butterflies. hearts. beehives.

I am an avid journal-keeper.  You might even say reckless. Some years are better than others, but I have at least 5 journals that document the last three years of my life--and that's not including the "Journal. Macbook Style." I started on my laptop last February, or the thoughtful journal-like entries I write for the blog.  I write in my journal until my hand cramps and my writing is scrawl, or I type in my journal 'til I feel I might be developing carpal tunnel.  I cannot get enough of it.

My journal (right now) is very much the stereotype of what you would expect an 8-year-old Mormon girl to get on the day of her baptism.  In fact, I think that's what it was, except it was for my sister Kate.  I will just give you a few words to describe the essence of this journal: pastels, butterflies, bees, hearts, a heart inside a beehive. (If that doesn't sell you on this journal, I just don't know what will.)

On each page of the journal, though, there are quotes, poems, and scriptures. The poems can get a little cheesy, or a lotta cheesy, but some days the quotes and scriptures are the perfect accompaniments to my entries.  They're like little epigraphs.  My favorite is part of a quote from Elaine Cannon:

"We are rapidly becoming what we are choosing to be for all eternity."

I agree; we are rapidly becoming what we choose to be, and we become it for eternity.  It might seem like we are only slowly becoming, because it's a gradual process--just like our bodies have slowly become adult.  But, if you're like me, you might look back on that "gradual" growing process and think it went by a lot faster than you anticipated.  I've sometimes thought I needed to "find myself." But I look back on photos of myself when I was younger and realize that I am who I have been all along.

I think we have to choose who we want to be and work on becoming that today. If we choose to wait until "tomorrow,"it usually stays on our to-do list for tomorrow, then tomorrow, then tomorrow.

The other day a friend told me what kind of father he thought he'd probably be. ("I think I'll be affectionate with my kids...")  Well, I think we'll be who we are, who we have been, and who we are always choosing to be.  So we better choose every day to be something good!