It is time for New Year’s resolutions once again. Have you thought specifically about what you would like to accomplish over the next year? Many people immediately jump to temporal concerns, such as getting out of debt, starting to collect your food storage or losing weight. Here are five spiritual areas in which you may consider setting goals.
1) Personal prayer and scripture study. If you do not already have a habit of personal prayer and scripture study now is a great time to start. If you already do this on a regular basis is there a way to make the experience more meaningful for you?
2) Temple attendance is a great area to set goals. If you have not been to the temple yet, you may consider making this a goal for yourself. If you have already been do you need to make a goal to attend monthly? Or could you fit in a weekly session? If you live too far away to go every month, can you plan specific dates for you to attend more often this year?
3) Journal writing and family history. I put these in the same category, because I feel they are related. Do you write in your journal on a regular basis? Could you find a way to write more often? Do you know what you need to do in order to work on your family history? Can you schedule a time to start? Can you set a goal to go one or two generations further back this year?
4) Sabbath day observance is another great area to evaluate. Are you truly keeping the Sabbath day holy? Are you preparing for your lessons on Sunday by reading the material before the class begins? Do you take advantage of having a day to relax and focus on the gospel and the Savior?
5) Are you setting a positive spiritual tone in your home? Do you need to encourage a different atmosphere in your home? What can you do to invite the spirit in? How do you treat your children? How do they treat each other and you? Do you need more time together as a family?
As you look over these suggestions choose a few that you would like to work on. It is important to change just a little bit at a time, because you are more likely to succeed. We are not expected to become perfect immediately, but to continuously progress towards perfection a little at a time.
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