We love being outside, hiking and bike
riding. But our favorite family activity is camping, mostly because it means we
get to spend time together as a family. It is time for us to bond, work and
explore together, and enjoy God’s creations. Last summer we went to
Yellowstone, which took lots of planning with such small kids: we had to find
answers to 3 questions: What do we want to do? What do we already have and what
do we need? So I made a list to help me answer these questions. I had 4
categories: meals, activities, stuff to buy and cost.
Meals needed
to be fast, and stuff everyone would like to eat. So I planned for lots of hot
dogs, cereal, eggs. That was easy because I spend lots of time meal planning in
my everyday life.
Activities:
What kind of activities did we want to do while we were there? We really wanted
to backpack because there are thousands of miles of trails in Yellowstone. We
also wanted to see specific geysers and the big waterfall.
Stuff to
Buy: This is stuff we didn’t have and we definitely needed, like a tent,
camping stove and an extra cooler for the week long trip.
Cost: we
needed to make sure we had enough time and money for reservations, gas, food
and entertainment.
We had a
desire, we made a plan and then we had to prepare all summer to reach our goal.
We saved money, made reservations, bought a tent, and then practiced the skills
we were going to need to be successful and have fun. We went on two small camping
trips to practice setting up the tent and getting used to being outside all the
time. On our first trip we discovered cooking food over a fire was not easy or
fast and that we were DEFINITELY going to be needing a camping stove. We also
took the kids on several practice hikes during the summer to build their
endurance for the hikes we planned to go on at Yellowstone. During this time we
realized it just wouldn’t be possible for our family to go backpacking that
summer. Ruth and Will were too young to be able to carry much on their backs,
and Brad had to carry the baby in a child carrier, which meant I would have to
carry several days worth of food, the stove and the tent…not going to happen.
We still want to go backpacking, and in a few years we’re sure we’ll get to
that point, but this year we had to change our immediate goal to something we
could accomplish, but would still be challenging for the kids and enjoyable for
everyone. We also watched several documentaries about Yellowstone to show the
kids where we would be going and why it was worth all work to be able to go
camping and hiking there.
The week of
the trip finally came, I borrowed the stove and cooler from a well-seasoned
camper friend and we were ready to go! Then Brad found out that he would be
responsible for last minute reports for the new CEO at work. We thought it was
over and we wouldn’t be able to go, or that if we went our time would be cut
short and we wouldn’t be able to do all the things we wanted to do. But after a
couple days of sulking around we called to see if we could still change our
reservations and ended up being able to go on our trip a week later after the original
date.
So why am I
telling you about our family vacation? Because it can be an example for how to
set and achieve goals. We had a desire to spend quality time together as a
family. But just a desire isn’t enough to reach our goals. Preach My Gospel
says, “Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our visions of what we can
accomplish. Through goals and plans, our hopes are transformed into action.” M.
Russell Ballard said, “I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals
in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our
goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that
we reached but a small part of our full potential.” Because we had a desire,
set attainable goals and made plans we are able to happily look back at our
summer because it’s full of happy memories spent together.
Everyone has
goals like losing 20 pounds or getting a raise at work, but how do we set goals
that will help shape our life so we can reach our full potential and do as we
are commanded in Matthew 5:48 to be ye therefore perfect even as your Father
which is in heaven is perfect. How do we become perfect? How do we reach goals
that are attainable but may seem impossible?
Preach My
Gospel suggests the first thing we should do in setting goals is ask, “What is
my Purpose?” This will be a time of self-examination; you will need to ask the
same 3 questions we asked at the beginning of our planning: What do you want to
do? What do you already have and what do you need? In planning for our trip it
was clear that we had some things but were missing necessary camping equipment.
Likewise, don’t be afraid to admit to yourself that you are lacking in certain
areas. If you’re not great at reading your scriptures every day, then admit it
to yourself and make a goal! If we hadn’t gotten the things we were missing:
the tent, stove and cooler, our trip would have been a mess—no shelter and bad
food, which would made family bonding difficult. William H. Bennett in a talk
called Inertia said, “Our failure to reach our potential is because of lack of
desire, improper planning, poor time management and a failure to fix your
mistakes.” Use goal setting as a way to fix mistakes in your own life. Take the
time to really think about who you are, what your strengths and weakness are
and what you can improve on. M. Russell Ballard suggests a great way to begin
personal goal setting, “First, think about your priorities. Find some quiet
time regularly to think deeply about where you are going and what you will need
to do to get there. Jesus, our exemplar, often withdrew himself into the
wilderness, and prayed. We need to do the same thing occasionally to rejuvenate
ourselves spiritually as the Savior did.”
Once you
know what your purpose and priorities are—ours was to spend family time in
Yellowstone—you need to break it up into more attainable pieces, make a list
and start working on one of those things on your list. We knew backpacking
would be fun, but when we started practicing we found it was too far out of
reach. We had to modify our goal so it was attainable now. Practicing hiking
now will eventually get us to where we can all go backpacking together.
Likewise, all of us want to reach our full
potential to become like God, but that’s not going to happen this summer. However
we can modify that goal to something more attainable like trying to be more
Christ-like. We can practice now by making goals to go to the temple more
often, serving others around us, being better at FHE or personal prayer. Even
goals to be a better parent or friend need to be broken down so you can come up
with a plan on how to become what and who you want to be. Marvin J. Ashton
said, “True happiness is becoming something. This can be done by being committed
to lofty goals. We cannot become something without commitment.”
The last
thing you need to figure out when setting goals is what the cost will be. Each
activity on our trip had an associated cost: gas, food, reservations and entertainment.
We had to save money during the summer to pay for those things. We also had to
spend time practicing hiking and camping. What will it cost you to reach your
goals and gain your full potential? Maybe to get to the temple more often it
will cost you some sleep so you can get to the early session on Thursday
morning. Marvin J. Ashton in a talk called Roadblocks to Progress says,
“Honesty with oneself and setting of desirable but attainable goals day by day
can determine the paths we follow. One might make a list of goals and then a
price list for each goal. One day at a time the price of change can be paid.
The cost will then not be so overwhelming…Mistakes can be forgiven. Habits can
be changed. One more roadblock to progress can be removed.” It may feel
overwhelming at first to see a list of things you need to change in your life
and think about what it will cost you to make the necessary changes to reach
your goals. But as we slowly make changes in our life we will be headed on the
right path and it will be easier each day, and the cost will be less each day.
Finally,
when life tries to throw a stick in your plans like what happened with Brad’s
job, remember 1 Nephi 3:7 says, “for I know that the Lord giveth no
commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that
they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” We have been commanded
to become perfect, which feels like an impossible goal. But just as our family
was able to find a way around the difficulties that popped up in our planning
we can all find ways to reach our ultimate goal. If you have a desire, make
goals and pray for help and guidance, the Lord will prepare a way for us to grow,
improve and ultimately be worthy of living with him again.
