Becoming a Little Better

After this semester at school, I have come to many new and great realizations. I feel like I am just beginning to blossom into the Brittany that I am supposed to become. Before this time, before being on my own, and before receiving a higher education, I was very naive in my thinking, my ideologies, and just about every thought and idea I ever had was immature in development.

After this semester, I have come to really start understand how important the temple is in my life. I have yet to enter through the front doors, but I am glad that for now I am able to perform baptisms as often as I want. Before this semester, I was glad that there was a temple just a block away from my apartment, but unfortunately, I was just happy that there was finally a change of scenery instead of sparse dry hills. This semester has really opened my eyes as to how important the temple is in my life, and for my life in the eternities.

Temples seal families together forever.
Temples will teach us eternal truths that my soul is searching and yearning for.
Temples will bind my future husband and I together--not just for this life, but for forever. I will be with the person I love for forever.
Temples are a place to receive strong inspiration and revelation. I find that even just sitting on the grounds and looking at the temple is a great way to receive inspired words and answers I am looking for at that moment in time.

I guess the most important thing I've learned is that this life here in mortality is meant to be built all around families, all around the gospel, all around the temple, and all about progression--not perfection. Nobody can be perfect, but we can all progress. We can all be a little better today than we were the day before.

This year, I challenge you to make a New Year's Resolution to be a little better than you were the day before. I am going to try this, as well as a new idea my grandpa presented at our Christmas reunion. It's called "24 Golden Hours". Throughout one 24 hour period, you try as hard as you can to be as perfect as you can in all your dealings--be honest, speak kind words, etc. It's extremely difficult, but shows you what aspects you can work on in yourself throughout that week. Maybe you need to work on patience, speaking kindly, not being judgmental, or being more service oriented.

This year I am wanting to find myself, to make myself blossom into a beautiful Brittany--both physically and spiritually. Not only am I wanting to take care of my physical self better (eating healthily, running more often and participating in a 10K, etc), but I want my spirit to be in top shape as well. I'm going to try to be a little better than I was yesterday.

Perfection isn't attainable, but improvement is, and that's what really counts. When Heavenly Father sees that true desire in our hearts, and we come to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, He will help us, bless us, and guide us in ways that we could never thank Him enough for. We have to be willing to let Him in and give us the advice we need to continue in the path He has prepared for us.

Happy New Years, and may this new year bring you great things, with many improvements!

Live. Love. Laugh. Grow.