One of my favorite movies is "What About Bob" with Bill Murray . . . It is an old one . . . and probably not highly significant, but thoroughly enjoyable and delightful (at least to ME) . . . One of the premises of the storyline is that one can make little 'baby steps' of progress towards making changes in one's life . . . or, in the movie, overcoming psychological issues . . .
I like that idea . . .
There are a LOT of changes that would feel absolutely overwhelming if tackled all at once . . . but broken up into little bite sized pieces of progress, ultimately big strides can be made. I know that one cannot cross a chasm in 'baby steps' . . . sometimes a giant leap IS required . . . but still, I like the idea of at least tackling baby steps of progress . . . Usually that is WAY better than no progress at all . . .
Recently, I have been looking at my life and wondering about things I would like very much to change . . . I have been working on several simultaneously . . . and doing pretty well on them, for the most part . . . I AM pleased with the direction I am heading . . .
While watching General Conference in the past week or so (we were out of town for the actual weekend and have been watching the taped sessions to catch up) I was suddenly struck by how well I used to do with daily scripture reading . . . Oh, I was no scriptorian by any means . . . but for years and years I immersed myself in scriptures, at least for a few minutes every single day . . .
I loved the perspective that daily 'exercise' brought into my life, especially when dealing with a wide variety of disappointing and disheartening and discouraging events . . . and not just with the bad stuff . . . Having that time set aside each day to ponder things of an eternal nature put EVERYTHING in a little different perspective . . . It was easier to focus on my children, and trying to be there for them, with the constant reminder of what a sacred trust parenthood is . . . It was easier to deal with money problems . . . relationship issues . . . little humiliations and disappointments . . . AND to avoid taking credit or getting a swelled head when good things happened as well . . . It helped me to be grateful for the events of my life and strengthened my trust that the Lord had a plan for me and my family . . .
Yeah . . . for years and years and YEARS, I had that habit . . . but a few years back, that dwindled . . . Oh I still cherished the scriptures, and their stories and examples and counsel and insights . . . I still thought of them and drew strength from them . . . I still loved being reminded of them while listening to lessons and talks . . . My FEELINGS about the scriptures didn't change . . . just -- for whatever reason -- the priority I gave to reading and pondering them daily . . .
I missed it . . . I REALLY missed it . . .
And so I decided recently that that was something that I needed to begin doing again . . . regularly . . .
I looked at my schedule to try to see when I could most easily and CONSISTENTLY work a few minutes to read in the scriptures into my daily schedule . . .
I quickly decided that late at night didn't really work for me . . . I am TIRED by the time I go to bed, and it is way too easy to fall asleep while reading a NOVEL, let alone something that takes some thought to make sense of . . .
DURING the day was also too iffy . . . My schedule is different every day, and I needed to -- especially right at first when I am reestablishing a habit -- be consistent . . .
I finally decided that even though time is always tight in the mornings, and I already have my alarm set for 4:45 am, that mornings would be the best time to work in regular nuggets of time with the scriptures. I get up to exercise, so I have time to get back home and cool down and shower before I get ready for work or just to face my day . . . but this felt important enough to squeeze it in . . .
So I now stop and take a few minutes to read one chapter in the scriptures before I head out in the pre-dawn darkness to work up a sweat . . .
One chapter a day is not very ambitious, I know that . . . but this is a baby step I can do . . . that I can work in every single day . . . I decided to start in the Book of Mormon first . . . I was torn between that and the New Testament, because those are both my favorites . . . I love how I feel when I read them, especially when I read them consistently and regularly . . . I not only feel closer to my Heavenly Father, but I also feel more . . . how can I say this . . . more AWARE of opportunities to reach out to people around me who might be sad or hurting . . . more aware of stumbling blocks and temptations . . . more thankful for the Lord's hand in my life . . . more resistant to distractions that can make me lose sight of what is most important to me . . .
So mornings, it was . . . and is . . .
I have done this every morning, now, for five mornings . . . hardly a world's record . . . really not impressive at all . . . BUT even so, *I* am well pleased . . . because I have done it every single morning . . . EVEN when I woke up late, and was really rushed . . . EVEN when I woke up with a killer headache . . .
I really want to be faithful in doing this . . .
This is a baby step I CAN do . . . every single day . . . and I WILL . . .
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