while I hear or read something that truly inspires me in its entirety. It's one of those books or articles or talks in which every printed or spoken word leaps out leaves an imprint on me. Yesterday I experienced this with a talk I first listened to on CD, and then came home and immediately pulled it out of the General Conference issue of the Ensign Magazine. It was entitled "Reflections of a Consecrated Life" by Elder D. Todd Christofferson.

One of the great challenges of day to day living in this life is deciding how to spend the time we have been endowed with. Once we have turned our eyes to Jesus Christ, and committed to following him, there is more, much more to be done. While the gift of his grace is free, and naught that we do could earn our salvation, there is certainly found within the books of scripture a plea from on high that we try to devote the gift of our life in serving and honouring him. This is what Christofferson calls a "consecrated life."

In a time when so much is vying for our attention, when there are many "good, better, and best" things to which we could attend, this article outlined to me some simple ways in which I can consecrate my own life to God's purposes.

The talk was not long, but so full of good information that I wanted to digest it, ponder on it, and discuss it with myself in portions, so that I may savour each course, enjoying the tantalizing morsels one by one, so that I might better remember its words of wisdom in time to come. I will call this, then, the beginning of a "series" of five parts, in which I reflect myself on the five aspects noted as part of a consecrated life: purity, work, respect for one's body, service, and integrity.