Recently I had the chance to go to Los Angeles for a week and I knew that one of the top things I wanted to do while visiting was go to the LDS temple. My flight left for LA after I had worked a 12 hour night shift with no chance to sleep before leaving so by the time I got to LA I was running on an hour of sleep. The opportunity to go to the temple came up and I took it. On the way there I started getting sleepy and kept thinking, “oh no, if I’m already getting tired theres no way I’ll stay awake while I’m inside the temple.”

But something changed as I pulled into the parking lot. I was suddenly awake with excitement. I walked around for a little bit outside and was amazed. There was so much noise since the temple is located on a busy street, but yet I felt so much peace and quiet within my heart. This beautiful temple is in one spot and you look around to see not far away a skyline of big cities with hustle and bustle in the next spot over. Spending 4 hours serving inside the Los Angeles temple that night I was overcome with gratefulness that this gospel is the same no matter where we are.

It got me thinking about priorities within my life. The gospel fell to to the top of my list and making the gospel a priority in life can be hard especially when there are so many things that contribute to our daily lives. But as I thought about it I realized, the other priorities that I have in life wouldn’t even be there if it wasn’t for this gospel. As you make this gospel a priority, Heavenly Father recognizes that. He knows that it isn’t easy, He knows that there are so many other things you could be putting your time towards, He knows that sometimes putting this gospel first takes sacrifice, and He will not allow you to make sacrifices for this gospel without being blessed in return.

This gospel has been the biggest part of my life ever since I became active again, but it wasn’t always my very first priority. Making it a priority did not happen over night for me, in fact I just recently began making Heavenly Father and his church my first priority.

Here are some ways I began making this gospel become one of my top priorities:

-Daily scripture study, not just reading but actually processing what I read.

-Praying each morning and night.

-Attending the entire time at church regardless of what other things I could be getting done.

-More consistant temple attendance.

-Doing my best to be more Christlike.

-Finding blessings to be grateful for even on the tough days.

What ways do you make the gospel a priority in your life? I’d love to hear! Please comment below or shoot me an email.

XOXO

Lex