I told you, with this new website, you are going to get a taste of it all. I’m intentional in my blogging. That’s not to say that I have anything of value to say or that I will say anything well. What I mean my that is that I am intentionally making myself post a blog post every single week ( ideally twice). Some weeks are crazy around here and honestly I either forget to bring the camera along, or I make the decision to leave it behind and focus on what we are doing. Other weeks we sort just do regular stuff like chores and argue and stuff, what is there to post then? So, basically I decided that I would find something, I would push through and write what was on my mind or just about regular boring stuff like chores if I had to. The reason? Well I don’t live in a fantasy world and probably you don’t either. We live in regular, sometimes boring, sometimes exciting, and mostly average ways. However, I think that knowing that other people are sort of on your same path makes it a little easier to keep walking if things get tough. So here I am.
This week is sort of a big deal in our family. We have a daughter who is turning 8 and in our faith, that is the age she can choose to become a baptized member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It’s a big milestone and opens up a lot of opportunities for her in the future if she stays faithful to the things she commits to during the process.
The whole week obviously has be thinking on a more spiritual level ( probably one that I should always be on but. again, I’m being real and it just isn’t always like that around here, at least not for me). The lyrics to a song that our congregations occasionally sing keeps playing in my head. It’s called: “Have I Done Any Good” and the first verse goes like this:
“Have I done any good in the world today?
Have I helped anyone in need?
Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?
If not, I have failed indeed.
Has anyone's burden been lighter today
Because I was willing to share?
Have the sick and the weary been helped on their way?
When they needed my help was I there?”
Text and music: Will L. Thompson, 1847-1909, alt.
Part of what my sweet girl will be promising at her baptism is to do just this and to look for chances to share her light with others and to lift their loads. I can’t say that I am excelling at this but I want to. I want to do better and help others and be the good that seems so hidden these days.
My post today, maybe isn’t even for you a much as it is for me as a reminder that I have something to give. We all do. That others are in need of help and kindness. We all are. So feel free to join me in committing, or recommitting to being a more caring individual who looks for opportunities to serve others out of love, not pity. Children are beautiful examples of this. Any my sweet little girl is about the best there is at looking for ways to “cheer up the sad and make someone feel glad”. Here is to being a better version of me next week.