Above Yourself

Last month, my sister wrote a blog post about becoming recommitted. Something about that post stuck with me, because I was in the process of recommitting myself as well. Life can get busy, but I need to make time for the things that are most important to me. Around the same time I saw Beth’s blog post I noticed that Julia was writing up a list of 100 goals she’d like to achieve in her life. She said that one of her classes at BYU Education Week brought that idea up- the teacher said to write down 100 goals of any kind- things you’d like to do or accomplish in life. Unlike most of the other goals I’ve heard, there didn’t have to be a timetable involved; these goals were more like items in a wish list. Crossing something off your list means that you’ve got a memory of doing that thing, and that’s just as good as getting a Christmas present that had been on your wish list.

A week or so later I started my own list. It’s not up to 100 items yet, but it’s getting there. Many of the items have to do with being recommitted, and it’s a perfect time to post these given that this weekend is General Conference. It seems that Latter-day Saints have lots of opportunities to recommit themselves: New Year’s, General Conference, and even each Sunday as we take the Sacrament we recommit ourselves to following Jesus Christ. Here are a few of the goals I’m thinking about right now, each of which probably deserves its own blog post:

• Scripture reading
• Keeping up with my Spanish skills
• Fitness goals

There’s a lot more on my goals list, but these are the ones that are important to me right now. I don’t want to do too much while I’m just getting started, because it’s going to take a marathon effort to cross everything off my goals list!

Tonight as I rocked my daughter to bed, we sang “Families Can Be Together Forever“. Even though it’s a children’s song, it has the effect of bringing a feeling of peace to the room. What a great reminder it was of basic truths that are so important. It’s great that such a powerful message can be conveyed through simple music. It also serves as a reminder, do I personally follow God’s plan so that I can share my life with my family for all eternity?

My apologies for the cheesy title, but apparently you’re still reading. In the past several days, we’ve started a major decluttering project. This is certainly easier now that I’m done with school, but it still takes some motivation to get started. For the past couple of months, Julia and I have been casually looking around at houses “just to see what the market is like” and “for fun”. I put those in quotes because that’s what I always said when we went around doing it, but before too long I started daydreaming about having a big house with lots of room for all our stuff and plenty of space for our little girls to play.

Eventually I realized that we’re not ready for a house yet, and we don’t really need one. What we need for all of our stuff is a home. For some of our stuff that home is not our home. With too much stuff around, things tend to get in the way and make the whole house seem smaller. We plan on storing some of our things and getting rid of lots more. We’re learning that “guilt is not a reason to keep something“.

Although it’s still underway, we’ve made lots of good progress. Our food storage area is much more manageable, and now everything that had been there is in its proper home. We’re looking forward to making more progress on this in the coming weeks.

Unclutterer has featured a great post about making a family first aid kit. This would make a great family project, and it could definitely come in handy. It’s especially nice to have things like this all in one place, because I can’t count how many times I’ve had to look for an item on this list and not found it.

Beth asks “what’s your favorite scripture?” I’m going to bend the rules and use two that have been favorites for a while. By themselves they are both great scriptures, but together they have a deeper meaning, I think. Here they are:

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Joshua 1:9

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

Behold, I will show unto the Gentiles their weakness, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me—the fountain of all righteousness.

Ether 12:27-28

These scriptures both share the message of humility. Joshua 1:9 is something of a “go and do” scripture, but it has a little more meaning to me, and I even chose it for my missionary plaque. Ether 12 is a chapter that helped me a lot as a missionary, and it has helped me a lot since then as well. In my mind, returning to the Lord and displaying humility is one of the most important lessons that we can learn (and re-learn!) in our lives, because it brings other things along with it. Together, these scriptures both show us that as we trust in the Lord and lean on Him, he will lift us up and strengthen us. This didn’t just apply to Joshua or Moroni, either – this promise has been repeated to us as well.

If you haven’t already shared a favorite scripture or scriptures, feel free to do it in the comments here, in your own blog, or over on Beth’s post.