Aiming At The Center

Sorry no pics this week. 😞 The computers have viruses, so I didn't dare connect my camera in to the computer.

(Dad edit: Nathan later uploaded pics for this week... see below!) How was everyone's new year? What are some of your goals? I set lots of goals a couple of months ago, so one of my new years goals is to keep working at my goals. The funny thing that happens is once we accomplish our goals we quit completing them. An example, someone can set the goal to keep their room clean every day, and once they clean they think, well that was easy, and never clean it again. Or they can be like me and set this goal. ONCE I CLEAN MY ROOM, I will keep it clean. So he or she goes the whole year with a messy room and the last week of the year deep cleans his or her room. Yup that was my goal, but hey IT WAS AN EASY ACCOMPLISHMENT!! 😉 Goal setting is no joke, once we set them we should complete them. My room cleaning experience was not really a goal, it was a joke, and a way to satisfy myself. Today I got on lds.org and read an address by Deiter F. Uchtdorf that is called "Aiming at the Center". Everyone should read it. It was exactly what I was feeling and puts all my thoughts to words. He says that setting goals is like archery. Professional archers spend hours and hours perfecting their skills. He then says this which is the heart of his message. "I don’t think you can develop a reputation for being an accomplished archer by shooting at an empty wall and then drawing targets around the arrows. You have to learn the art of finding the target and hitting the bull's-eye." Like me, with my room we set our targets after shooting. It just doesn't work. He then speaks of what our target should really be. Our real targets should be centered around love. Loving God with all our might, and loving our neighbors, as ourselves. We feel our goals are sometimes impossible to accomplish, but if we focus on this it makes everything a lot easier. We focus too much on the process of completing our goals then the end goal. Loving God. I will keep my room clean because I love God, and I can feel the spirit better when it is clean. I will read the scriptures not because its a chore my church leaders give me. I will read because I can prove to God that I Love him. I will go to church every week not because I have to. I will go to church because I want to show my gratitude for the Savior and his Atonement. If we set our goals around this, it makes the goal completing process easier. Espero que todas uds. ponen sus metas con este en mente. Porque al cercarnos a Dios, nos ayuda cambiar. Somos hombres naturales, pero con la potencial de tener lo que Dios tiene, y mas importante vivir con el ultra vez. NEVER GIVE UP! NUNCA DARTE POR VENCIDO! Elder Heaps