"Deer" Diary...

Celeste got her very first Diary this week. She is soooo "insiydid" about it! She takes it everywhere she goes, she stops in the middle of her daily activities to record her thoughts and feelings, and then she'll read it to whomever will listen. I'm sure it won't be long before she'll want a lock and a key on it, but for now, I'm enjoying getting a peek at how she expresses herself!


Translation:
"Dear Diary, I love my diary. My diary is very special. I can take it to Nana and Papa's house. We will go in a couple weeks. I'm so excited. And I will miss my Daddy."


We had a sweet moment tonight. After she read her first entry to me, I got out my childhood diary and read my first entry to her. I remember saving up money to buy this diary (on the left... obviously) from the book fair at my school when I was 7. She loved the thought that I had a diary as a child too, and it was really special for me to reminisce back to the time I was her age. Wow. Life was so simple and carefree then! (A peek into my current diary would reveal a few more complexities.) ;)

Celeste- Age 5

Me- Age 6

This experience got me thinking about the need for solitude in life. This world we live in is SO NOISY. I was shopping at Meijer the other day, and noticed they have now installed televisions in the checkout lanes. So after we finish shopping, we get in our cars to our radios blaring, then home to our televisions blasting, and cell phones ringing and interrupting us at any time of the day. Not to mention that the internet has opened up another world of distraction. I mean, what better way for the adversary to keep us from focusing on what's most important in this life? So I've committed to make more time this week for meditation, and for quiet communion with Heavenly Father in prayer. That's a little difficult to manage with 4 young and noisy kiddos. But it seems to work the best when I wake up earlier than they do (that's the hard part!)

I know that He will reveal spiritual things to our hearts and minds during those moments of quiet reflection. I also believe that when we record the promptings we receive and the sacred impressions we have, we are better able to act on them, and that by so doing, we can share our most precious thoughts and feelings with future generations. I'm grateful for the power of prayer and the inner peace that comes from keeping a journal.

I hope Celeste's newfound love for quiet reflection will become a lifelong habit, because I know it will be a tremendous blessing to her as it has been to me.