"Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication"

This week has...not been a good one for me health-wise or sanity-wise. Too many snitches of the kids' candy, too many delicious goodies, chocolates from my husband (for no particular reason! What a sweetie I married!), bags of chips in the house (and no self-disipline!), too many late nights compounded, of course, by multiple interruptions to my much needed beauty sleep from my lovely 9 month old...

Not only that, but I feel like I have been running from place to place this entire week, leaving me feeling harried and bereft of energy, and leaving my house feeling disorganized and never quite as clean as I would like it. Additionally, the few quiet moments I like to spend daily visiting with my Heavenly Father have been too hurried and unfulfilling. Overall, it is obvious to me that I need to make some changes this coming week.

Tonight I begged out of going with the family to our ward trunk-or-treat and chili dinner, so I could have some much needed "mommy time" to unwind, ponder and reflect. (And hopefully get my house clean as well--we'll see!)

As Leila and I sat down to the healthiest dinner I could concoct in 10 minutes, I turned on the conference talks from the latest general conference. I decided to listen to President Uchtdorf's talk, entitled; "Of Things That Matter Most."What an amazing talk, and just what I needed to hear tonight. I love how the Lord gives us these timely, gentle reminders of what we need to be focusing on in our lives. President Uchtdorf quoted in his talk something that Leonardo DeVinci is purported to have said; "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." Beautiful! I have been thinking a lot about that lately--how I want/need to simplify my life much more.

This morning, as I was glumly contemplating my messy house and Maile was in tears on the floor because I wouldn't let her watch a second movie, I decided we all just needed a change of scenery. I quickly packed a picnic lunch and stuffed Maile's little school workbooks in a bag along with a pencil and our picnic blanket. We all jumped in the car and headed over to the library, where we spread out our blanket on the lawn, ate a yummy lunch together, and then did some of Maile's little school worksheets together. We just lounged around and took our time, and it was so delightful! All tears were gone. Why can't we make every day like that? Why so much running hither and yon? Why is it so hard to remember and focus on the things the truly matter the most?