What I'm Trying To Do This Year

As our pastoral intern at our church said last Sunday School, "the date doesn't effect our heart issues" [or something along those lines]. He was mainly talking about certain kinds of resolutions like, "I resolve I won't get angry at my siblings this year" or "I resolve that I'll think before I act this year". If it involves a heart issue that needs to change, we're going to need more than a date to make those resolutions.

Not to say there's anything wrong with those kinds of resolutions. But so many people make those kinds of commitments on January 1 without realizing that it would have been just as well as if they decided not to get mad at their family or act foolishly on March 1, or November 1, or June 26.

Then again, there's something about the new year that makes things seem like a clean slate. But it's not a real clean slate. The only clean slate we could ever get is if God overlooks our sins because we're covered by His Son's blood.

And because I have that real clean slate, I'm going to really try this year to keep my resolutions. Some of them are practical, some are pretty typical, and some deal with those certain heart issues that really can't be fixed by the date alone.

1. Time with God every day. I've been trying to get into that habit for sooo long! For my birthday, my grandparents gave me a year-long devotion plan by Charles Spurgeon (as I recall--forgive me if I got that wrong). Each day focuses on one particular Bible verse, and the devotion itself is very short. But it's also very rich and thoughtful, and encouraging. It literally takes just a minute, but it's encouraged me to set aside that time for God. I guess something that short and uncomplicated really doesn't leave me with the "I don't have time--I guess you'll wait, God" excuse (which I've used in the past *sheepishly* =)
2. Exercise as often as I can. I absolutely refuse to let myself get caught up on what I'm eating/how I look. I exercise because it's fun and because I love it and because I find myself in a much better mood afterward and because it helps me on concentration. This is not connected to me trying to lose weight in any way, because I'm not. Yeah, I'm not very slim, but that doesn't matter. As long as I eat wisely and I'm not experiencing health problems, I'm going to let my body settle on the weight it feels comfortable at.
   
3. Try out makeup. Okay, I've always been known as the unfashionable, un-girly kid. I played baseball, love sports, hang out with my brother...but that doesn't mean I'm a tomboy in the slightest. I just want to try using a little bit of makeup for a few weeks and see what happens. I want to see if it makes me uncomfortable or if it's really a pain to put on/wear/take off. So it's really an experiment. =)
4. Stop wasting time. My biggest idol is entertainment. Like sports. And animated movies. And I think I'd be scrambling about trying to get school work done less often if I waited for the fun stuff after I get everything done that I have to.
5. Keep my room clean. Honestly, this isn't a huge problem with me. I'm the list-maker, neat-freak, organized-person in my family. You will often see me going around the house when I'm bored cleaning up. But I'm so busy, and I do so much in my room, that things can build up. Let me see...clothes, binders, papers, sequins that I ripped out from a skirt because they were annoying*, more clothes, books, socks...and I'm sure there's more.
   

That's my neatly numbered New Year's Resolution List with commentary and footnotes.

What are y'all's resolutions?

*[footnote for #5 on the Resolution List] The sequins were actually falling out of the skirt. All around our house is a trail of silver, glittery sequins from that thing! I got it from Salvation Army, and at first I thought "Who on earth would get rid of such a comfortable, pretty skirt!". And then I realized that every time I moved or caught a thread, it would shed half a dozen sequins. From some of the stitching that attached them on the skirt, it looked as if the original owner had tried hand-sewing them back in, got tired of it, and donated it. The original, machine-attached sequins were sewed on so that if you pulled at the right thread absolute scads would fall out! So yesterday I had fun pulling every single one of them out, and then I vacuumed them all up (took a while because they clogged the vacuum cleaner). [end of footnote]