Oprah Winfrey
Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right.
Cheers to a New Year and a change to get even better!
Joey Adams
May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions!
ha I think this one is funny!
Anais Nin
I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me.
This one and another one are my favorites I'll explain why in the other one
Anonymous
A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one Year and out the other.
silly silly
Never tell your resolution beforehand, or it's twice as onerous a duty. ~John Selden
and this is exactly why I'm putting it on my blog - so i'm held to it!
Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. ~Hal Borland
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce
I like how she looks at it as a new thing, a new start, but you do always have to understand that you're who you are today because of what you did yesterday.
People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas. ~Author Unknown
ha this is so true, but there's way more treats around the house betweeen Christmas and new years!!! if you've known me very well my whole life, this is another thing you'd know about me. I've always had a struggle with my weight - like almost every other girl out there. I try not to focus on that now or whatever but i still think this quote is funny and true.
I think in terms of the day's resolutions, not the year's. ~Henry Moore
Ok. this one is my favorite becaue it's me. my life is scheduled in days. my mentor (yay parker!) taught me that I should write down my goals, short term and long term and read them to myself OUTLOUD every day. yes sometimes i feel silly but its incredible how much this helps! I also write a to do list at the beginning of the day and cross it off at the end. I love to check things off the list, even if they're little. makes me feel more accomplished! there is no way I would've gotten through high school without lists... they're incredible. you should all write them!
Ok now for why I really started this before I got off on a quote tangent. My new years resolutions. Of course I always want to be a little more fit, as Elder Holland says (in my favorite talk ever) "we could probaboly all do a better in that reguard," but that's not what I'm focusing on this year (even though it is important for one of my resolutions) So the last three were not actually my idea... I stold them from someone else but i like them so... there! :P
First and foremost is my life goal to make every person a little happier when they say bye than when I said hi. This has been my life goal since my junior year and according to my three "Miss Congenialities," I'm doing pretty good on it, but there is no cap on happiness, so I always want to make everyone happier! I've also discovered that the people I need to focus on this with the most are the people that are closest to me.
Second, I will be Miss Murray this year. No, that doesn't necessarily mean wearing a crown because I believe there's a little Miss Murray in every Murray girl! (Plus I can't really set that goal because in the end it's those 5 judges who chose who gets the crown and no matter how hard I work and prepare it's out of my hands) All you need to do to be a Miss Murray is be a good citizen. A crown sure can be a platform and an assitant in getting where you want to get, but in the end it's your drive and not the crown that makes you a Miss Murray. Miss Murray is someone who wants to make the city a better place, and I believe every Murray girl is a Miss Murray!
Wage my war on Satan... explaination of this in a later blog
These are the three that I stole from Chelsea Hubbard's mom. They came to relief society and did our lesson.... it was so good! my favorite lesson every year! (her and her daugters all come and sing and give a message - YES!)
Become more childlike.
Yes, I'm very good at being immature I know that for a fact, but I know that's not where she was gonig with this. When she announced this resolution, she told the story of how her daughter Melissa was pregnant, and when the first blood tests came back they found out the child could have down syndrome. The family had a fast and when Melissa's 40 year old cousin with mental problems (he had the mental capacity of about a 7 year old) of his own found out, he refused to eat the next day and his mom caught him on his knees that night waaaaaaaaaaay past his bedtime. The mom asked him what he was doing and he replied "I'm praying for lissy's baby mom." Isn't that great? That he could be so childlike to fast and pray for her even though he couldn't fully understand the situation? Well, the baby ended up just great with no mental problems, but I hope she's grateful for an uncle who would do anything for her. I want to be someone who would do anything for anyone to help them out reguardless of whether I benefit.
Be the one who answers prayers.
We're always told of these incredible stories where our prayers were answered, but I don't think we ever realize how crucial we are in His plans. We must always be in touch with the spirit becaue we never know when someone will need us. Once I felt like I should really text this girl on my drill team. I didn't. come to find out Monday morning her parents had decided they were getting a divorce and they told her right before I thought I should text her. I regret that. I texted her that day and she said it helped her out a great deal, but I know it would've been more helpful if I'd done it when I first felt the spirit. Now, I have many stories the other way around where I've helped people, but the funny thing is they don't stick with me as well. yes they make me feel good, but I guess I just have to have lots more of them to make up for that one regret. I'd rather bug someone too much then let any of my friends ever feel unwanted, unloved, or confused.
Put Christ in the center.
She presented these in a different order, but I saved this for last because I feel like it's the most important - and in reality it's the only important decision anyone will ever have to make. If you put Christ in the center of your life, everything else will be the right decisions. Of course, not everything will always work out everytime, but you'll at least know the right thing to do. If we truly put Christ in the center of our lives, we will reach our final resolution - returning to Him.
In Sacrament on the same day this story was told... My mom read it to me when I was little. made me cry then, till makes me cry now. But I think it's very appropriate to end this blog with it.
The Lesson: A Fable of our Times by Carol Lynn Pearson
“On Robert’s first day at school, he had a wonderful time. He swung on the swings. He sang with the other children. He listened to the stories. He loved siting at a desk and smelling new paper and touching new pencils. And his teacher was very, very nice. One day Robert’s teacher said, ‘Children, it’s time for our lesson. We are now going to learn how to solve a problem. One plus one equals what?’”
Robert solves that problem and is very happy because he has learned how to solve the problem. However, the next day he looks at the blackboard and sees a new problem.
“‘What?’ Robert looked at his teacher in surprise. ‘Another problem?’”
“‘Oh Robert,’ the teacher said . . . ‘this is just the beginning. There are lots and lots of problems.’”
And so it goes– every day there are new problems for Robert to solve and sometimes he says that the problems are not fun. However, his teacher tells him he must solve the problems anyway because that is what he is there for- to learn. So he keeps solving problems and he moves up a grade.
Soon Robert is solving story problems–
“‘If you are outside playing . . . and you have three cars and one truck and Joey comes along and grabs two cars and the truck, how many times should you hit Joey?’ Robert thought and thought. ‘Two times!’ he said. ‘Wrong,’ said the teacher. ‘Three times!’ said Robert. ‘Wrong,’ said the teacher, and looked at him with soft, expectant eyes. Robert puzzled over this for a little while, then his hand shot up and he said brightly, ‘I know! No times!’ ‘Right!,’ said the teacher.”
Robert smiles as he realized that he has solved yet another problem, but as Robert grows bigger and bigger, so do the problems he must solve. While Robert has lots of fun at recess, there always come the problems and sometimes Robert “slumped down in his desk and said, ‘I am not enjoying this! Why are you punishing me with all these problems?’”
“And Robert’s teacher, now twinkling as if the secret were even more wonderful, answered, ‘Oh, Robert, I am not punishing you. It’s just that you have moved up a grade and are ready for harder problems. And here comes one now . . . Robert, if you ride your bicycle two blocks east and three blocks north, and you fall off and break one leg, is it your fault or the bicycle’s fault or the sidewalk’s fault or your parents’ fault because they gave you the bicylce for your birthday last August? And do you ever ride a bicycle again, and what do you do while you are lying in bed and can’t go out to play?’”
“Robert worked on that one for a long time, and it was not fun at all, but finally he got it right, and his teacher smiled . . . and moved him up another grade.”
And so it continues- Robert is faced with more problems to solve. They become more complicated and more difficult to solve. Sometimes Robert cries out, “‘Oh, no! . . . I don’t want that problem. Give me a different problem!’ ‘But I can’t,’ said the teacher. ‘This is your problem and you must solve it.’”
And so he does. Sometimes he cries a little, sometimes the problems scare him so much he hides under his desk to avoid the problems. He doesn’t always get it right the first time, but always the teacher is there to lovingly help him through the problem with extra loving care and attention.
“‘Whew! That was a tough one!’ ‘It was indeed, Robert,’ said the teacher, ‘But you solved it and I’m proud of you.’”
“Robert’s teacher gave him all kinds of problems, and he eventually learned it was no use to hide uner his desk or to tell the teacher no or to yell. They were his problems and he would have to solve them. And sometimes a new one came before the last one was finished. There was recess, and there were weekends, and there were long holidays. But always the bell would ring and there was his teacher with a new problem. And as soon as he got it solved- you guessed it- he was moved up to the next grade. And it felt good.”
And so the problems continued . . . “Robert sat at his desk for years and year and did his best. And everyone who loved him gathered around and encouraged him, but they knew they could not do Robert’s homework for him, for these were his problems. And they each had problems of their own, and Robert encouraged them, but the only problems he could really work on were his. And when he couldn’t solve a problem, no matter how he tried, the teacher was very patient and smiled and said, ‘That’s all right, Robert. We’ll come back to that one some other time.’”
In time Robert quits questionning the teacher about why he is being punished as he learns to realize that “he was there to learn, and he learned that learning made him happy.”
(ok so I couldn't find the whole book online but this is what the other lady said in her blog. It also leaves out the two most heart wrenching problems. 1. his parents are getting a divorce and he's doing bad in school and there's a whole bunch of teen problems and his choices are a)take drugs to deal with it b)kill yourself c)blame your dad d)figure out another way. it says he didn' get it right the first time [obviously he didn't chose b because well the story would end] but then he finally finishes.
[The next problem he faces is if he was 80 years old and [once again I dont' remember it exaclty and I'm too lazy to go grab the book] and he had a heart attack and he's going to miss his children and all this stuff and the question is "who will miss you" then it says all this next stuff)
In the end Robert ”realized that all the lessons he had been learning all his life had really been only one lesson, that all the problems he had been working on all his life had really been only one problem- this problem:
‘Robert, how much do you love?’”
(and then he gets it right and he moves up another grade. and then I bawl)
What an amazing story. I love love love it and will read it to my kids like my mom did to me (in a very verrrry long time.) It just strenghtens my belief in this next quote "people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." I learned this the hard way... mom used to call me a "walking resume" because I wanted to get people to like me because of my accomplishments, but in the end all they care about is how they feel when they're around me. I want to keep working on this this year, day by day for the rest of my life!
I love you all, thank you for your wonderful examples!
I now officially have 363 more days to make this year the best year ever by making others happy and keeping Christ in the center of my life!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment