The Idea

O.K., so I've never had a blog before. I know people who do and I read some of them (semi faithfully) and I've been told I should have a blog because I am SO opinionated about everything and love to tell the world everything I think. But, I am like, "No way. I offend enough people every day when they can hear my voice and measure inflections and tone and stuff. If they are just reading my stuff, without hearing my voice?! I'll offend everyone I know!"

But, today in church, Celeste Gledhill was teaching the lesson from Cheryl Lant's Conference talk and was saying how we have a pattern to follow in order to get our kids to be able to see the Savior's face. Because Sister Lant gave 3 things we should do. Celeste was saying she LOVES patterns and directions and she is open to all she can get. And I thought "I must be like that too, because I am all about 'THE DIRECTIONS'.

I think my husband should follow the directions when he is trying to assemble something ("what do I need the directions for? I have the picture on the box!") and people should follow the directions when they are trying a new recipe (them: It didn't turn out as good as yours. Me: Did you follow the directions? Them: yes. Me: Did you put in enough cumin? Them: I didn't have any of that so I just skipped that part.) and there are so many more examples of how I am a big believer in directions. (Personally, I have a good sense of direction, so I can pretty much find any place, but those that don't and then don't follow my directions.....or even worse---try to GIVE OUT directions...Good Grief!)

Anyway, I can't remember all the details about the mind trip I went on, but I remember Celeste talking about following a pattern and how if we set a goal and lay out that pattern and say, "This is what I want to become" then it is a lot easier to actually accomplish that goal. And so from there, I somehow got thinking about how much I suck at daily, personal scripture reading. And, I thought, maybe I should make that a goal (like I haven't tried that 1,000,000 times already), but if I set this goal and then BLOGGED about it then I would be inspired to actually have a good scripture study every day (or at least once a week or something) because it's so embarrassing (or at least irritating) to let everyone else know how much you suck. So, I would be inspired to stop procrastinating doing the WORK to develop a good scripture study habit. Because I know it's good for me. I know it makes my days better. I know I get totally uplifted by things I read and then I can carry that Spirit with me all the day. And I KNOW I TOTALLY NEED THAT SPIRIT IN MY LIFE! Like, I could really use it right now in my life.

Then I somehow jumped over into how some people are so sucky at Visiting Teaching. And if they really understood how important that is, they would do it much better then they are now. When you are RSP, and thinking about 100 different women all the time and hoping they are doing o.k. and worrying about them, etc. you really get to understand how important Visiting Teaching is. Because if I know someone has awesome VTers then I don't have to stress over them so much because I know that person knows someone loves them and is there for them, etc. And it is just so dang important for everyone to have a good friend. I totally believe that. It's so frustrating to see the names of the ladies that aren't Visited taught that month because they could so use someone to talk to, or strengthen them, or help them, or whatever.

I really have a strong testimony of visiting teaching and how important it is. There are people out there that totally suck at it, but read their scriptures every day in personal scripture study. And, of course, I suck at that. I think Visiting Teaching is way easier then daily scripture study and they probably think the opposite.

This friend of mine, (whom I shall call "Edward's Lover" so she can remain anonymous) has not been a faithful visiting teacher, but she has recently decided she is going to be. On a side note, I've wondered if this new commitment had something to do with me crying one day about how badly people need Visiting Teachers and Edward's Lover felt sorry for me, but I don't know if that's why.  Perhaps Edward's Lover keeps wanting to be a great VT like I dream of becoming a great scripture studier and she just flat out decided one day that she could do it, instead of like me who keeps saying "Tomorrow", but then chooses to read romance novels (or the newspaper or a magazine or cereal boxes or any other reading material) instead of the scriptures when tomorrow comes.

In any case, one day Edward's Lover says "I'm going to start being a good Visiting Teaching every month." And whenever the subject would come up about VT, Edward's Lover will just say "New Beginnings," and I know she is still working hard at developing this new habit.

So, as I was thinking maybe I could do a blog about my struggle to become a good scripture reader,  I thought maybe as people read how much I fail and struggle (which I am sure will happen frequently, but I hope not), they will be inspired to tackle their own problem and keep working at it, even when perfection doesn't come for a long time.

Soon, if this idea works (was it inspiration or just the ramblings of my mind during a RS lesson?), I'll become a great Scriptorian and you'll become an awesome Visiting Teacher and we'll all be on this total spiritual high and probably be translated or something! We won't have to worry about stress and balancing our day and driving kids to soccer games and such! We'll have left all that behind for the husbands to deal with! : ) Yae!

Naturally, I don't expect everyone else to be blogging about their own weaknesses---Most people have a higher sense of personal privacy then I do. Personally, I loved the comment from the High Counselor last week, "If all sin had an odor, we'd all stink." So true.  So true.  So, you don't have to tell the world what ever problem you are working on; I already know you aren't perfect. : )    (Even though some of you patient, kind hearted, giving, scripture studying people do seem pretty darn close to it!)

So, while you don't have to confess your own shortcomings, you could put out a little positive comment for me every now and then. Nothing too preachy of course....I haven't become a Spiritual Giant yet, so it might be irritating. : )                      (You know about the wicked taking the truth to be hard....)