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Every Little Thing by April Jeppson

For Christmas this year, my husband gave me an inspirational calendar. Each morning when I get to work, I tear off the previous day’s words to reveal some new positive or motivational insight. It’s become a fun little part of my morning routine to see if the calendar’s wisdom lines up with my current need. It’s actually the same game I play every time I open a fortune cookie.

There are only three words written above today’s date.

“Be The Light.”

It’s simple, but exactly what I needed to read this morning. I can easily over-complicate things. I can also over-think things. In a world that likes to distract us from the most important things, these three words quickly bring me back.

Years ago I heard a talk given by Dallin H. Oaks titled “Good, Better, Best.”

“We should begin by recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it. The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives.”

He goes on to discuss how overscheduled our children are, how little free time any of us have and how at the end of the day our kids just want to spend some one-on-one time with us. As an overscheduled adult, with very little free time I internally shout “Yes! Me too!”

A study was done where people were brought out into the woods and told to walk in a straight line. There were trackers on the individuals and at the end of the experiment all the participants believed that for the most part they walked forward. They were dumbstruck when they were able to see what paths they actually took. All of them walked in circles.

Just like a hiker has to periodically pause, take out their compass and course correct, we must do the same thing in our own lives. We need to allow ourselves downtime to pause, reflect and course correct if necessary.

Reading those words on today’s calendar was exactly the compass check I needed. It really is one of the best things I can do with my time. Don’t over complicate it, don’t get distracted. This is not up for debate or discussion.

Be the light.

Albert Lean April Jeppson is a wife, mom, coach and encourager of dreams. Her column appears every Saturday.