This Week

Lately I have felt the need to take more time to write here on my blog and in my journal. Somehow at the end of busy and crazy days, weeks and months it slipped by again and didn't happen. I have not made the time to sit down and write about the happenings in my personal and family life, and it has bothered me. 

For one I used to be an avid journal writer and have volumes of journals from my high school and college years.  I have a few for when we were first married, and then they tend to slowly get less and less.  10 years later in our marriage, I wonder what I have written to show for it. Luckily I do have some blog posts, random books and journals that I've recorded a few things in, but I feel there needs to be more. A lot more. 

Today I read some of these quotes that once again reminded me why I've felt the spirit to be pushing me to write more again.

"Those who keep a personal journal are more likely to keep the Lord in remembrance in their daily lives."

 - Spencer W. Kimball

"I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day nomatter 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."   - Henry B. Eyring

Maybe these promptings have to do with our History lessons this last week. Our look at what History really is.  His Story. The story of God's dealing with his children, the fall and rise of nations and people as they either remembered him or forgot him. Maybe it has to do with the timeline we made that shows my  family's place in the great eternal timeline of this earth's life. Our place in these latter days, in preparing ourselves, our families and our posterity for the Second Coming of the Savior Jesus Christ. Seeing our place in His Story, his timeline. Knowing we had a specific time and place to come and am I recording what we are experiencing now in this very unique, amazing and difficult time in the history of the world. 

I tend to see the Lord more in my life when I do write. I see how he answers my prayers. I see how he has guided things in the long run over my life or long periods of time. I become more grateful. It also helps me formulate my thoughts when I have many on my mind. I also know that my children love reading about themselves, the happenings in our lives, and flipping through scrapbooks and photo albums remembering the times that we spent as a family.  I love to look back and see how I've grown, how far I've come, and sometimes wonder why I'm still trying to learn the same lesson for the 5th or 20th time. 

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

It has also reminded me of the book One Thousand Gifts. What a beautiful story Ann writes about how simply writing down her blessings every day completely changed her, and what it can do for us.  I love this book.  Taking the time to remember lessons we've learned, blessings we have, things we took joy in during the day, the struggles we go through can benefit us so much. But to actually take the time to write them down can change me, my posterity and possibly others. When it's written down, it's there to come back to. It's there in a time of need. It's there to refresh our memories, relive those tender mercies and have something to share and pass on.  

I want to do so much better at this. I'm not that great at it lately. I really don't know how I'm going to change the habit either, but I really want to try.  I want to make it consistent again.  These two pages of a week in our life, is my start for this week. Sometimes I want the visual. Plus I really want to finish the goal I have for myself, of having this last year documented and printed at the start of 2013. In order to do that I need to get caught up on a few weeks, and get back in the habit of recording the upcoming ones.

Our life these last few weeks have been mixed with blessings, stress, busyness, good friends, exhaustion, sickness, learning opportunities, and moments of peace and joy.  I'm not promising that I'll suddenly do better at writing about all of it, but I sure hope so.