President D. Todd Christofferson
The Message
President Christofferson taught plainly that gambling is harmful and morally wrong. It encourages trying to gain at another person’s expense, can consume money and time, damage relationships, and influence others through our example.
But his invitation goes beyond simply avoiding gambling. He asks us to consider the opportunity cost of our choices: when we spend our time, attention, or resources on one thing, we give up the opportunity to use them for something else. He invites us to choose wisely and use what we have to do good, contribute, serve, and “bring to pass much righteousness.”
Start the Conversation
Read the summary of the message and the Try This at Home ideas with your family. Then say: “Let’s choose one way we can use our time, money, or attention for something that does good.”
Try This at Home
Choose one idea your family would like to try this week or choose your own.
Ask “Where Will This Lead?”
Choose an ordinary decision your family makes how to spend money, what to watch, how to spend an evening, or what to do online. Before deciding, ask President Oaks’s question quoted by President Christofferson: “Where will this lead?”
Make a Trade
Choose one thing that uses time or money without giving you much in return. Give up a little of it this week and deliberately use what you saved for something better.
Turn $5 into Good
Give each family member an imaginary $5 and ask: “What could you do with this that would make someone else’s life a little better?” Then choose one idea your family can actually do with $5 or without spending anything.
Find the Hidden Cost
Choose something you regularly spend time on. Ask: “When I spend an hour doing this, what am I NOT doing?” It might be sleeping, studying, talking with someone, exercising, serving, creating, or simply being together.
Use Your Influence for Good
President Christofferson taught that our choices can influence people who watch us. Ask each person: “What is one choice I could make that might quietly set a good example for someone else?”
Find It in the Scriptures
Read Doctrine and Covenants 58:27, which President Christofferson quoted: “Men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause.” Talk about one good cause your family could give a little more time, effort, or attention to.
Choose Your Own
Choose another part of President Christofferson’s message your family would like to live together.
Try the Opportunity-Cost Question
For one week, before using a meaningful amount of time, money, or attention, practice asking: “If I choose this, what am I giving up?” Then add: “Is that trade worth it?” The goal isn’t to scrutinize every tiny decision.
It’s to become more aware that every yes to one thing is also a no to something else.
Check Back In
At the end of the week, talk as a family about what you noticed. Did asking “Where will this lead?” change any decisions? Did you discover any hidden costs in how you use your time or money? Was anything difficult to give up? Did choosing something better feel different? What did you learn about using your resources to do good? Did this experience help you better understand President Christofferson’s counsel to “O be wise”?
No grading. No guilt. Just notice what happened.
