I have decided to make a few resolutions for the New Year… or maybe it’s more of a hope for an improvement and/or change than they are resolutions…either way, they are: 

1.  Discipline – I’m more of a random person and get distracted easily.  No excuse when it comes to my relationship with God, however.  I know much of this will only be able by His Grace, but I would like to bring a little more discipline into my life.  Areas such as morning devotional/prayer time, fasting, serving.  For the most part I’ve made these part of my life, but only in a “when I feel like it” kind of way.  This translates to choppy devotions at red stop lights on my way to work; serving when it suits me or sounds fun;  and fasting…well, honestly that is a discipline that I haven’t practiced much in the recent years…or ever, if I’m going to be honest.  I can’t make some crazy schedule that I’ll inevitably fail with in the next 2 weeks, so I’m hoping that I can start slowly and with a lot of prayer, asking God to help me in this area.  

2.  Joy – Somewhere in my transition from crazy, carefree party girl to grown-up/post grad Christian I became super serious and lost some of my silly side.  I don’t need to be the person I was before, but I would like to have more simple joy in my life.  Joy is one of the fruits of the spirit, and I understand that there might be a “quiet joy” that one can experience…but I really want some exuberant, happy joy that can also be experienced.  I asked Jesus to give me this for Christmas and it’s turned into a prayer request that I’d like to take into the New Year.  Again, this is something that must come from God…so on my end it’ll probably start with a lot of prayer and intentionality in my relationship with God.

 3.  Being Thankful – I truly believe that our perspective shapes our experience of everything.  As selfish and narcissistic as we can sometimes be, we often get sucked into us, what we don’t have, what we want, what we need, etc…Something I learned from Corrie Ten Boom’s Hiding Place and then from a vacation in El Salvador is that perspective can make or break an experience.  This year, I’d like to intentionally make shifts in my perspective – meaning I would like to be more thankful to God for the things He’s granted me in life today and especially for the absence of things that I really want.  At the end of the day He knows what I need each day and has provided.  As a result, I must trust that if something I want is not given to me today, there must be reason for it.  I think I’ve spent too much of the fall 2009 focusing on what’s not in my life (asking, pleading, being angry, bitter, etc) and not enough energy focusing on today and what God has provided me to get through each day.        

4.  Write More – it’s a big love of mine and a way I definitely connect with God.  I want to grow in this area and just haven’t taken the time to write like I once did (poetry and blogging/devotional/random thoughts/journaling/etc).

5.  Exercise & Eat Healthy – it’s the token resolution…everyone has this on their list…so it must be on mine.

6.  Use the Library – I’d just like to buy less books, get rid of those on my shelf that are not earth shattering and use the library more.  It’s a budget/”wise with my money” decision.  We’ll see how long it lasts.