January 01, 2007

New Year's...new beginnings

Like most everyone else on the planet this time of year, I've been giving a lot of thought to my life in 2006, specifically the things I am not too proud of myself for. With the help of our pastor's sermon yesterday and a conversation I had with a good friend over Christmas, I've decided to make a few changes and I thought perhaps "going public" with them would offer more accountability than my own conscience. :)

1. Prayer. I have really been slacking on capitalizing on the power of prayer. This year I will pray for people to whom I have said, "I'll be praying for you," and I will pray for my friends and family on a regular basis. I put together a prayer notebook this afternoon that is very organized and I think will be very helpful to me in keeping me on track.

2. God's Word. I am hesitant to commit to reading the Bible in one year because I don't think I can go that fast and really grasp what all is there. But I do commit to reading it regularly and developing some sort of method of study. Still working on that...

3. God's people. I have friends (mostly a friend...you know who you are, Amy) who are very good at sending cards and notes and gifts when needed/appropriate. I am definitely not that kind of friend. You may have noticed you have never recieved a Christmas card from me. I have never sent them. Would like to, but just don't. This year, I have marked lots of dates on the calendar that I am going to commit to sending cards and/or gifts for. Please don't be offended if you receive an e-mail from me in the near future asking when your birthday is...it's not that I didn't care before, it's that I'm commiting to show you I care now.

Let's start there. May you all have a safe, wonderful, exciting, stretching, blessed new year!

1 comment:

Amy said...

as soon as I finish the last 4-5 chapters of Revelation which I was supposed to read on Sunday, I will have finished reading the Bible in a-year-and-two-days...I don't recommend it, really. I think smaller chunks read more thoughtfully and slowly are much more beneficial to me. it's definitely good to have a plan, but after two tries I've concluded that whole-Bible-in-one-year isn't a great plan, for me anyway.

I pray that God will provide the grace you need to follow through with your resolutions this year--and that He'll sustain and encourage you with His grace when you fail.

that sounds harsh, like I'm predicting you're going to fail...but I think you know what I mean :)