Putting the “Savor” Back into My Discipleship
I left conference with a new list, one that’s focused on bonding me to Jesus Christ.
I really love making lists.
Especially to-do lists. I make them almost every day, noting down all the things I want to accomplish and then crossing them off one by one. I find great satisfaction in seeing a piece of paper full of little lines, documenting everything I’ve accomplished in a day.
But lately, I’ve felt like my lists haven’t been very effective. It’s hard to know when I can cross “Be there for my mom after the death of her father” off my list. “Help my husband adjust to medical school” isn’t a one-time task, and “Support my friend who just had a baby” can’t really be accomplished in one day.
Instead of helping me stay organized, my already-overflowing lists have started to feel overwhelming. As I told a friend, I’m technically doing everything on my list; I’m just doing a mediocre job at all of it. I turn in all of my school assignments, even if I only get OK grades. I’ve eaten a lot of frozen pizzas in the last two weeks, but I try to add veggies as a side. And I work hard at my job, but I’ve been making more mistakes than usual.
And that’s where things were at as general conference approached. Nothing was falling apart (yet); things were just “meh.” Busy. A bit of a slog.
But conference reminded me how to put the flavor—or savor—back into my life and my discipleship.
Finding Divine Purpose
To be honest, I did not prepare spiritually for this conference as much as I meant to. Instead of approaching it with intention, I felt like I’d been swept along by a fast current in the weeks before, only realizing I’d failed to prepare when I washed up on shore just in time for the first session.
But when Elder José A. Teixeira of the Seventy began talking about “losing our savor,” I knew Heavenly Father was providing an answer to the question I hadn’t made time to ask.
I felt very seen and known when Elder Teixeira spoke this truth: “We may look the same on the outside, but without a strong inner faith, we lose our ability to make a difference in the world and bring out the best in those around us.”
From an outsider’s perspective, I was doing fine. I was keeping up with my to-do list, including my spiritual tasks: reading my scriptures, praying, and going through the motions with my callings.
But I hadn’t realized how much I was struggling to pay attention to those bigger things. Things like “Develop closer relationships with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ” or “Find real joy in serving others.”
I’d missed the forest for the trees. I’d become so focused on crossing things off my list that I’d forgotten—the list wasn’t the ultimate goal. Having a life “filled with purpose and service” was.
The Heart of Our Faith
I’d thought that accomplishing so many things in a day would bring me purpose and fulfillment. But I was “deprived of divine purpose,” and my many tasks felt suffocating instead of meaningful.
I left conference with a new list, one that’s focused on bonding me to Jesus Christ and bringing the savor—and the Savior—back to my life.
When we feel our discipleship start to falter or we feel like we are losing our savor, we can refocus on what really matters. We can “find the heart of our faith in Jesus Christ and the soul of our devotion to Him.”
Because He isn’t just an item to cross off our to-do lists.