Not Just An Isolated Event

Today is Day 30 of my picture a day challenge. I was talking about these challenges on Sunday night with Drew and mentioned to him that I didn't want them to be just isolated events, that I wanted them to become part of a better me. So, I asked myself why was I taking these pictures. Initially it was just fun to document my comings and goings, my thoughts, and sometimes my rants, however as I look back at what I have accomplished, I realize that the habit I have integrated into my life is good.

Writing a few thoughts each day has been fun and therapeutic. It is neat to look back even now after 30 days and realize the things that I have accomplished. To think about the fun I have had and to even recognize change in myself.

President Eyring in a General Conference talk from the October 2007 conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints tells a story that has been on my mind for the past few days. When President Eyring's family was young, his father-in-law who lived near him came out of President Eyring's house carrying an arm load of pipes. He had been helping the family to build a system to pump water to the house. As Presidenty Eyring was thinking of all his father-in-law was doing for him, a voice came into his mind, that was not his own saying, "I'm not giving you these experiences for yourself. Write them down." So, he did just that, he went in the house and began to write.

He continues by saying, "I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done."

I have never been very good at journal writing, mostly recording events, feelings and impressions sporadically. I know that there is real value in recording details of my life, not only for myself and my own self-reflection, but for the future family that I desire to have. My own family is very fortunate to have the record of my Grandma's life. She died when she was 96 and even at that age, each day she recorded a few details of what was happening in her life. What a blessing it has been to me, and will be to my future children, to know who she was because of the things that she wrote.

So, with all of this in mind, I am committing to writing a few lines each day. The picture I took this morning is of a journal I found in amongst some of my things. I want these challenges to enrich my life. And, I know that they will as I let them. I am going to write in a journal. I am going to use President Eyring's question, "Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch me today" as my guide. I am confident that as I being this exercise that I will become more acutely aware of His presence in my life, of the blessings He has bestowed upon me and of His plan for my life.