What would you want your children or grandchildren to learn from your example about making and achieving goals? (I am uncomfortable writing about me me me. But here I go):
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"Suffer the Children" by Minerva Teichert
This artist gives me inspiration to KEEP MOVING FORWARD
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Here's a goal I've done that I'm very proud of:
I read the entire Bible in a year. I thank my friend and former coworker Sue Taylor. Back in September of 2012 her pastor at the Long Point Methodist Church challenged his congregation to read the Bible in a year. Sue was fired up about it, and her enthusiasm drew me in. Actually, I had wanted to do it for a while, and all I needed to be successful is a reading plan and a buddy to hold me accountable. Sue provided me with both. Every week she would bring me the reading schedule printed in her church bulletin.
I highly recommend reading the Bible in chronological timeline order rather than reading it in the order the books are arranged. A chronological schedule may be found at this link.
I didn't just read the Bible, I took it further and read all four of the LDS Standard Works -- the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price-- in about 16 months. And when I finished, I was so fulfilled that I jumped in and read them all cover-to-cover a second time, this time completing the task in 15 months.
There's a time and season for goals. In 2013 I only had one child at home and he was a teenager who barely came out of his room. I had the time and the concentration I needed for all of the reading. That's not to say a young mother couldn't read the Bible in year. I'm just saying I was able to succeed when I no longer had the distraction of a passel of children.
I will confess I got off track for a time. I was way, way behind Sue and was embarrassed to admit it to her. In March I took my Bible to Ireland on a trip. I had a nasty head cold the first two days and the weather was so blustery I stayed inside our cottage and
caught up on my Bible reading. I blew through Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Didn't retain much, but I got through it. I am glad that I managed careful reading of many Bible passages during my goal, but I didn't always read that way. Not every day's reading was amazing. But keep doing it. Pray to love the scriptures if it doesn't come easy for you. The important thing with goals is that you stick with them and KEEP MOVING FORWARD, not that you do them perfectly.
Artist Minerva Teichert set a goal to illustrate the Book of Mormon. It took her about 10 years to paint 42 amazing mural panels. She yearned to see her paintings in book form. This dream was not realized in her lifetime, but today I have a book of Teichert's mural paintings in my living room. It is one of my favorites.
Don't give up! KEEP MOVING FORWARD!
What I learned: If you truly want to understand God's dealings with His people, read the Scriptures! Even if all you really want to know right now is whether there is a God, read the scriptures! Daily, prayerfully. Don't rely solely on devotional books from Barnes and Noble, or Christian radio, or LDS Gospel Doctrine discussions, or conference talks for your testimony. Avoid anti-religion websites because they disseminate false information, and you can't always tell the lies from the truth. Don't step in poop.
Read the whole of the scriptures. Yourself. Ponder. Connect the dots. It will change you. It changed me. Some people close to me say they don't believe in God. They don't believe in prophets. What I say to you is that if you want to get to know a person, you have to spend time with them. Spend time in the scriptures and in prayer, so you can get to know God. He is very close to you all of the time. You will find him right next to you as you read His words and talk to him in daily prayer. Don't give up! He really is right there.
Both the New Testament and the Old Testament are important. If you neglect the Old Testament you won't get the full picture of God's relationship with mankind/womankind. I have heard some people describe the O.T. God as vengeful and punishing and the N.T. God as only merciful, loving and all-forgiving. In fact, the themes of God's mercy and love are played out over and over and over again in the O.T. It's the same God in both testaments. If you think the messages of two testaments are so very different, you haven't studied the Bible in its entirety.
Abraham Lincoln said of the Bible: “This Great Book … is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Saviour gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong” (Speeches and Writings, 1859–1865 [1989], 628).
In April 2007 Elder M. Russell Ballard said of the Bible.
"I love the Bible, its teachings, its lessons, and its spirit. I love the Old Testament’s compelling, profound stories and its great prophets testifying of the coming of Christ. I love the New Testament’s apostolic travels and miracles and the letters of Paul. Most of all, I love its eyewitness accounts of the words and the example and the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. I love the perspective and peace that come from reading the Bible...
Brothers and sisters, I am sure many of you have had the experience of hearing people say that 'Mormons are not Christians because they have their own Bible, the Book of Mormon.' To anyone harboring this misconception, we say that we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and the author of our salvation and that we believe, revere, and love the Holy Bible. We do have additional sacred scripture, including the Book of Mormon, but it supports the Bible, never substituting for it.
... The more we read and study the Bible and its teachings, the more clearly we see the doctrinal underpinnings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We tend to love the scriptures that we spend time with. We may need to balance our study in order to love and understand all scripture."
What I want my children and grandchildren to know about setting goals:
A revelation from God given to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1831 says "Verily I say, men [and women] should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; for the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves." (D&C 58:27-28)
I highly recommend reading the Bible in chronological timeline order rather than reading it in the order the books are arranged. A chronological schedule may be found at this link.
I didn't just read the Bible, I took it further and read all four of the LDS Standard Works -- the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price-- in about 16 months. And when I finished, I was so fulfilled that I jumped in and read them all cover-to-cover a second time, this time completing the task in 15 months.
There's a time and season for goals. In 2013 I only had one child at home and he was a teenager who barely came out of his room. I had the time and the concentration I needed for all of the reading. That's not to say a young mother couldn't read the Bible in year. I'm just saying I was able to succeed when I no longer had the distraction of a passel of children.
I will confess I got off track for a time. I was way, way behind Sue and was embarrassed to admit it to her. In March I took my Bible to Ireland on a trip. I had a nasty head cold the first two days and the weather was so blustery I stayed inside our cottage and
caught up on my Bible reading. I blew through Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Didn't retain much, but I got through it. I am glad that I managed careful reading of many Bible passages during my goal, but I didn't always read that way. Not every day's reading was amazing. But keep doing it. Pray to love the scriptures if it doesn't come easy for you. The important thing with goals is that you stick with them and KEEP MOVING FORWARD, not that you do them perfectly.
Artist Minerva Teichert set a goal to illustrate the Book of Mormon. It took her about 10 years to paint 42 amazing mural panels. She yearned to see her paintings in book form. This dream was not realized in her lifetime, but today I have a book of Teichert's mural paintings in my living room. It is one of my favorites.
Don't give up! KEEP MOVING FORWARD!
What I learned: If you truly want to understand God's dealings with His people, read the Scriptures! Even if all you really want to know right now is whether there is a God, read the scriptures! Daily, prayerfully. Don't rely solely on devotional books from Barnes and Noble, or Christian radio, or LDS Gospel Doctrine discussions, or conference talks for your testimony. Avoid anti-religion websites because they disseminate false information, and you can't always tell the lies from the truth. Don't step in poop.
Read the whole of the scriptures. Yourself. Ponder. Connect the dots. It will change you. It changed me. Some people close to me say they don't believe in God. They don't believe in prophets. What I say to you is that if you want to get to know a person, you have to spend time with them. Spend time in the scriptures and in prayer, so you can get to know God. He is very close to you all of the time. You will find him right next to you as you read His words and talk to him in daily prayer. Don't give up! He really is right there.
Both the New Testament and the Old Testament are important. If you neglect the Old Testament you won't get the full picture of God's relationship with mankind/womankind. I have heard some people describe the O.T. God as vengeful and punishing and the N.T. God as only merciful, loving and all-forgiving. In fact, the themes of God's mercy and love are played out over and over and over again in the O.T. It's the same God in both testaments. If you think the messages of two testaments are so very different, you haven't studied the Bible in its entirety.
Abraham Lincoln said of the Bible: “This Great Book … is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Saviour gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong” (Speeches and Writings, 1859–1865 [1989], 628).
In April 2007 Elder M. Russell Ballard said of the Bible.
"I love the Bible, its teachings, its lessons, and its spirit. I love the Old Testament’s compelling, profound stories and its great prophets testifying of the coming of Christ. I love the New Testament’s apostolic travels and miracles and the letters of Paul. Most of all, I love its eyewitness accounts of the words and the example and the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. I love the perspective and peace that come from reading the Bible...
Brothers and sisters, I am sure many of you have had the experience of hearing people say that 'Mormons are not Christians because they have their own Bible, the Book of Mormon.' To anyone harboring this misconception, we say that we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and the author of our salvation and that we believe, revere, and love the Holy Bible. We do have additional sacred scripture, including the Book of Mormon, but it supports the Bible, never substituting for it.
... The more we read and study the Bible and its teachings, the more clearly we see the doctrinal underpinnings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We tend to love the scriptures that we spend time with. We may need to balance our study in order to love and understand all scripture."
What I want my children and grandchildren to know about setting goals:
A revelation from God given to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1831 says "Verily I say, men [and women] should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; for the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves." (D&C 58:27-28)
1. My best advice is to be anxiously engaged. Anxiously. Think to the future.
2. Don't let other's expectations steal you away from your passions. If you neglect the things you love, you can't truly know yourself.
3. David A. Bednar said, "Ordinary people who faithfully, diligently and consistently do simple things that are right before God will bring forth extraordinary results." No goal is too simple, no effort too mundane. You can master both the great and the small.
4. Don't dwell on your failures. Learn from them and the KEEP MOVING FORWARD. In the early 1990's I heard a presentation by motivational speaker Tom Hopkins. He taught us a little ditty that still goes round in my head to this day. Here are the words.
I am not judged by the number of times I fail, but by the number of times I succeed; and the number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep trying.
Keep trying. Keep trying. You will succeed if you keep trying. Keep trying. Keep trying. You will succeed if you keep trying.
Yes, keep trying, don't give up. You're always learning. Embrace your failures. Love them. They make you better.
5. Pull yourself away from YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, Netflix, and whatever else is sucking at your brain. Time is a thief and it has a contract with every social media and entertainment site. Those things can pull you down, away from your potential, take away your ambition and motivation. KEEP MOVING FORWARD.
6. The goal can change as you come to know yourself better. Let the goal be what it needs to be for you.
2. Don't let other's expectations steal you away from your passions. If you neglect the things you love, you can't truly know yourself.
3. David A. Bednar said, "Ordinary people who faithfully, diligently and consistently do simple things that are right before God will bring forth extraordinary results." No goal is too simple, no effort too mundane. You can master both the great and the small.
4. Don't dwell on your failures. Learn from them and the KEEP MOVING FORWARD. In the early 1990's I heard a presentation by motivational speaker Tom Hopkins. He taught us a little ditty that still goes round in my head to this day. Here are the words.
I am not judged by the number of times I fail, but by the number of times I succeed; and the number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep trying.
Keep trying. Keep trying. You will succeed if you keep trying. Keep trying. Keep trying. You will succeed if you keep trying.
Yes, keep trying, don't give up. You're always learning. Embrace your failures. Love them. They make you better.
5. Pull yourself away from YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, Netflix, and whatever else is sucking at your brain. Time is a thief and it has a contract with every social media and entertainment site. Those things can pull you down, away from your potential, take away your ambition and motivation. KEEP MOVING FORWARD.
6. The goal can change as you come to know yourself better. Let the goal be what it needs to be for you.
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