Goals For The New Year

Usually, on the first Sunday of the new year, we take a moment, go over the goals we set, both as a family and personally, last year, and then set new goal for the new year. I am a "theme" kinda guy, so I had read an article by one of our church leaders, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, that led my thinking, and my theme. Now, mind you, he is a leader in my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but I feel his words apply to everyone, whether inside or outside the church.

The article was entitled, "Of Things That Matter Most" He writes of not only simplifying our lives, but of setting priorities, to make sure the things we do are the things we value and that will bring us true happiness. He talks about four relationships we need to focus on: with the Lord, with our families, with our fellowman, and with ourselves. I used these focus points as a basis for our goals.

I printed up a sheet that said "Family Goals", and then listed the four relationships. We selected goals for our family based on those areas. Under "Relationship with the Lord", we selected family prayer and scripture study (denoting that we would read the Book of Mormon every night at 9:30 pm and have family prayer after that), Family Home Evening (with each week of the month having a lesson or activity with the focuses in mind, i.e. 1st Monday-Relationship with the Lord, 2nd Monday, relationship with family, etc.) I also printed up a sheet where each could make personal goals, privately, based on the same focuses.

It is my hope that using this "theme" and then going over this talk throughout the year, our family can stick to our goals, and remember that, while there are many wonderful things we can do, we need to focus on What matters most!