journal

Here's an idea for writing in your personal journal, or just something to think about on your way to school, work, or the store. The hymn "More Holiness Give Me" has 3 verses with 8 phrases in each verse. That's 24 phrases in all. One year I tried using one phrase for every 2-week period as a writing prompt. The hymn is a sort of prayer, so it is easy to ponder the phrase and then try to think of ways during the coming 2 weeks to strive to seek what the phrase asks the Lord to give you.

For example: The first phrase is "more holiness give me". For 2 weeks, think about ways that we can be more holy. The next two weeks you can ponder how to have "more strivings within", and then "more patience in suffering", or "more sorrow for sin". It gave me a focus every day as to what I might do to become more holy, patient, hopeful, or meek.

Even if you don't have time to write about it in your journal, each phrase gives you something of real value to ponder and seek the Lord's help to improve.

Let's see, mathematically, that means the song would fill 48 weeks of the coming year with journal or thought prompts. We already missed the first two weeks of 2011, so we would now be pondering "more strivings within" from Jan 16 - Jan 31. The rest of the song will take us through the year until December, when we have just enough time to ponder the Savior's birth and enjoy the stories of Christmas. How fitting that the very last phrase of the song is "more Savior, like thee".

I love you all!
~Mom