Today I'm feeling...

...like I'm this field of dandelions.  I'll tell you why.

Today I turned over a new leaf...

...it's name was

Simplify.

It all began with Nephi you see.

About 3 weeks ago I was reading about Nephi praying in earnest that he might burst the bands which held him bound (1 Nephi 7:17).  The Lord answered his prayer and the cords were loosed.

I was pondering on the question:  "What am I bound with?"

And it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I am bound by my overcomplicated life that spreads me so thin and pushes me to the outer limits of my anxiety.

So I wrote in the margin of my scriptures:

"Pray to the Lord in great faith that you can break your bands by simplifying your life and ask Him to give you the capacity to succeed in the simple matters."

So I did.  And He answered me too by loosing my bands.

I made a list of the most important things that I want to accomplish in my "simple" life.  They were: 

1-Nourishing my own spirituality and testimony

2-Teaching my family

3-Making family memories

4-Preserving those memories

That's all it took for me to realize what I needed to cut out in my life and what needed to stay in.

I then rearranged my schedule to include and focus on the "important things."

Well, that was the easy part.

You see, I've always been such a good planner and such a poor carrier-outer.

I can't count the good intentions I've made that have slipped through the cracks in one way or another.

Well, this is one plan I didn't want failing.

So now I'm in the praying phase...praying for the desire to carry out my simplified life.

And guess what?

It's working.

It always does. when He's involved.

And so today when Patrick went back to school, I began my simplified schedule.

And it worked perfectly. {Or at least nearly so}.

And this is why I feel like a field full of dandelions.

You still don't see the analogy?

Let me explain.

I'm not a field of roses because the things I've chosen to implement in my life are not expensive, costly, or looked upon by the world as desirable.  In fact, my simple homemaker lifestyle that consists of feasting on the words of Christ for a small time each day, cooking simple meals, cleaning a little at a time, planning small dates for me and my husband, preparing my sunbeam lessons, teaching my boys from the scriptures daily, educating my boys in a secular way, and reading millions of picture books is not glamorous, noteworthy, or even intelligent.  To the world I am just a field full of weeds.

But that's because the world's lens is dark and reverse magnified.

To them all I do is sow seeds of dandelions with my simple acts.

And I'm all right with that. Because I choose to look through heaven's lens.

For Heavenly Father sees perhaps a field of pure white lilies.

And I know that His opinion is all that really matters.

So, in sum, I've consigned myself willingly to a life perceived as a field of dandelions.

But just between you and me, we know better.

Dandelions=Lilies in heaven.