My 2011 Goal

Almost missed writing today people.  We've been busy cleaning the house, buying last minute presents (although we're still not completely done!), and Brandon and I had our weekly "at home" date--take out and a movie.  However, I was able to get a two hour nap in, so now I can't sleep.  Typical.

But back to my 2011 goal.

Last January our Relief Society had a lesson about the scriptures.  I'm sure it was great, but I couldn't hear a word of it.  I was sitting in the very back with Penny and between her noise and the teacher's voice just not carrying, I missed the whole thing.  I'm sure it was great though.

After the teacher sat down, the Relief Society President got up and announced that as a Relief Society presidency they were challenging each sister to read all four standard works--The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Old Testament, and New Testament-- in the year 2011.  (If you're not LDS click here for more information.)  I couldn't hear a word from the teacher, and it's not like my baby quieted or the RS president spoke loudly, but I heard her challenge and knew I should do it.

Then another woman got up who would be the leader, so to speak, of the challenge and told about how she had done this very thing years ago and it had changed her life.  She spoke about the logistics of things and gave us a cute bookmark and said she'd send weekly reminders for us to track whether or not we were on schedule.

So fast forward now about two more weeks.  We always like to have a family home evening lesson at the first of the year about goals and then set individual and family goals.  When it was my turn, I put down that I was going to do the RS challenge.  And mind you, being two weeks later, I was now a hundred pages behind.  So I got to reading.  I found that if I read 10 pages each day Monday through Friday, I could keep with the schedule being emailed to me.

At first it was no big deal because we started with The Book of Mormon and that is familiar to me and reads easily because of its clarity.  Then came Doctrine in Covenants, which also reads easily for me.  But in the spring it was time to start tackling the Old Testament.  And I will confess that I had never read it straight through before.  And it was hard.  Yes, there were the familiar stories and the unfamiliar stories that kept me moving along, but have you read Numbers?!  However, I found myself more motivated the more I read, which was a good thing because about the time we found out we were expecting and then having problems, I was in Job.  And really, Job 1:21 gave me perspective and faith through all of that--"...the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."  And yesterday I finished the New Testament. 

I can't say enough good things about doing this.  Like the sister said last year, I feel like there has been a change in my life this past year.  My testimony of the scriptures has deepened.  I understand more of God's plan for me and have felt the Spirit very near.  I have loved snuggling on the bed every afternoon with Reggie to read while he played around me or helped hand me different pens to mark verses with.

If you need a 2012 goal, I would highly recommend this one.  Or if it seems out of reach, try anyways!  Time will appear in your day to read the scriptures like a little miracle.  It happened that way for me.