I am going to preach a hard doctrine to you now. The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. It is a hard doctrine, but it is true. The many other things we give to God, however nice that may be of us, are actually things He has already given us, and He has loaned them to us. But when we begin to submit ourselves by letting our wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him. And that hard doctrine lies at the center of discipleship. There is a part of us that is ultimately sovereign, the mind and heart, where we really do decide which way to go and what to do. And when we submit to His will, then we’ve really given Him the one final thing He asks of us. And the other things are not very, very important. It is the only possession we have that we can give, and there is no lessening of our agency as a result. Instead, what we see is a flowering of our talents and more and more surges of joy.
Elder Neil A. Maxwell, "Insights From My Life", Ensign, August 2000
Every day, every hour, even every minute we are confronted with a given decision to make. There are essential things to do, because this life has a purpose. There are important but not essential things to accomplish, because of our roles. And there are non-important, non-essential things in our lives that can waste a lot of time.
Trick is to find the right balance.
Any neglect in one area will have an effect on the others. In other words, we cannot solely focus on our testimonies and neglect our temporal responsibilities, like money and budgets, or a job. And vice-versa.
However....if we have to neglect something in life, we absolutely cannot afford to neglect our relationship with God and everything that goes with that. As Elder Maxwell says, the only thing we can give to God, that He already doesn't have, is submission of our wills. He will never just take it. We have to offer it to Him.
Everything else is nothing in comparison to doing that. Remember, there are bad things we could be doing. There are not-so-good things to do that aren't as bad. Then there are good things, and then there are better things to do and then there are the best things to do.
Our quest is to not neglect the best things in order to do the good things, or even the bad things.
Balance is a must.
