contentment - the book

when i saw this book in the lds (mormon) bookstore just days after choosing my word, i knew i had to buy it. i know this says 'inspiring insights for lds mothers", but really...it's for every mother. i read it in one day (okay, i'm on vacation) but it could be done in real life too. my only complaint is that i didn't have a highlighter. oh well...i guess i'll just have to read it again with one! i wish i could sum it up in one or two lines, but oh my...each page was full of insight and wisdom that went straight to my heart. here is one quote that really spoke to me:

"a very significant part of getting 'settled'...consists of coming to terms with the common temptations and trials and the seeming routine, because what seems commonplace seldom is...
occasionally, some individuals let the seeming ordinariness dampen their spirits. though actually coping and growing, others lack the quiet, inner-soul satisfaction that can steady them, and are experiencing instead, a lingering sense that there is something more important they should be doing... as if what is quietly achieved in righteous individual living or in parenthood are not sufficiently spectacular." neal a. maxwell (emphasis added)

awesome huh?! and if all of this wasn't enough...on page 51 (it's a short 84 pgs) she talks about making peace with the 'invisibility of our efforts.' i did a post a year and a half ago and i entitled it 'invisible chores'. then she goes on to quote two of my favorite books ever, 'gift from the sea' and 'mitten strings for god'. yup...this book was written just for me.

so, in the words one of my favorite pixar characters woody, "if you don't have one...get one."

happy new year - 2010

it's that time of year again. the time of year where i choose my word...like i did in 2006 and 2007 (but didn't document it). in 2008 and 2009 i wised up. i thought i had my word chosen all the way back in october. then the last few weeks a new word crept in. ultimately, in just the last two weeks one word has burst...and i mean burst onto the scene. i couldn't deny it. there were little things that happened everyday that let me know that my word for the year had to be:

contentmenti secretly hate it (not a secret now i guess) when people use japanese kanji symbols when they are neither japanese, speak the language, or have a strong tie to the culture. but...i feel i have the latter. my brother brad - whom i adore - is fluent in japanese, has lived there on and off for several years in the last 2 and a half decades, and taught me several kanji symbols when i was just a tween. i still remember horse and bird quite well. but i digress...

contentment is the experience of satisfaction and being at ease in one's situation.

a state of mind in which one's desires are confined to his lot whatever it may be (1 Tim. 6:6; 2 Cor. 9:8). It is opposed to envy (James 3:16), avarice (Heb. 13:5), ambition (Prov. 13:10), anxiety (Matt. 6:25, 34), and repining (1 Cor. 10:10). It arises from the inward disposition, and is the offspring of humility, and of an intelligent consideration of the rectitude and benignity of divine providence (Ps. 96:1, 2; 145), the greatness of the divine promises (2 Pet. 1:4), and our own unworthiness (Gen. 32:10); as well as from the view the gospel opens up to us of rest and peace hereafter (Rom. 5:2).

so, while i'd love to wax eloquent about all the various reasons why this word spoke to me...i'll be content to leave it at that.

new year...new changes

okay, so i'm usually not so fickle...but this time i am. my blog will no longer be private. i could tell you the long and sordid thought process, but i won't. i'm tired of thinking about it, and being true to my new word for the year...i'm content. so, if you'd like to put my original blog in your reader...that would be great. if you have an invite to my duplicate blog it will no longer be valid as i am going to get rid of it. happy new year!