Stones of Remembrance, Moving Forward

 As a new year begins, Clare and Candice reflect on New Year goals and resolutions through the story of the children of Israel crossing the Jordan River in Joshua chapters three and four. They discuss how faith requires action, why the Lord invited His people to pause and remember before moving forward, and how the stones of remembrance can help guide our personal growth. This mini episode is an invitation to look back on where God has helped us, recognize what we’ve learned, and move forward into the new year with faith, intention, and grace. 

Clickable links below

Joshua 3 & 4

Sisters with Latter-Day Voices website

Transcript

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Transcript

Clare: Welcome to Sisters Latter-Day Voices.

Clare: For this mini episode, I wanted to talk about remembering before moving forward, and New Year reflection this January. A lot of people focus on New Year’s resolutions, and I know I’m one of them. Every January I start out super strong and think, oh, I’m going to do this and this and this. And then slowly by May, I don’t even remember what they were, or I’m doing terribly at them.

So of course every year I try really hard to do better. This year, I need to dial it down. I haven’t figured everything out yet, but I do love the four main areas that youth focus on, spiritual, physical, intellectual, and emotional. I’m going to pick a couple of goals from each section and work on those throughout the year, and find a way to hold myself accountable so that by May I don’t just burn out.

So for New Year’s resolutions, Candice, what do you normally do?

Candice: I don’t really like having hard set rules for my goals. I love setting goals, and I like looking back on them. I have a paper calendar that I like to use. I use my phone for a lot of things, but there’s something about having a physical, tangible notebook that I like to carry around with me. I keep it in my purse all year.

Last year, I put my goals in the back of that notebook so I could always come back to them, since I was using it regularly for my schedule. One of my main goals last year was to read or finish a bunch of books, because I’m really bad about that. I use the Libby app, and I always have several books that I’m reading, but then my time runs out because it’s a free library app, and I have to wait until they’re available again. So I just had a big list of books I wanted to finish.

I didn’t finish all of them. Some of them I started and realized I didn’t like, so I stopped reading those and chose other books instead, which I’m totally fine with. But I did read a lot more this year because I had that list, so that was nice.

I don’t like setting goals like, “I’m not going to have sugar during the week,” where it’s really strict and you can’t go outside of it. I prefer goals that say, this is what I hope to be doing, and then I check in with myself to remind myself that it’s still one of my goals.

Like last year, one of our goals was to start a podcast, and we did it. I’m really proud of that because we followed through and started doing regular episodes, which has been really fun. I don’t even know how long we’ll do it, but I’m happy we committed to it and made it happen.

For me, I just have to remember not to overdo it. It’s very easy to write down tons of big goals, but my life is already really busy as a mom. That’s my main focus. So I try to be more realistic and just choose a few things.

So this year, my goals are, one, to keep doing the podcast for another year. I also have a creative goal that I don’t want to talk about, but I love having creative projects, so I want to work on one this year. And I want to be better at budgeting. Those are my goals for this year.

Clare: Those are great. I love that a new year brings new goals and resolutions, and this feeling that we’re supposed to reinvent ourselves overnight. You see it everywhere, especially at the gym. January is always super full, and then it slowly burns out. I’m definitely one of those people, so I can make fun of myself.

When I think about New Year’s goals and resolutions, I don’t think they’re a bad thing. I think they’re good because you’re trying to improve yourself. But sometimes January puts a lot of pressure on us to always look forward and never look back.

I’ve also been trying to figure out how to enjoy reading the Old Testament in a way that works for me. Everyone is different, and I don’t love reading it straight from start to finish. I feel like I have ADD and can’t always pay attention, and then I get sidetracked. So this year I might focus on stories or themes and skip around a bit. I think that will work better for my brain.

When I was looking up a story, I landed in Joshua, and it felt perfect for the New Year. I want to talk about Joshua chapters three and four. At this point in the Old Testament, the children of Israel have waited a really long time. They were slaves in Egypt and wandered in the wilderness for forty years. An entire generation had passed away. Moses had died, and Joshua was now leading the people.

They’re standing on the edge of the Promised Land, but there’s one big problem. The Jordan River is in their way, and it’s at flood stage. It’s overflowing, and they don’t know how to cross it. The Lord tells the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant to step into the river first. What I love about this is that the water doesn’t stop ahead of time. It stops only after they step forward.

Elder Bednar gave a talk about this, and there’s a video that explains how faith isn’t passive. Faith is action. The miracle didn’t come before the action. The miracle came after they stepped into the river. I’ve always loved that reminder. It’s amazing how you can skim past one verse, but when you really study it, there’s so much more there. Faith keeps us moving instead of sitting and waiting for things to magically happen.

What stood out to me this time wasn’t just the miracle, but what happened after. Once everyone safely crossed the river, the Lord told them to stop. He asked twelve men to take twelve stones from the riverbed and carry them forward as a memorial.

I want to read Joshua chapter four, verses six and seven. It says, “That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.”

These stones weren’t meant to shame the people for wandering in the wilderness. They weren’t a reminder of failure. They were a reminder of what God had done for them. Before Israel rushed into the Promised Land, the Lord stopped them and invited them to remember.

That feels really meaningful at the start of a new year. Sometimes we’re so focused on moving forward and asking, what’s next, what are we going to accomplish now, that we forget to look back. This story invites us to pause and ask, where did the Lord help me last year? Where did I grow in ways I didn’t expect? What worked, and what didn’t?

I think that reflection is really powerful. I want to keep progressing and getting better, but I also want to recognize what I’ve already accomplished and where I still need to grow.

Candice: I love that, and it makes me think about some of the goals I set last year. One of my creative goals was something I started really strong with, and then I fizzled out halfway through the year. I didn’t work on it much after that, but I kept thinking about it. I don’t know if that’s a gentle nudge that I need to keep working on it, or if it’s just something I really care about.

This is such a good reminder to look back and ask, what did I do well, and what do I need to change? Moving forward, I need to think about my schedule and how to prioritize what’s most important to me, instead of letting TV shows, novels, and little time wasters get in the way of my goals.

Clare: Israel didn’t erase the last forty years. They carried the reminder of God’s help with them. Remembering doesn’t have to be dramatic. It can be quiet and personal.

I was talking to someone recently who joked, “Why was I born a member? If you get baptized when you’re seventy, you’ve already made all your mistakes, and then everything’s forgiven.” It made me laugh, but it also made me think. Baptism is a one time covenant, but the sacrament is the Lord’s way of giving us weekly opportunities to renew that covenant. We don’t have to wait until we’re seventy. We come every week.

That’s important to remember. New Year’s resolutions don’t just happen once a year. They can be weekly, daily, or even hourly. We can ask ourselves, what do I need to do better? What can I repent of? How can I grow closer to Heavenly Father?

Candice, do you want to add anything?

Candice: I think a lot of people have had that thought, especially when they’re younger. But one blessing of being baptized and taking the sacrament for a long time is that we’re continually growing and improving. Hopefully I’m learning something new every year.

It’s a privilege to be on that path earlier, because spiritual growth doesn’t happen overnight. Just like doctors study for years to gain knowledge, we have to work on our spirituality consistently. Hopefully we’re better when we’re older than we are now. Starting that journey sooner is a blessing.

Clare: As we move forward into this new year, we hope we remember that we’re still in progress. As we think about our goals and who we want to become, let’s also pause and remember Jesus Christ and what He’s done for us.

We can be grateful for the past year while continuing to grow in the new one, choosing Him daily and becoming a little more Christlike. We hope you have a great week, and remember that God loves you. Bye.