To Be List

Today the mother and children were busy getting messy and painting.  The chipmunk boys each painted rocks they had collected last week with their maternal grandparents.  Marmee painted an old tile she had stored in the garage.  I thought I would share her painting as well as part of her journal I copied to add to her dossier.

From Marmee's Journal:

I have been thinking today about the recent general conference address given by Lynne G. Robbins of the seventy titled What Manner of Men and Women Ought You Be. One part that really stuck out in my mind:

"Many of us create to do lists to remind us of things we want to accomplish. But people rarely have to be lists. Why? To do’s are activities or events that can be checked off the list when done. To be, however, is never done. You can’t earn checkmarks with to be’s. I can take my wife out for a lovely evening this Friday, which is a to do. But being a good husband is not an event; it needs to be part of my nature—my character, or who I am."

"Or as a parent, when can I check a child off my list as done? We are never done being good parents. And to be good parents, one of the most important things we can teach our children is how to be more like the Savior."

As I have been creating a To Be List for myself I was reminded of President Hinckley's List of Be's: Prayerful, Humble, Smart, Involved, Grateful, Clean, Still. Positive and True.   So I decided to get crafty today and make a reminder for me of this wonderful list of To Be's.  Now I need to get busy and work on being clean, we have paint all over!  As my oldest says though, "Sometimes you have to get messy when your making art."