The Power of a New Year

Some years January 1st has come and gone for me without enough time to even think about it, let alone set goals and ponder the future. Gratefully today I have time to sit and take it in, think it through, and set some goals.

I drew up five quick goals yesterday while multitasking with Leif. I found the scenario very fitting of our lifestyle. Here we were, Leif and I, driving together to Costco to shop. We're talking story, updating each other on life, and all the while I have my phone in my hand and I was jotting down five goals that I plan to follow throughout this upcoming year.

This is the classic picture of how our life rolls. Big events coming and going throughout the day-in and day-out normalcy of family life. My mind always going in a few different directions at one time. Leif patiently understanding how my mind works. Still knowing that I'm "with him", even though from an outside view it seems that I'm completely disregarding him and our conversation. ... Amazing!

So the five goals that I set aren't necessarily profound. They're the basics of living a Christ and family centered life. But as we know, living "the basics", isn't always the easy way. We tend to clutter our lives with much more then "the basics."  Clutter for me consists of sleep and binging on shows. Then I have the necessary evil of chores that have to be done. Such as keeping the how sanitary and tidy. Notice, I did not say "Clean and In Order." Those things happen. But they aren't always an every day occurrence.

There are a very few Christ centered things that happen throughout the week that I plan to continue. First, we pray a lot. It kinda feels repetitive, I won't lie. But I am so Grateful for every prayer that in spoken in the walls of my home. We pray over almost every meal (especially if Leif is home and meals aren't "fend for yourself." :) We pray before the boys leave for school. And we pray before they go to sleep. We read the scriptures every morning before the kids go to school. In the back of my mind I have a promise that a General Authority gave about the protection that comes to our children when we read the scriptures daily. I'm not naive enough to believe that we'll be spared from all bad things. But I absolutely count on the fulfillment of that promise every day as I send my boys out into the world. I need every assurance I can get that they will have angels surrounding them along their way.  And we go to church on Sunday.

Honestly, those things listed are huge in the life of our children. And I am grateful for the strength of body and mind that has allowed me to make these things a routine part of our daily life. This hasn't always been the case depending on my well-being. We celebrate every good day at our house. :)

This year I hope to add a few things to our routine that will bring us closer to Christ as a family and as a couple.

This year I am going to focus on creating a habit of reading the scriptures personally. I think I will read the Book of Mormon personally and the New Testament with Leif and then more with the family.

Leif and I will add a regular temple trip to our monthly routine. Setting an appointed day in the temple with the Lord.

These last couple, few years I have become more and more able to reach outside of myself and my family bubble towards friendships. This wasn't the case for several years. In fact, I was telling Leif yesterday how sad I am about this. During the time that I was "in my bubble" which was because of illness and grief, I missed out on the last years of a dear friends life. She past away a few years ago and I am often struck with the disappointment of that lost time. True friendships are so healthy and important in our lives here on this busy overwhelming earth. This year I am going to take time to strengthen my friendships.

Something that will most definitely be a challenge for me, I'll be honest. Is creating a habit of weekly Home Sunday School. That's what I'm calling it anyway. The church has given us a full curriculum to follow throughout every week as a family called Come Follow Me studying the New Testament. Now, if you have been an obedient member of the LDS church, you will have been having Family Home Evening lessons every week for years. Let's cut to the chase and let you know that our family has many a Family Home Evenings "playing" together. But the only "lesson" time we have are the life lesson moments throughout daily life and the morning scripture study. And any more then that, well, that is not going to be easy!  BUT, we will do it!! Leif and I are committed and the absolute blessing is that I know my boys are committed to following the commandments and guidance of the prophet as well. This, is all that we need to succeed. Some how, it will all work out...

Finally, this year, I am going to focus time daily on blogging. President Eyring talks about the fact that he writes in his journal Every Night before going to sleep, "no matter how tired" he is. So, I say to myself, if a man as busy as him can do that, so can I.

So, there it is: My five New Year's Resolutions for the year 2019!