This year the lights would go to the highest point on the roof. I was determined. But, how to get all the way up there? My 18-foot ladder didn't even come close. Aha! I've got it. I began lashing the bottom rungs of the ladder to the top rungs of my extension ladder. The perfect solution! Or so it seemed until my wife came out to find me precariously balancing atop the highest ladder. She scolded my lack of wisdom and even questioned my sanity.

"Since when are flashy Christmas lights more important than my being left a widow and your children fatherless?"

A lack of moderation in our lives will leave us out of balance. Some of us eat excessively while others ignore healthful nutrition. Some sleep too much, others not enough. Some ignore proper body health and conditioning, while others almost worship the physical body. All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy, but putting recreation before family, work and spiritual development is a costly error. (See O. Don Ostler, Ensign, June 1983.)

Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve warned: "Are there so many fascinating, exciting things to do or so many challenges pressing down upon you that it is hard to keep focused on that which is essential? When things of the world crowd in, all too often the wrong things take highest priority. Then it is easy to forget the fundamental purpose of life. Satan has a powerful tool to use against good people. It is distraction. He would have good people fill life with 'good things' so there is no room for the essential ones" (Liahona, July 2001, 6–9).

Before you add one more priority to your list — when you already feel like you're precariously out of balance on the highest rungs of your ramshackle ladder — consider the counsel of President Ezra Taft Benson: "When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives." He also stated that "our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities" (April 1988 general conference, Ensign, May 1988, p. 4).

What a promise! If we are struggling to prioritize, putting God first will give us the perspective we need to balance all other priorities in our lives.

Don Lambson of the Willow Creek 2nd Ward, Sandy Utah Willow Creek Stake, serves as leader of the 11-year-old Scouts.