O Remember, Remember

As General Conference approaches, I like to review talks from the previous conference to refresh my memory and make sure I'm doing my best with the counsel I've got before I go asking for more. As I scanned the titles of talks from October's conference sessions, I came across the talk "O Remember, Remember" by President Eyring. I couldn't remember what it was about, so I settled down to read it.

President Eyring recalled coming home one night to find his father-in-law working hard on a project to improve the Eyrings' home. As President Eyring reflected on this act of service, the Lord told him, "I'm not giving you these experiences for yourself. Write them down."

That very night he began keeping a journal of the ways God blessed him or his family every day. Each night as he considered what the Lord had done for them, he began recognizing blessings that otherwise would have been forgotten or overlooked in the hubbub of the day. The habit strengthened his gratitude and faith, and that of his family as he shared the journal with them.

This talk inspired me to start a blessing journal of my own. I keep it short--usually just a paragraph or two, composed in ten minutes at the end of the day. If I have enough time I add more mundane events and the latest Joy news in my regular journal (my "large plates," so to speak), but sometimes I just copy and paste the blessing entry into my regular journal and leave it at that.

I've been doing this for two weeks now, and I've already noticed two significant results. First, the practice has transformed how I see my days in retrospect. In the past, when I sat down to just write in my regular journal, the first things that usually came to mind were the challenges and weariness of life. Now that I start out looking specifically for the Lord's hand in my day, I find that my regular journal entries are much more positive. Either I forget about the negative things, or they just don't seem as significant as the positive ones.

Second, and more importantly, as I look for the Lord's hand in my life I consistently find it. Not a day has gone by when I haven't found something to be deeply grateful for. Often I sit down to write at the end of a dull or hectic day thinking not a single spiritual thing has happened, then as I put my mind to it the Lord clears off the debris of the day to reveal an event I had completely forgotten. Truly, if you seek the Lord you will find Him, and if you invite Him into your life he will gladly come.