Peaceful Priorities

Today was a gorgeous day of warmth and sunshine! We played outside on the big driveway out back and at the park. Logan has lots of great parks. That is pretty nice because our yard is about 6 feet by 10 feet. And in that space there are 3 large trees, so not much run-around-room. We try to go to a park at least once a day for exercise, fresh air, sunshine, and fun. It's been really nice not to have to worry about a huge yard, gardens, and a farm this spring. I've been able to learn some new skills like foot zoning, massage, and sewing. I've also been able to focus more on the kid's schooling. Morning sickness has slowed us down, but at least everything hasn't come falling down because of it. I mean, if we still had lawns to mow, gardens to weed, animals to feed, and trees to prune most of that wouldn't be getting done right now. Stressful! Of course, I do miss it a bit, but next time we do a yard it is going to be very small, simple, and natural, so we can just enjoy it and not feel like it's taking over our lives. There are so many vitally important things to do: teaching and nurturing our children, bearing children, temple and family history work, sharing the gospel, fulfilling our Church callings, studying the gospel, etc. We can't let the good, fun, but nonessential things crowd out the essential ones. Heavenly Father has gently taught me this over the years. For instance, I think quilts are beautiful. I thought it was part of a homemakers job to quilt, craft, paint ceramics, sew frills, etc. Now I know these are nice, but not really important. Teaching a child to read, singing hymns as lullabies, attending the temple, really praying and pondering are the things that will make eternal investments. Silly decorations and pop hobbies are in the end a distraction from things that matter the most. They clutter our houses, time, thoughts, and lives with cute, beautiful, yet vain things of the world. A clean, orderly house with a few carefully selected, meaningful items is much more peaceful and focused than one full of a bunch of stupid stuff that takes time and money to accumulate and dust and rearrange, etc. If you spend your resources on vain things of the world you could have spent those resources on food storage, charity, family history, etc. Even if you don't think about it you are choosing one over the other. So often we feel we need these things, but most of the time we only need them to try to appease or impress others. Get over it and you will find true freedom! I can't tell you how peaceful, relaxed, and meaningful our life has become because we have done away with the endless wish lists and started being content with all our blessings. Since we have stopped caring about what anyone thinks and only care about what our Heavenly Father thinks. Stress levels have plummeted, true productivity levels have risen. It's easy to be productive and busy, but if you are just in the thick of thin things that don't really matter, who cares how many check marks you make on the busy work to-do lists.