Multiply Goodness

First snow in the mountains and a sunset smoking orange fire across the sky.

And then a day like today comes along. My boys are at playgroup and preschool. I have several hours of quiet to clean, put away, and start laundry. Time to organize not just my life but my head. So I read, ponder, then consider the needs of those I love.

It takes openness, days like this, to see where I am and where I ought to be. It takes days like this to multiply goodness. To know needs. To ask God to direct my paths.

Too much rushing and I just bulldoze through the weeks. With little direction or focus. And I’m working on that focus thing. On trying to do less with more of it.

Which is why I want to tell you more about Multiply Goodness. I mentioned it a few posts back.

It’s a way to fill your bucket. Something we all need. But the idea doesn’t stop there. Once we are filled, we want to do good, share good. And the beauty of being opened to that place in that way, is that it doing good doesn’t feel like one more thing on our list. It feels possible and important.

The goodness I am led to will be different than the goodness you are led to. Often it will be in our own families. We can be tools. Meant for different needs. And God knows what those needs are. Today I am praying for and thinking about my Ali. She is angry too often. She needs something more. And as I remember her throwing her shoes across the room this morning, then reluctantly putting her arms around my waist before she left, I hear in my heart what I can do for her. I know what she needs.

Months ago I was asked by Emily Freeman to join a team of writers interested in uniting like-minded people in an effort to do good. I love Emily. We have yet to meet in person, but that’s the crazy joy of online writing. You can still know a person’s heart.

I’ve read several of her books, and once I heard who she had on board, I was listening. When she explained the idea of the website and mentioned the team would include writers of different faiths, boom, I was in. All in. And feeling a surprising amount of light and energy about the project.

I have known for years, since our time in Washington DC, the power of rubbing shoulders with people of different faiths. Once a conversation begins, you realize you have much in common. You are more the same than different. And that kind of dialogue, of learning from each other, is invaluable.

So you need to head over to the website and explore for a few minutes. It is not LDS. There are LDS writers. And it has an emphasis on Christ-like principles. But it is for anyone who loves good and wants more of it in their life. See what it has to offer. Scan the list of books we’re reading.

My first post went up a couple weeks ago, during that rush-around-bulldoze time. But you can read it now if you’d like. I wrote about my sister, Rachel, her new husband, Eric, and the opportunity for perfect love. (Working on pics of the wedding for my next post here.)