Innumerable Little Moments

This is sort of a Christmas post but it's also sort of an all-year post.

I'm not much of an elf on the shelf kind of person because I'm completely freaked out by them like I am by other toys (do y'all remember the horse and the head???  Well now there's also a giant Optimus Prime).  Also, I know I would be terrible at remembering to do something with one every.single.day.  

For the last few years I've been wanting to find something spiritual and unique for an advent calendar.  This past year I finally found it.  We cut up lots of strips of paper and I labeled a lunch bag with a date from December 1st to December 25th.  At dinner each night we would write down acts of service that we saw other family members perform that day that would have otherwise gone unnoticed.  We averaged about 5 slips of paper per night.  We would put the papers in the bag and put it away until Christmas.

On Christmas night we read through every single slip and gave that to Christ as His Christmas gift.  The kids loved being praised for great things that they did and Ben and I appreciated being recognized for some of the small sacrifices we often make that are the norm.

I honestly got teary eyed as we went through them all.  I'm so happy we did this.  It will be a yearly tradition for sure.  I got half the inspiration for this from pinterest and half from a calendar I keep next to my bed.

This past March I read an article in the Ensign that opened my eyes.  I immediately felt prompted to keep a service calendar.  So every night since March, before I go to bed, I write down something good I did for someone else that day that was out of the norm (so things like making dinner or doing the kids' laundry didn't count).

I've learned a lot since I started doing it.  I've learned that there aren't a lot of big moments in life but there are innumerable small ones.  For the most part, our lives add up from all the small moments and not so much the big ones -- even though we tend to be most focused on the big ones.  I've learned that there are so many good people everywhere who go silently unnoticed each day from good deeds.  I've learned that I haven't been nearly grateful enough for so many people and things around me.  

My kids' eyes have been opened, too.  Or at least Skyler's and Lily's have been.  Sometimes they'll do something or they'll see someone else do something and they'll still say, "That should go in a bag!" and then they realize it's not December.

I want this kind of spirit to stick around.  Many months ago when we had decided to homeschool, I received a clear impression that one of the kids' weekly classes should be a service class.  I have lots of ideas of service that my kids could do that will be great for when they're older, but I don't have a lot that are age appropriate for now.  But hopefully that inspiration will come with time.

One of my top goals for my kids is to help them recognize the beauty in everyday service and I hope that I will be a good enough example.