What Are We Busy about?

"It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?"

-- Henry David Thoreau

I love this quote because it seems like everybody is so busy doing nothing worthwhile. Everybody is always too busy to do the important things in life.  I really noticed this during my mission when we would follow up on people.  It seems like everybody had the excuse that they were too busy to get around to doing what they had committed to do. I.e. reading their scriptures and praying. 

It was then that I realized that busyness is not a matter of time but a matter of choice.  How do we choose to fill our time? 

Here are a few quotes from a talk given by President Uchtdorf at the October 2010 General Conference:

"Let’s be honest; it’s rather easy to be busy. We all can think up a list of tasks that will overwhelm our schedules. Some might even think that their self-worth depends on the length of their to-do list. ...Because they unnecessarily complicate their lives, they often feel increased frustration, diminished joy, and too little sense of meaning in their lives.

"It is said that any virtue when taken to an extreme can become a vice. Overscheduling our days would certainly qualify for this. There comes a point where milestones can become millstones and ambitions, albatrosses around our necks."

"The wise... resist the temptation to get caught up in the frantic rush of everyday life."

"Strength comes not from frantic activity but from being settled on a firm foundation of truth and light. It comes from placing our attention and efforts on the basics of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It comes from paying attention to the divine things that matter most." 

 -- Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Of Things That Matter Most, October 2010

Life is too short to waste it on nonsense.  Choose to fill it wisely and do those things that matter most.

That's my two cents.