Libro Numero Uno :)

When I teenage-ish, I was a HUGE goal setter.  Every New Years, I would write down my list of 20 or so goals on a cute piece of paper in my best handwriting and place them carefully in my journal.  I would check back on the piece of paper all through the month of January, then I wouldn't see it again until the next January, until it was time to find some more cute paper and write down the same 20 goals, with even cuter handwriting than the previous year.

When I met Jared, he was ANTI- new year's resolutions, "If there is something to change, why wait until the New Years to do it?"  he would say.  And I am not sure, but I think he may have heard that one form his dad :)  So my goal setting stopped, and I started focusing on the NOW.

A quote that really helped me came from last April's Ensign.  President Eyering was talking about what should happen during the Sacrament, "I have found in that moment (during the Sacrament) that God can give us what feels like a personal interview.  He brings to my attention what I have done that PLEASES HIM.  my need for REPENTANCE and FORGIVENESS, and the NAMES and FACES of people He would have me serve for Him."

This has become my New Years RESOLUTIONS, plan, and follow up all rolled up into one nice little package.  AND IT HAPPENS EVERY WEEK, not just in January.  I feel the things my CHARACTER has to work on, are slowly changing over time and I am grateful.

But Alas, this year, I did set some goals, and that is the real point of this post.  I set goals with numbers on them.  Things that need to be quantified (indexing, maybe weight, and definitely dates with the husband :) so that I could say at the end of 2014 that I wasn't wasting away my days of probation.

One time I was given a blessing which admonished me to read good literature.  I do, but not nearly often enough.  This year I have made the goal to read 24 books.  The first one I read over the break.

Elizabeth Smart, My Story!  It was an interesting experience.  I had to read it in one day.  As I got into it, and beheld the horror, I told Jared, "I cannot stop until I get to a happy place."  Which did come, but not until the final chapters of the book.

This book was incredible!  Well written and tastefully done.  About a girl who was thrust into darkest confines that this life probably has to offer, yet she could still see through eyes of faith.  She had had 14 years of "light" when she saw the darkness, she could judge between the two.  Differently, than myself, she kept reminding herself what light was like, what happiness felt like.  Sometimes I am quick to jump into the black and grey and wallow in its 50 shades.  Not her!

At the tender age of 14, (and perhaps everyday of the rest of her life) she had contrast the two, and make a choice.  Quite simply, she chose light, she chose happiness.