What a great Sunday we had. It was the 4th of July, as chance to celebrate and remind ourselves how far we have come. We have our freedom to do as we want. We have been trying to explain to our children the meaning of Independence Day and its a little hard to explain the meaning of freedom. For me it means that I have the right to choose my religion and the way I will live my life without government interference. I can't really fully explain it, but when I look at the American flag I feel something strong inside. I think of people like my brother who are in the military fighting to keep us a free nation. I try to live my life in a way that would make those who have fought for my freedom proud, I need to do better about voting and politics. But I think striving to teach my children about our freedoms helps.
Its neat the freedoms I have at church. We don't have a paid clergy, so we as members have the right and privilege to share our testimonies once a month of our Savior during church, to give talks when called upon (I suppose we could volunteer to give a talk too), and to freely give of our time and talents to those around us.
I went up and shared my testimony during church. I talked about our spiritual reflexes: As we went to church we crossed the parking lot and Peter mentioned to Chris that he didn't look both ways before crossing, Chris told him that its kind of a quick habit that you may not even see, its just natural. That got me thinking as we walked into church about our reflexes or habits. Those actions we don't really have to think about and yet we naturally do them. Like looking both ways when we cross the street they help keep us out of trouble. When I take the boys to the doctor, he checks the reflexes by taping their knee and the knee naturally bounces up, without much thought it just does it. The doctor checks our reflexes in order to know that our nerves are working properly. I know this because when they checked Peter's his nerves are not working properly. I wonder if I were to have a spiritual exam, how are my spiritual reflexes? If you were to tap my knee am I praying, spending time naturally every day talking with my Heavenly Father or is my knee slow to bend, forgetting to pray most days? What about my elbow, is it bending holding the scriptures naturally, or is it slow to remember?
This is a week and a new month. Its time to improve. Before having the baby, I was blessed with inspiration on how to maintain a solid routine. I so often loose my routine after having a baby or getting the flu and I feel like I don't know where to begin getting back on track and I feel like I have to reinvent the wheel. I often felt like I had to do it all in a day. I would get the flu or have a baby or a holiday and it would disrupt our normal routine and I felt like I have to get back on track all in one day. Divine guidance is wonderful. I no longer have to reinvent the wheel and I no longer feel the need to do it all in a day. I have steps that I can slowly add or take away as needed in life. When someone is sick we can eliminate a few steps, when we heal we can add a few steps. The kids and I have already been working on step 1, so this week we are working on maintaining step 1 and adding step 2. Here are the steps we are working on for anyone curious:
Step 1—Morning Routine
Wake up at 6:00 AM
Personal Prayer
Family Devotional: Song, Scripture, Family Prayer
Take a shower / Get dressed
Make bed
Clean bedroom—everything picked up and put away
Comb Hair
Brush teeth and put toothbrush away
Clean toothpaste out of sink
Clean bathroom—everything picked up and put away
Empty laundry pail—do a load of laundry if needed
Exercise
Kid’s scriptures study 30 min (read + gospel principle jar)
Mom’s scriptures study 30 min (read + ponder + journal)
Step 2—Meals and Nightly Routine
Meal prep: make or prepare a food ie: yogurt, dough, flour, beans, bread, pasta
Eat Breakfast
Clear and wipe off table and counters
Wash / Rinse dishes
Sweep floor
Eat Lunch
Clear and wipe off table and counters
Wash / Rinse dishes
Sweep floor
Eat Dinner
Read scriptures for 10 minutes
Clear and wipe off table and counters
Wash / Rinse dishes
Sweep floor
Bedtime
Tuesday, Thursday bath night
Brush teeth
Put on PJs
Family Prayer
Story
Song
Good Night!
1 comment:
You are so organized! Even though I know you're just working on doing it, my list of stuff to try to work on is more like "Morning - get out of bed. put on clothes. eat something."
and I only have one pretty mellow kiddo....I need help! :)
This really does sound like a great plan though. Sounds like it'd be great for the family :)
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