“A Time to Every Purpose under Heaven”

Objective: To understand that part of our earthly stewardship is learning to manage time wisely.

As Latter-day Saint women, we struggle with many roles and expectations. We may have the responsibilities of wife and mother; church callings; a home and sometimes a garden to care for; homemaking tasks such as cooking, preserving food where we can, and sewing; personal scripture study; regular journal keeping; perhaps daily exercise; perhaps an outside job or at-home money making activity; perhaps the need to care for an elderly parent; and so forth.

While we should be “anxiously engaged in a good cause” (see D&C 58:27), the Lord does not say we should be anxiously engaged in every good cause all at the same time. A woman may have several goals, such as to raise righteous children, do volunteer work at a hospital, get a college degree, do genealogical research, or serve a mission. But to pursue all of them at the same time leads to discouragement and frustration.

“I have had people tell me, ‘Oh, you’ve done so many things,’” says Barbara Winder, Relief Society General President. “I tell them, ‘But I’ve lived so many years!’ There really is a season for everything. I couldn’t possibly do today what I’m doing as Relief Society general president if my children were small and still at home and I were caring for them. …

“This is a lesson we all have to learn. Only we can judge how much we can handle. We often think that someone else is doing everything [at the same time]. But usually one sister is doing one thing, and another sister is doing something else, and yet another sister is doing another thing. Then we try to do it all! And when we fail to ‘do it all’ we finally realize that we can’t do it all. As we learn what we can do, we are growing; and then sometimes we can take on a little more—perhaps because of what we have learned in the process.”

An artist at her canvas has vision of how the final painting should look. She sketches many intermediate outlines as she proceeds. It is wise for a woman at any stage of life to visualize the person she wants to become. She should ask herself, “What can I be doing at this stage in my life?” instead of yearning for goals best left for later.

It’s pointless for a woman with four small children to care for to continually yearn to be serving a full-time mission. It is unwise for a missionary to continually dream about being a mother. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.” (Eccl. 3:1.)

Priorities, commitments, and desires often pull us in opposite directions. By relying on the Spirit of the Lord, we can have the assurance that we have chosen the right course. There are no trivial, unimportant tasks in the Lord’s kingdom. “Be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.” (D&C 64:33.)

Suggestions for Visiting Teaching

1. Do you have unrealized goals that you feel it is too late to accomplish? Is it really too late, or just more difficult?

2. Discuss how Relief Society lessons and association with the sisters strengthen us to work on goals that will bring personal growth, glorify God, and lead us back into his presence.