In 2009 I resolve to.....
* Write more stories: enter Writing Challenge weekly, participate in the M&M's, submit for publication
* Keep up with friends and online communities
* Keep my website updated
* Be a better parent
* Be a better wife
* Improve my status at work
*Take more time for myself
* Keep my house clean
* Keep ahead of the laundry
*.Get my business off the ground
*......................
Okay, while I know that these are all great New Year's Resolutions and most of them are things I NEED to do, not only want to do, this is not my New Year's Resolution list. Why? Because it is too overwhelming and too vague. I have every intention of striving to complete each of the items on the list, only most of them are not stated as defined goals -- ones with a "have completed" mark to strive for and reach.
The list also is missing the most important New Year's Resolution, the only true resolution on my list: to grow closer to God by having a personal time with Him each day and applying to my life what He tells me during that time. Jude 24 tells us that He is "able to keep you from stumbling" (ESV). Colossians 1:22-23 say ".."He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation -- if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.... It is my New Year's Resolution, my life goal, to continue to grow in my faith, so that I may be presented, without flaw, before my King, and that He may keep me from stumbling along the way.
But goals, in order to be achieved, must have visible objectives. While my long term objective is eternal, my journey will easily get sidetracked without visible, tangible, short-term milestones. So, to look at my New Year's Goal for 2009 (to grow closer to God by having a personal time with Him each day and applying to my life what He tells me during that time), one tangible milestone is to set aside time with God each day. But how do I mark whether or not I apply that to my life? I find that writing helps to bring application to what I read. Therefore, it is my goal to each day write a journal entry or blog about something that God has shown me in reading Scripture or a non-fiction Christian book. Posting these on my blog will help keep me accountable and perhaps help someone else as well.
