Week 47: Choose to love, choose to serve

With the hustle and bustle of the season this last week, I have found myself running against the clock getting ready for this party and that party, this event and that event, preparing this gift and that gift and have found myself not at my best self as the stress has overcome me.  I have found myself being not as patient with my children and husband as I should be and feeling badly that I have not treated them as I should have, especially for this time of the year.

I have pondered a lot this week and reflected over the many interactions I have had with my family and thought "How can I do better?"  I was cleaning my downstairs the other night getting ready for another party, when I came across a block my friend had made me.  It says, "Simplify Christmas, Celebrate Christ".  I really thought about this..."Celebrate Christ".  How can I do better and have a more peaceful feeling in my home during this time and all year?  By celebrating Christ and becoming more like him.  I thought about Christ and the type of person he was.  Was Christ ever unkind or impatient?  The obvious answer is no.  Christ always chose to love and to serve others.  It was a choice he made.  I have a choice just as my Savior did.  I should CHOOSE to LOVE and CHOOSE to SERVE as our Savior did, no matter how hard, even and especially when life gets stressful.  He set the true example, and I know as I celebrate that example, I and my family will find true happiness.  

Since realizing this, I have found myself reminding  my children and myself to choose love and choose service when contention starts to rise in our home.  It is a choice we all must make.

As we choose to become as our Savior through love and service, our lives will become more full and filled with joy and happiness.

This week's challenge:  to choose love and to choose service

Week 46: Obedient Heart

Happy Holidays!!  What a great time of year!  Lots of great learning moments have occurred over the last few weeks.  One of them was at a church Youth Standards Night.  We as parents were able to attend with our youth and we went to three different classes all focused on standards and virtue.  In one of the classes we received this quote that really hit me strongly. 

"When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power."    - President Ezra Taft Benson

Wow!! I want to always be on God's team!  I want to always have that power!  Obedience brings true happiness and obedience brings power.  

This week's challenge: surround my life with things that strengthen me to have an obedient heart