Dishes

When, after four years, I was released as the Primary president, I was put into Young Women as the assistant laurel adviser.  I am now in charge of personal progress for the laurels.  I decided to restart personal progress myself at the beginning of the year, not only so that I would be current with what the girls should be working on, but because personal improvement can never go amiss.

I started in January and quickly realized that personal progress really prepares a young woman for life as an active Latter-day Saint woman.  So much of what the girls are expected to do as they work on and complete value experiences and projects are things I am doing right now as a wife, mother, and member of the Church.  Many of the experiences are designed to help strengthen testimony and prepare for the temple and establish good patterns that will serve the girls well into their adulthood.  Others help develop talents and learn important homemaking skills like cooking, cleaning, and organizing.  I had forgotten how applicable everything is.

Here is an example.  In Good Works, a girl is to help plan family meals, obtain food, and prepare part of the meals for two weeks.  Since January, I have fulfilled this requirement sixteen times.  I plan meals, obtain food, and prepare meals practically every night.  It is something I do every single day.  What a great skill to have a young woman work to develop.  One of the choice and accountability experiences is about budgeting and learning to prioritize needs over wants.  Again, so applicable to what I'm doing right now in my life.

I mention all of this because of a value experience I am working on this month.  I started today.  Good works experience five has you read three verses in D&C 58 about being anxiously engaged in a good cause.  Then, you are to "develop a pattern of service in your life by choosing a family member you can help.  Serve that person for at least a month."  Last night, as Kent and I were cleaning the kitchen, I apologized for once again putting dishes in the sink throughout the day without putting them in the sink, leaving the dishwasher half full, and not filling it up and running it, creating even a larger mess to contend with at the end of the day.  For some reason, I am really not good at just sticking breakfast and lunch dishes in the dishwasher.  I let them pile up and my husband is almost always the one who deals with them at the end of the day.  So last night I committed to him that for the next thirty days, my pattern to develop would be to deal with the dishes immediately and not let them pile up in the sink, thereby choosing him as the family member to serve.  I have put it a little yellow (for good works) piece of paper with GW5 on it, as a reminder to me to do my good works value experience number five and keep the kitchen cleaner.

I am happy to report, at the end of day one, all is well.  I loaded the dishwasher and did all the dishes before I sat down to write this, and I hope to be as diligent throughout the month (and beyond).

Wish me luck for continued resolve.