Just a Little Food for Thought

So, I finished the Book of Mormon on Saturday and was planning on just starting it again yesterday. However at ward conference, our Stake President challenged us (along with the entire stake) to read the Doctrine and Covenants this year and gave us some neat promises if we did so. Since I'm not nearly as familiar with it as I am the BOM, I decided to use with it an old D&C student manual that I think I inherited from one of my siblings. In it is an excerpt from President Kimball's The Miracle of Forgiveness that I found really thought-provoking. Maybe it's no coincidence that this is coming immediately after my post about our new car and as we've been looking at houses out in Alabama. It made me stop and do some reevaluating of my and my family's priorities as President Kimball pointed out some things in such a way that I'd never thought of before. He certainly doesn't mince words. Any thoughts?? (Sorry about the spacing. I can't figure it out and it frustrates me to no end!)

"Idolatry is among the most serious of sins. There are unfortunately millions today who prostrate themselves before images of gold and sliver and wood and stone and clay. But the idolatry we are most concerned with here is the conscious worshipping of still other gods. Some are of metal and plush and chrome, of wood and stone and fabrics. They are not in the image of god or of man, but are developed to give man comfort and enjoyment, to satisfy his wants, ambitions, passions, and desires. Some are in no physical form at all, but are intangible.

"Modern idols or false gods can take such forms as clothes, homes, businesses, machines, automobiles, pleasure boats, and numerous other material deflectors from the path to godhood. What difference does it make that the item concerned is not shaped like an idol? Brigham Young said: 'I would as soon see a man worshipping a little god made of brass or of wood as to see him worshipping his property.'

"Intangible things make just as ready gods. Degrees and letters and titles can become idols. Many young men decide to attend college when they should be on a misison first. The degree, and the wealth and the security which come through it, appear so desirable that the mission takes second place. Some neglect Church service through their college years, feeling to give preference to the secular training and ignoring the the spiritual covenants they have made.

"Many people build and furnish a home and buy the automobile first - and then find they 'cannot afford' to pay tithing. Whom do they worship? Certainly not the Lord of heaven and earth, for we serve whom we love and give first consideration to the object of our affection and desires. Young married couples who postpone parenthood until their degrees are attained might be shocked if their expressed preference were labled idolatry."