Sunday, November 7, 2010

President Hunter & the Balanced Life...

On Friday night we attended a BYU Management Awards Dinner to recognize the distinguished service of Don Ainge and Richard and Nan Hunter. One highlight of the evening was seeing friends from our Almaden Country School days (esp. Principal Jean Delwiche).

President Hunter's remarks are worth noting. He talked about a time in his life when he was too busy to do everything on his plate. He was a young dad, starting his law career, and serving as a new bishop.

In his struggle to find a good balance he ordered self-help tape cassettes he saw advertised in a sky mall airline magazine. The first thing the tapes encouraged him to do was list the things he valued in life and then assess where he spent the bulk of his time.

As President Hunter considered the things he valued he recognized the need for a spiritual component to overarch every area in his life. Without that spiritual component, he felt like none of the other things really mattered much. With it, he found peace and hope in every area.

For President Hunter this realization was a watershed event! The simple message of maintaining that spiritual component in his life changed him. It changed the way he practiced law, it changed his church service, it changed his parenting.

Furthermore, President Hunter noticed the balance he'd been searching for fell naturally into place as he approached things with spiritual eyes. Not a bad approach to find balance!

"Mankind is meant to serve each other." -Richard A. Hunter