The Duty to God program has been established by the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to help young men learn about their priesthood duties as Deacon, Teacher or Priest, choose activities to reinforce what they've learned, and encourage them to share with their peers. To set an example, I've followed the model for myself.
My goals that I've set are in the following areas:
SPIRITUAL STRENGTH
Pray and Study the Scriptures:
-Buy scriptures on CD to play in the car. I am in a vanpool, (of like minded religious people), for 2 hours a day, (1 hour each way), so this was an easy way to get to hear and think about the scriptures more than I do currently.
-Family prayer on the 8's, (meaning 8 a.m. and 8 p.m). We actually do pretty good about this as I call or Skype in from work on weekday mornings. Where we tend to fall short is on the weekends when the schedule isn't as rigid, and it sometimes gets missed. I would like to change that.
Live Worthily:
The three sections of the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet that I have selected, and their goals are:
-Physical Health. I don't consider myself out of shape, but I do find it challenging to get exercise in with my full schedule. My goal here is to find something that I enjoy so that it's not so difficult to overcome that "do I have to get up and do this?" mentality. I think it will end up being hiking in the Spring-Fall months and snow-shoeing in the winter. Do I hear new gear? :-)
-Education. The reason I chose this is because I'm at a point in my career that something needs to happen to move to the next level. Whether that means going after a Master's degree or some expanded training, I'm not sure. The goal is to define that by the end of the year.
-Agency and Accountability. I want to evaluate my life and keep the "best" things, even if that means eliminating some of the "good". If I'm too busy to make it to the temple each month, then some thing or things need to go.
Understand Doctrine:
The four doctrinal topics that I have selected are:
-Priesthood and Priesthood keys
-Prayer and Personal Revelation
-Agency
-Covenants and Ordinances
PRIESTHOOD DUTIES
Administer Priesthood Ordinances:
-Do more to focus on the the meaning of the sacrament. This could be by reading the scriptures during that time.
Serve Others:
-Find a service project that can be done as a family, and that can be repeated regularly.
Invite All to Come Unto Christ
-Write this blog and share it on my Facebook account. (That was easy).
FOR THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH
Physical Health.
I hate to be overly excessively redundant, (yes, that is sarcasm). I've already made goals in this area, so I've got nothing new to add here.
