"This Life" - First Day of Homeschool

Even though my teens started their LDS Seminary and a couple of other classes at the high school over a week ago, today was the first day of the new homeschool year at our house. 

The theme I decided on for this year is a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote that I've always loved on a Mary Engelbreit print I have hanging in my house.

"Make the most of yourself ...for that is all there is of you."

To introduce that theme today, we watched the following video.

That amazing song was written and performed by a young man, Nick Neel, for the 2015 LDS Mutual Theme Album (which you can download here). Here is Nick, and the story behind the song, which we read and discussed today.

“This Life” is about living up to our potential and not wasting life on trivial pursuits.
It’s a reminder I needed. For a long time, I found ways to do the least amount of work for the greatest amount of “reward” in the moment, but in the long run, I was really hurting myself and limiting the chances I could have. 

Music moves me more than anything, so I decided to write this song to help me with my own problems and hopefully help others with the same problems because, like the song says, “Life is just a matter of time.” 

Ranking up in video games, burying our heads in our phones, or updating our social status take time away from the good we can do. Instead, we should use this time to help others and improve ourselves. 

Make Every Second Count 

Near the beginning of the song, there is the line “Let’s make every second count.”
I pause a little before the word make to draw attention to this line. It is the essence of the song and something that we all can do a little better at. I’m not saying we need to spend every waking moment serving in some great way, but we do need to take time to help others. We also need to take time to improve ourselves so we can be prepared and ready to help others. There are many ways of doing that. Studying scriptures, focusing on school, and attending church are ways, but making friends and doing fun things that help you grow are just as important. 

We Have Everything We Need 

Another line I really like is “If we use what we’ve been given, we’re promised so much more.” 

What we’ve been given, whatever that may be, is exactly what we need to accomplish what we are meant to do here. 

For example, Joseph Smith had the determination to press forward and build something that many others would be too afraid to build. 

Nephi had the creativity to build a bow and arrow from scratch to obtain food and press forward in the wilderness with his family. 

These traits are often overlooked, but through these examples we can see that when we use “what we’ve been given,” great things can happen. 

A Mission Only You Can Do 

Regardless of your talents or abilities, whatever you have or can do is exactly what you need to bring people unto Christ and fulfill the mission that only you can do. If you take the time to cultivate these skills and let them grow, you will be able to use them to help Heavenly Father’s kingdom grow. 

When we see Him again we will be able to say that we didn’t waste our time. We stood up and spent our time in “this life” being His hands. We can look Him in the face and say, “I did my best!”