An Habit Forming Resolution (12/31/2009)

For my suggested resolution today, I would like to share an anonymous article from the January 1979 Ensign. The thing that I liked best about this article is how a resolution made became a habit through practice.
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"The idea came to me one afternoon in late December. I had just completed a six-week challenge suggested by a magazine article on doing good deeds daily. Some of the author’s activities had included writing letters, calling people he had intended to telephone for a long time, taking someone a pie, a plant, or a small remembrance, praying for others, and sharing the joy of living. It was such a joyful experience that he challenged his readers to emulate his experience.

"At the end of my six weeks I was absolutely ecstatic about all the good things that had happened. Then it hit me - why not make it a year-long adventure and commit myself to doing something good for someone every day? It intrigued me to think that at the end of the year I could have touched the lives of 365 people. And I could keep track of my successes or failures in my personal journal.

"As the year began I could hardly wait for each new day. It seemed so easy to think of good things to do. For example, I could catch up on my correspondence and lend a helping hand to neighbors with small children...

"I was able to touch other lives, too, through my Church callings. I had never before realized how tuned out I had been to the needs of those around me. I began to see those who were lonely, those who needed an arm around their shoulder, and those who needed something to spark a dull day.

"April and May found me making little spring treats to take to 'new' friends. My activities were developing a new dimension: not only was I touching those around me, but now I was reaching out to people I never knew before. I still felt the excitement of my resolution, but added to it now was a deeper, spiritual feeling that made me feel much closer to my Father in Heaven...

"As the summer days lengthened, I wanted my family to experience some of the joy I was finding in my 'journey of love.' We set aside Thursday for making treats or doing something nice for others. The children did the baking and delivering with me at their side, and they delighted in the joy that they brought others.

"By September and October my resolution had become a daily habit. Oh, I was still human. Sometimes my heart was not fully in tune when I started out to visit someone ill or down, but I always came away with a strengthened testimony of doing good...

"As the year has progressed, I have come to realize that charity is not always convenient, and that it sometimes takes much thought and planning. At first, I was proud of all the 'good' I was doing, but as the year comes to an end, I am humbled to realize how selfish I have been all my life. As I left the home of the bedridden, or listened to frustrated teenagers, or climbed the hills with my children, I often thought of all the lives I could have touched in previous years if only I had taken the time. My one consolation is knowing that I can make a similar journey in this coming year, and in all the years ahead."