Why ANOTHER Blog?

For those of you who know me, you probably know that I already have TWO other blogs. You also know that I have to have a reason for pretty much everything I do...no spontaneity here! And so...the explanation for this...a third blog:

Before I left on a mission for my church I set up a blog so that friends and family could be updated on what I'm doing as a missionary in hopes that they may then have their own experiences sharing the gospel. I love my mission blog and it will always be my mission blog...visit it to learn about the experiences I had while serving 18 months in the Canada Halifax Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! Now that I'm home, I didn't really want to continue it...call it compartmentalization or whatever you want. However, since 2007 I have had a personal blog called just off the map. I use it to blog family stuff, trips, pictures and just the wanderings and ponderings of my mind. However because of its personal nature in 2008 I decided to make it private for invited readers only. I don't like to make my life and open book, plus security and privacy is and issue. I believe in internet safety! Sadly though, having a private blog makes it so I can't use it as a missionary tool. I was deeply impressed when Elder Ballard talked about using the internet as a tool to share the gospel and as a returned missionary...I believe strongly in that! Hence...my creation of this blog...a not as personal but public blog.

Why daily delights? Well...you see, if you have ever had me as an EFY counselor or as a mission companion...you'd be laughing right now. In April 2008, Sister Susan W. Tanner, at the time, the Young Women's General President for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gave a talk in General Conference entitled, "My Soul Delighteth in the Things of the Lord. In it she talks about the things that make her soul delight in the Lord. And adds the invitation that "we too should delight in the things of the Lord for it will "lift" our hearts and give us cause to "rejoice" (2 Nephi 11:8).

So while I was doing Especially for Youth Counseling one week, as counselors we began our meetings my sharing this sentence..."Today, I delighted in_____"and then filled it in with whatever we delighted in that day...big or small, significant or seemingly insignificant. It fostered a spirit of gratitude, humility and recognition of the many miracles and blessings we all experienced every day. I began doing it with my EFY girls and soon began to record my own personal daily delight at the top of my journal entry every night. I continued this practice until August 2009 and restarted again in May 2010. As a missionary in the MTC, before nightly prayer with all the roommates we shared our delight. With my first companion we shared delights every night...my second companion, well she said she had too many delights to have to think of just one even though I insisted it could be any ONE of the ones of the day...that's when I really began to just write in in my journal and then it just kind of continued on from there.

I find such strength and power in delighting daily. It causes me to see more than just the surface level of my day. I make connections, I expect and seek miracles. I seek greater understanding as to why things happen in my life and in the lives of others. I look for the hand of the Lord in my life each day. I rejoice in gratitude for all that the Lord has given me and done for me. Each day as I delight in the things of the Lord, my testimony is reaffirmed that God is MY LOVING Heavenly Father; that my Savior Jesus Christ knows my name, that he is my kind, wise, heavenly friend, that he lives and loves me to the end (See Hymn 136).

My hope and goal in blogging about my daily delights is that you can delight with me. That together we will recognize the hand of the Lord in our lives, that together we can rejoice and that show our gratitude for all he has blessed us with and all that he will bless us with. I invite you to leave comments either about my delights or sharing what you delight in.

"To delight in Him is to acknowledge His hand in our lives."

-Susan W. Tanner