Living vigorously: with physical or mental strength or active force.

I was once counseled to live vigorously. There are many times I feel devoid of vigor, but I desire to live more intentionally than I sometimes have. I think life is vigorous in and of itself, so to act and not just be acted upon necessitates that I live vigorously. The phrase carries a feeling of life and vitality, energy. Most days I could use a little more energy!

Earlier this week we were having Family Home Evening and were talking about various things related to prayers, promptings from the Spirit, and practicing listening to those promptings. I brought up the topic of Flower Child's baptism next year, and learning to listen to the Holy Ghost etc. She then asked what I thought was a pretty mature question for a 7 year old, "What do we do after we are baptized? Because we can't get baptized again!". We then had a sweet conversation about the atonement, and the Savior and how Heavenly Father and Jesus love us, and know we will make mistakes, so they provided a plan for us. (Those conversations don't just occur all the time! It's exciting when your child asks you a spiritual question that they really want to understand!).

Flower Child then related what she knew about the war in heaven, and following Heavenly Father's plan. Then she said something that made me smile and choke up a bit, "Nobody can do something perfect at first". So true, that is why life is a process, that's why we have a Savior! I felt a sense of nurture in that comment. I err on the side of being hard on myself (and in consequence, her) too often. I needed to be reminded of the gentle nature of a loving Heavenly Father who knows making mistakes is part of the process, not the bitter end! OUT OF THE MOUTH OF BABES! I sure love the gentleness, pureness and lightness of truth!

So to sum up, I am in a place where I desire to treat myself and others with more gentleness, and at the same time live vigorously, purposely, presently and happily! Thus, this blog is an outlet for me to process and record thoughts and experiences that my family and I have in the course of living vigorously! To quote a line from a book I liked (referring to being scared to ride an elephant) "You just get on the beast and ride!". I want to ride, and enjoy the ride!