Tree of Life Challenge
WHY am I starting
this challenge? I have had some
heavy duty trials in my life and I have overcome them in different ways, but
the key ingredient always was my
relationship with my Heavenly Father and feeling His love for me, and the
Savior’s love too, and all of this through the Holy Ghost, who loves us just as
much! But even with all that I have learned… current heart-wrenching challenges,
had really shaken my faith in myself as a valuable, and important person. I had
lost the peace I once had. I was just a bundle of worries and tears and felt
like a failure. Ouch! A dear friend, and counselor, of mine made a life
altering and inspired suggestion, that I pray all day, every day, to God that I
might see myself the way He sees me, that I might see who I truly am and
how much He loves me. That prayer started me on an amazing, healing path that
led me to remember who I was and that I am SO LOVED! I am unique and important
even though I’m not perfect. He is aware of me and has heard my prayers and I
am being watched over and cared for. WOW! Phew! Everyone needs to feel this way
and know these things! So, He inspired this new challenge, so YOU can feel his
love too, even if you already do, we all can always use more love, peace and
joy!
When you look at the challenges below, know that the ideas
behind most of them come from my experience with my current trials, and others
that I have overcome, and from the teachings of Jesus Christ. I know that
whether we are enduring a trial right now, or not, we will all have them and
the strength we have from knowing we are God’s beloved children can be the key
to surviving them and even turning them into blessings. Even when life is good,
it can be even greater when we know who we REALLY are. When we look in a mirror
and see who God sees, it changes everything! And when we feel His love, it is like
we have reached the TREE OF LIFE in Lehi’s vision and are eating that
“desirable fruit to make one happy.”
Your path will not look exactly like mine, because you are
YOU and in the end it might not have anything to do with these challenges
exactly but I hope something we do along the way will change your life for the
better and that you will know how amazing you are right now. It’s true! Even
before we start I know that you are adored by your Father in Heaven, and His
Son who died for you and I hope you can discover that (again even) for
yourself, in your own way, and I hope that when you do arrive at the tree you
can say, “And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with
exceedingly great joy…” (1st Nephi 8:12) I know you can and I hope you will join us!
Daily Challenges:
(worth 1 point each day accomplished, except exercise- give yourself 2 points
for each time you workout with a max of 6 points a week, even if you work out
more than that) These 4 challenges are all important because the physical and
spiritual are very connected and will help you feel the Spirit and God’s love!
-
Pray morning and night (include “help me see
myself the way You see me”)
-
Read scriptures daily (start with Lehi’s vision,
then go where you are led)
-
Exercise 3x each week
-
Eat healthier (pick one way that you can improve
your diet. Less sugar? More water? No more soda?)
Mystery Challenge: (worth 5 points each week)
-
Each Sunday I will give you a new mystery
challenge for the upcoming week. It might be big or small, but it will be
awesome! Once you’ve done it, give yourself 5 points and a pat on the back.
Weekly rotating
challenge (worth 1 point for each day you work on it. MUCH more information
will come to you each week about the upcoming challenge for that week)
1.
Focus on Prayers- This is the most important
part to this whole challenge! Our main prayer for this challenge is to see
yourself the way God sees you, which will help you feel his love more
abundantly!
2.
Turn off the noise.. . declutter your life! We want the Sprit to be able to share Where
are you focusing your time and energy? Can the Spirit find you to share God’s
love with you?
3. Feel
his love by remembering who you are. Look through old pictures, journals,
scrapbooks, boxes, notes, letters home. Walk down memory lane with family
members. Start saving these special items for art project.
4.
Feel his love through nature. Spend some time
each day outside with the sun on your face. Go on walks, bike rides, runs, and
be looking for your favorite trees fun
or to incorporate into final art project.
(we will get creative ideas going on this for people not blessed to live
in warm places like Arizona!)
5.
Discover yourself by looking to those who came
before you. What different personalities, strengths, weaknesses, talents, or
tendencies did you inherit from who? Who do you have watching over you and your
family? Or you can study the lives of famous people (or regular folks) that you
admire whose attributes you have emulated or want to emulate.
6.
Feel God’s love through music. Listen to
something beautiful every day! Turn off the TV in the background! Turn off talk
radio (ouch!)
7. Focus
on Scriptures- This week we are going to read at least 30 minutes a day to
really get a better dose of God’s word in our life. We are going to look at
scriptures in a new light and see if we can get more out of our study.
8.
Focus on Meditation. Spend at least 5, 10 or 15
min. in quiet meditation. Picture yourself with the Savior.
9.
Focus on the Savior. The atonement. Grace. The
power that it can be in your life every day. FORGIVE YOURSELF!
10. Focus
on journal writing. Write more than a few sentences. What are the scriptures? They
are journals! Where would we be now if people hadn’t written things down? What
have you learned from this journey so far?
11. Gather
your supplies for art project. Really gear up and even start creating your own
TREE OF LIFE!! This can be done a million different ways! Draw, paint, collage,
sew, bake, paper machete, photography, write
a poem about, describe with words, plant one in your garden…
12. CREATE
your own Tree of Life and SHARE (if you want). Think of ways to include what
you have learned on your 12 week journey. Maybe the branches or leaves or fruit
can represent truths you have learned about yourself, or different ways that
you have felt God’s love for you, or the people that have helped make you you.
BE CREATIVE! There is no wrong answer here!
How The Challenge Works
POINTS- Starting on Feb. 2nd you
will be working on the four daily
challenges and the one weekly
rotating challenge each day. During that week you will also accomplish the mystery challenge. You will total up
the points earned each day to get a weekly total (there are NO cheat days and NO
bonus points in this challenge). So, if you’ve been counting, there are 27
points possible in the daily challenges, 5 points from the mystery challenge,
and 7 points from the rotating challenge for that week, for a total of 39
points each week.
REPORTING- On Sunday evenings I will send you
an email with a LOT of encouragement, and information for the next week, and
most importantly, a survey. Follow
the link to the survey and answer the questions. One question will be “How many
points did you earn this week?” There will be other questions about how things
are going and an opportunity to share your thoughts, questions etc. with me and
possibly the group.
RESULTS- On Tuesday I will share the results
of the survey (and more info and thoughts and encouragement) with the group,
however, for this challenge, because it is a highly personal,
introspective challenge, I am NOT going to share your points with the group or
do rankings or anything. The points are just for you to keep track of your
effort, and sharing them with me will help you feel accountable. I hope you
like this new way of doing it. If you
are taking the challenge with your family or group of friends and want to
compare with each other, then GO FOR IT!
THE BLOG
and FACEBOOK- I will
be updating the blog (www.treeoflifechallenge.blogspot.com) with information, thoughts,
inspiration, art, photos, and help. When I update it I will usually send you an
email and/or post on our facebook group. PLEASE JOIN “Tree of Life Challenge”
group on facebook then we can really cheer each other on! I love to hear how
things are going and what you are doing.
CHEERLEADERS NEEDED- One really fun aspect of the
challenge is learning from each other. So, please email me and let me know if
there is a weekly rotating challenge that speaks to you, that you can help me
with. You could write up information about and/or your own thoughts on the
importance of that particular area (scriptures, prayer, music, meditation,
reflection about self, nature, Christ
and the atonement, art, journaling, decluttering, ancestors, etc.) I could
REALLY REALLY use your help and the group would love to hear from people
besides me! Thank you!
I love you, I
am happy you made it to the end of this long letter and I hope you will try
this new adventure with us!
Call, text or
email me anytime and let me know if you will join us! Invite friends! Any age,
all faiths and sexes!
Lots of love (I mean that)-
Sarah Crawford
480-236-2326
treeoflifechallenge@gmail.com
