I realize that anything I accomplish will be tied to my desires, so I've spent some time thinking about what I really want and need in my life (What seek ye? - see John 1:38 and Ether 12:41) and hope to connect my goals to these things, so that I'm able to accomplish the most meaningful good and improvement.
Desires:
* To know and love the Savior, Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father better, and have the constant guidance of the Holy Spirit.
* To learn and do His will, to build the kingdom of God, to help gather Israel, to fulfill my mission, to keep my covenants, to be ready, worthy, waiting, watching for the Savior’s return, the celestial kingdom, and eternal life, I want to be there--don't want to miss it! This probably involves having a broken heart, a contrite spirit, and being humble enough every day to follow Him!
* To find an eternal companion, and build a happy marriage and family; find companionship, real friends, and build meaningful relationships; while always working to strengthen family relationships!
* To find truth, understanding, wisdom, peace, contentment, simplicity, clarity, direction, order, focus, purpose, meaning, happiness, joy.
* To find opportunities to learn, grow, progress, develop skills and talents, serve, help others, be useful and fruitful!
* To improve, repent, get ride of pride, be more selfless, more faithful, more thoughtful, more generous
Goals:
* Consistent faith-filled prayer. Being more grateful, humble, full of love, and concern for others.
* Consistent meaningful study. There is much I want to know and understand. I want to work on gathering together in one the truth I learn. I hope to find a consistent way to record what I learn, including a revelation/prayer journal, helping me to act on the things I learn and recognize progress in living the gospel better. I'd like to continue my study of the standard works and the names, words, mission, and characteristics of Christ (including a focus on the Topical Guide and "The Living Christ"). I look forward to studying the New Testament and all of the Come, Follow Me resources for Sunday School this year. I also plan to read the Book of Mormon at least twice focusing on a specific topic each time. I'd like to read and study some selected BYU devotionals and continue to add to my favorite talks list, as I have time and hear good ones. I also hope to find ways to have meaningful gospel discussions with family, friends, and others.
* Consistent meaningful service. This year I want to find somewhere I can spend regular time helping others, besides the other things I hope to help my friends and family with, as needs arise.
* Consistent temple worship. I feel like this hardly needs to be a goal--I love the temple and it's a great blessing to be there each week. I hope to continue this habit and include more of my own family history work in the process.
* Consistent temple worship. I feel like this hardly needs to be a goal--I love the temple and it's a great blessing to be there each week. I hope to continue this habit and include more of my own family history work in the process.
* Learn, grow. I hope to learn more this year, by reading and experiencing the world. I plan to simplify my book reports a bit, but continue to read as much and to write. I also plan to travel some and learn more about the world around me. I had a pretty loose goal last year to work on improving my piano skills. I'd like to be more focused on that and/or possibly Spanish this year. There may be other gifts, talents, skills I can cultivate and I really want this to be a focus this year of using my time to learn and grow in the best ways and hopefully find joy in the process. (I was inspired by President Eyring's art exhibit at the Church History Museum the last few months and how he used his "extra" to learn, create beauty, and find joy... I can limit social media and other distractions and do that too, in my own artist ways.) I also plan to be a diligent journal keeper this year. It's been a long time since I've been diligent in that regard and want to change. And in all of these things that I learn, I hope to involve other people. ;) Learning and growing in relationships is a key. ;)
* Healthy lifestyle. I hope, plan, intend to be more healthy this year--eating better, exercising more consistently, etc. I may sign up for one race this year, I will definitely do a lot of hiking, but mostly I just want to work on being healthy--more water, less sugar and hopefully less weight. ;)
* Side projects. I don't know if saying these things out loud/writing them down officially will help them happen (making me more accountable) or jinx me, but I'd like to maybe create a blog or instagram page that's focused on sharing a reason for my hope (about the Savior and his gospel) each day (or so). I'd also like to gather enough of my studying thoughts into one about some gospel principle that could become a poem and/or hymn. And several have mentioned they'd like to see some of my instagram photos turned into a book. Maybe I'll try to get serious about that in someway. We'll see. ;)
Things I'm Looking Forward To:
I realize that in the past some of my "goals" were really just "things I'm looking forward to." They're important and make life fun and you do have to plan to make them happen, so here's that list:
* Australia / New Zealand in February
* California in March
* Washington in April and September
* North Dakota + a few other highlights along the way in May/June
* St. George a few times
* Lots of hiking, to include a special all-day favorite in Idaho or Washington ("over the hill party")
* More temples
* Maybe someplace exciting for Christmas?
* Australia / New Zealand in February
* California in March
* Washington in April and September
* North Dakota + a few other highlights along the way in May/June
* St. George a few times
* Lots of hiking, to include a special all-day favorite in Idaho or Washington ("over the hill party")
* More temples
* Maybe someplace exciting for Christmas?
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