Soul Searching

With General Conference coming up, I have been trying to decide what questions I hope to have answered. I am excited to further study out in my mind such ideas in preparation for this upcoming weekend, and I hope that my scripture studies in this time frame will help me to do so. I really enjoy Mark 8:36, which reads:

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"

Here I will 1) explain what this verse means to me, 2) explain the principle in this passage, and 3) apply it to our own lives.

Again, I have noticed that lately my priorities have been out of focus. I am worried about academic achievements and the how successful my social endeavors will be where I live next year, and what projects I need to work on this summer. I spend time on Pinterest looking at dream homes and Instagram looking at dream lives. For me, this verse means that I need to continually re-center myself so that I do not 'lose my soul.'

The principle in simple terms is this: worldly recognitions and treasures are not worth the risk of sacrificing your spiritual well-being.

I really struggle when my religion courses require me to do a certain amount of scripture reading each day. When this is assigned as homework, I find it incredibly difficult to make such scripture study meaningful, and instead I find it a chore. I seek the 'world' through my desire to get good grades, but lose my 'soul' by not profiting from the scripture study.

In order to best apply this to our own lives, we need to think about the eternal consequences of achieving our goals. If I become published in an academic journal, which I hope to do, I will possibly have recognition in this life and a sense of accomplishment for the next few years. If I spend that same amount of time doing family history work, I would have little gratitude in this life, but eternal thanks in the world to come. Both are good goals, however one is of the world and will not bring the same happiness that the other will. It is only through the spiritual that we can achieve this great success.