--- title: How Will You Measure Life? date: 2025-11-10T08:36:00-07:00 author: Matt Bloomfield canonical_url: "https://www.mlj.one/church/talks/how-will-you-measure-life" section: Blog --- [ ← Church Talks ](https://www.mlj.one/church/talks) Talk November 10, 2025 # How Will You Measure Life? Themed after the legendary talk by Clay Christiansen, I gave this talk on October 19th 2025 in the Snowflake 10th Ward Sacrament Meeting at the historic Main Street Chapel in Snowflake, Arizona, per an assignment from President Todd Burk. . --- I was thinking as I was sitting here about the first time I spoke from this pulpit. I was a freshly returned missionary speaking with a high councilman. I remember I was very nervous and also felt my preparation was lacking. At least one of those things is still true today. A few weeks before that I had been sitting with my mission president in his office in Stockholm Sweden. I was preparing to leave the mission and he was talking to me about going home. At one point he asked me a question that took me by surprise: “What is your plan to stay active in the church?” Up until that point I guess I’d never thought of that. I just went to church. My family went to church - I’d struggled to gain a testimony as a teenager but I never even thought of not going to church - it wasn’t an option. Obviously as a missionary I was active and wanted to be. But what my mission president was highlighting for me became a critical observation about what my future could *possibly* include. I’m not sure what my answer was, but I’ve never forgotten the question. I ponder it often as I think about my spiritual preparation for General Conference, the Temple, Family Home Evening, and even weekly church attendance. It often brings to mind a humorous moment from a high council speaker in a little town in Sweden who said, approximately, “Many people think answers like reading your scriptures, saying your prayers, and going to church are elementary but I’ve never met someone who is doing those things become inactive.” ### Scriptures Yesterday morning I was studying the attributes of Christ with my 8-year-old daughter. After reading a passage from Moroni she asked me if I had something she could use to mark the verse because, “it gave me special feelings when I read it.” There’s a reason we are asked to do these simple things - because they create and enhance our connection to God through His Spirit. I’ve noticed that this is a place where perfect can easily become the enemy of good. Reading five verses a day is better than nothing at all. ### Prayer As I attended General Conference this year I decided to follow the counsel I first received from my first mission president’s wife in the hallowed halls of the Stockholm Sweden temple. She testified that one way of receiving revelation was to come to a spiritual place with a question in mind. “A question gives the Spirit an opportunity to testify!” she would say. My question at this conference was simply, “How do I become a better Dad for my kids?” Within a few minutes of the meeting’s start I received a distinct impression that I share with you now, “Pray. Spend more time in your prayers. Talk to me.” While I continued to note impressions throughout the meeting this one was the loudest - almost a reprimand. As if he was saying, “I’ve given you this great opportunity to communicate with me and you are not taking advantage of it!” In the days since general conference I have tried to apply this guidance - and I am finding it is not easy. My mind is often racing, thinking about so much that I cannot focus on the prayer. It is forcing me to slow down and be mindful about the things I focus on. It is allowing me to carve out space for what is most important. Through prayer, Heavenly Father is teaching me how to focus and on what to focus. I have experienced what Paul describes in Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” ### Church Attendance When my wife and I were first married we moved from Utah where we’d been going to school to Virginia for me to take a job. We were excited about the adventure and what the next steps would bring. Just before moving we took a celebratory trip to California and happened to go to church in beautiful Yorba Linda. It was the friendliest ward I’ve ever been to - at least 10 different parties greeted us after the meeting, complimenting our little family and making us feel so welcome. As we went to church our first week at the Fort Belvoir ward in Virginia we were shocked to find out that every ward wasn’t quite so welcoming. In fact, no one noticed us at all, or if they did they certainly didn’t tell us about it. We invited the missionaries over a week or two later and they told us, “We thought you were just visitors because you seemed so happy!” Being in that ward was difficult. When I gave a talk to introduce our family I was handed a note in red pen at 3 minutes till the hour with just the words: “SIT DOWN!” in all caps. The relief society president never figured out who my wife was and constantly got her mixed up with another lady in the ward who was pregnant at the time. It was the first time for my wife and I that we’d been tempted not to go. No one would miss us. The church was far away. It felt easier not to make the effort. But we did it anyway, and I’m so glad we did. After a year we found a house to buy, moved, and the one other family in the ward we’d made friends with followed us to a new town, and a new, much friendlier ward. We are still close to them to this day. But the lesson was deeper - it gave us empathy for those in our future wards who might feel like they are on the outside. My wife and I became committed to trying to help everyone feel welcome. ### Holding to Your Principles In the legendary address entitled, “How Will You Measure Your Life,” Harvard professor and fellow member of the church Clay Christiansen shares an experience to help us re-evaluate our commitment to the principles we hold dear. “I’d like to share a story about how I came to understand the potential damage of “just this once” in my own life. I played on the Oxford University varsity basketball team. We worked our tails off and finished the season undefeated. The guys on the team were the best friends I’ve ever had in my life. We got to the British equivalent of the NCAA tournament—and made it to the final four. It turned out the championship game was scheduled to be played on a Sunday. I had made a personal commitment to God at age 16 that I would never play ball on Sunday. So I went to the coach and explained my problem. He was incredulous. My teammates were, too, because I was the starting center. Every one of the guys on the team came to me and said, “You’ve got to play. Can’t you break the rule just this one time?” “I’m a deeply religious man, so I went away and prayed about what I should do. I got a very clear feeling that I shouldn’t break my commitment—so I didn’t play in the championship game. “In many ways that was a small decision—involving one of several thousand Sundays in my life. In theory, surely I could have crossed over the line just that one time and then not done it again. But looking back on it, resisting the temptation whose logic was “In this extenuating circumstance, just this once, it’s OK” has proven to be one of the most important decisions of my life. Why? My life has been one unending stream of extenuating circumstances. Had I crossed the line that one time, I would have done it over and over in the years that followed. “The lesson I learned from this is that it’s easier to hold to your principles 100% of the time than it is to hold to them 98% of the time. If you give in to “just this once,” based on a marginal cost analysis, as some of my former classmates have done, you’ll regret where you end up. You’ve got to define for yourself what you stand for and draw the line in a safe place. ### Keeping Your Covenants Most of us have made covenants regarding our activity in the church and commitment to the Savior. These sacred promises are something we should cherish, and if we do the blessings associated will be endless. In Doctrine and Covenants 58:3–4, the Lord tells us: “Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation. “For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory.” These decisions are not something we can make a new decision about on a day-by-day basis. It’s serious business! As President Nelson reminded us, “once we make a covenant with God, we leave neutral ground forever.” We’re in this thing till the end, and thank Goodness. I find it helpful to reflect on the various promises we have made in covenants throughout our lives. - Baptism - we covenant to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, - to always remember Him, and - to keep His commandments. - We also promise “to serve him to the end” - Oath & Covenant of the Priesthood - Live worthy of the priesthood - Magnify our callings - Endowment - Too sacred to discuss - our promise to obey and sacrifice, to consecrate unto the Father, and His promise to empower us with ‘a great endowment.’” - Sealing - Faithfulness to God - Faithfulness to spouse While this may seem like a lot to remember, we have also been given key ways to remember our commitments. Each week we take the sacrament. We are asked to attend the temple often. For those who are endowed, the temple garment i a precious, sacred reminder we keep with us all the time. And, of course, pictures of the Savior, the temple, and other religious art helps to point us to Christ. ### The Atonement of Jesus Christ And, why Christ? Mosiah teaches us in chapter 3:17: “And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.” I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and the encouragement to repent daily. In 1 John 1:9, we are promised, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We know that Christ wants to succor us, that “his bowels \[are\] filled with mercy”, and that He will stand as “the mediator between God and men.” (1 Timothy 2:5). We also know that he promises that, “as often as my people repent, I will forgive them their trespasses against me.” How blessed we are to have access to the atonement of Jesus Christ. I have experienced the cleansing and renewing effects of the atonement and I can testify of the reality of that in my life. I hope that each of us can experience that for ourselves. ### Conclusion I want to end this talk where I started, sitting back in that little office in Stockholm Sweden, pondering the question, “What is your plan to stay active in the church?” While I think the answer will vary for each of us at different points in our lives I can testify that reading the scriptures, spending time in meaningful prayer, and repenting when we do not measure up to our covenants is a solid base to stand on. It has brought me closer to Christ, it has brought peace to my life, and the heavenly direction I need in moments that matter. I testify that Jesus is our Savior and our God and in his name I testify, amen.