I love the new year, and I love the opportunity to "start fresh" with my goals and plans. In 2011, there are tons of things I want to do, ranging from time poured into my children to starting new ministries at church. I try to limit "resolutions," however, to strictly personal things. As such, for my 2011 New Year's resolutions, I think I'm just going to tweak my 2010 resolutions:
1. Run 150 days a year, and at least 12 times a month.
I did this in 2010. The hardest part was not the 150 days (I actually ran 171), but the monthly quota. Months like June and December were especially hard to squeeze in 12 runs. Traveling and sickness were my biggest obstacles. But I did it, although sometimes it was by the skin of my teeth.
To inspire me in 2011, I downloaded a free app called micoach. It measures my time, distance, and calories burned. Unfortunately, the first time I used it, it informed me that what I thought was a two mile run was really more like 1.72! So I elongated my course to a little over 2 miles. That will be my new challenge in 2011.
2. Be more mindful of what I eat.
In 2010, I cut out shredded cheddar cheese, unless it was in recipes. That, along with a general sense of mindfulness, helped me to lose close to ten pounds by June. However, I inched slowly back up in weight, and when the holidays set in (which starts in October at my house), I lost even more ground. Now, I'm only a few pounds under the weight I started with! That was a bit frustrating.
In 2011, I have a goal weight, which is about 8 pounds less than I am now. One of the little things I'm doing to inspire myself is to try out herbal teas. I love hot drinks, and my cup-a-day coffee habit has become two-cups-a-day. I'm hoping that herbal teas will provide a good substitute for my cream and sugar-laden coffee!
3. Do crunches on a regular basis.
This is my one resolution that crashed and burned. I did well for a month or two, and then gave it up.
In 2011, I'm making the resolution more specific: do 15 minutes of toning exercises at least 3 times a week. I found a great 15 minute workout in an old magazine, and all I need is an exercise ball. To inspire myself, I bought a new exercise ball, b/c my old one was very worn out (2-3 years of bouncing babies to sleep on it didn't help), and besides, I learned that it was too small for my height.
4. Read through the Bible in a year, and blog about it daily.
I started out in 2010 with both excitement and trepidation about this one. After I completed my first blog, I felt both exhilarated and terrified. I was exhilarated b/c I loved putting my thoughts down and getting feedback, and I was terrified b/c I could not imagine doing it 364 more times! I felt a similar terror at the end of January, knowing that I had 11 more months ahead of me. But I loved taking the time to process my thoughts about Scripture. Also, I hadn't missed a day in January, so I began praying that God would help me not to miss a day all year. And He did. This was the first year in a long while that was puke-free for me:)--no debilitating viruses or illnesses made me get behind. In addition, I did have the circumstances to blog every single day. And so, just earlier today, I completed my 365th consecutive daily blog on the Bible.
I consider reading the Bible to be metaphorically akin to sailing around the world. When I started out, I was a part of a flotilla of loyal blog readers, whose comments and feedback would buoy me through the early months of travel. By the time I limped into port 364 days later, I had two companions with me: a middle aged Christian man from Australia, named Woody; and an atheist from Washington state, named Erika. I knew neither of these people starting out; I met them on my journey. One was a perpetual enthusiast, the other a perpetual "devil's advocate," but I can't imagine my journey without either of them. They helped me in very different ways.
I grew so much from my journey through the Bible. Even though it was my second time, this time was SO much better than the first. I had a chance to process and meditate on each reading, to seek feedback from people I respected, and ask all the questions that I was thinking. Often, just the act of thinking through it while blogging helped me to answer my questions as I wrote!
However, there are two things you need to know about sailing around the world (or the Bible): it is a hurried journey, and it can be a rough one. You zoom from one place to the next, with not very much time to study or learn about the context of each stop. Indeed, I lost at least one fellow traveler to the rushed schedule. When she disembarked in a particularly beautiful land (Ephesians), she simply refused to get back into the boat and sail away, preferring instead to poke around awhile. And without the proper tools, it can be a rough and confusing journey. There were so many foreign lands that I just didn't understand at all (particularly in the OT), and journeying past them made me realize that I needed a better equipped boat. I needed context and background info and smarter people explaining things to me.
In 2011, I'm trading breadth for depth, and I'm trading my blog for a notebook and pen. Rather than sail around the world, I think I'm going to vacation in the shorter epistles for the year, dedicating a month to each one and really delving. I hope to almost know each one by heart by the end of the month, as well as to understand the backgrounds as fully as possible. I also want to keep up my daily routine, but not just because I "have to." I want to commune more with God during my daily times, instead of them becoming something to check off my list, as they were at several points in 2010. 2010 was the year of physical faithfulness. I hope for 2011 to be a year of physical and emotional faithfulness.
So those are my resolutions in the new year. I write them down mostly for myself, and I hope to write a similar review/resolution blog at the end of each year. We'll see if it happens!
Anyway, whether you make resolutions or not, I hope you have a wonderful new year in 2011!
Showing posts with label New Year's Resolutions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Year's Resolutions. Show all posts
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
A Motivational New Year's Blog
The new year is almost upon us! You have no idea how excited this makes me! Okay, maybe you do. But more and more, I meet New Year's fatalists who refuse to make resolutions that they know they are just going to break. And on one level, I understand that. To say you are going to do something and then not do it is a defeating, discouraging experience. If you have a track record of not following through on resolutions, I can see the urge to just call the whole thing off.
But. On the other hand, that is such a defeatist attitude! Don't try something because you know you are going to fail?? That's the spirit:). C'mon, it is the perfect time to resolve to do better. We just finished a month of gluttony and indulgence; now is the time to get back on track. Plus, the weather is cold, the days are short...what else are you going to do? Go to the beach? No. You might as well take this opportunity to improve yourself. You can do this! It'll be great!
To help maybe add some motivation, I will share my New Year's resolutions. There are four of them, and they predictably have to do with fitness, both physical and spiritual. My youngest child is about to turn two, so I figure that enough time has passed after all that baby-having to really focus on getting back in shape. But even if you don't find the prospect of reading about my resolutions compelling (though they are groundbreaking, let me tell you), at least skip down to the fourth one and read that. It's the most important.
1. Run 150 days this year, and at least 12 days a month. That might sound crazy, and let me quickly clarify that I am not a runner. I don't even like to run. Furthermore, I'm horrible at it. I feel very strongly that I don't have the respiratory system to be a runner. When I run, it is two miles. That's it. No more. I will never do a marathon; a 5K is highly unlikely. But I read a very convincing article in one of my teen magazines in high school, which extolled the virtues of running, and so I decided to try it. The article maintained that running is a great way to keep in shape (which is true); it helps your immune system (which is true); it relieves stress (which is very true); and it leaves you feeling great, what they call a runner's high (which is an outright lie, devised by sick people who enjoy pain). Though I never, ever get any thing close to a "high" from running, I do love the way it clears my head and relieves the stress of the day. I'm sure there is a medical explanation for that, but the best I can figure is that the near death experience from lack of oxygen really helps put the rest of my life into perspective;). This past year, I ran 137 days, so I figure 150 is not too much of a stretch.
2. Do crunches. Daily. Bi-daily. With some regularity. After gaining 50+ pounds with pregnancy twice, my abs aren't going to flatten themselves:). And though I will most likely never regain my pre-baby stomach, I'm tired of hearing John Reuben in my head whenever I see it in the mirror ("I'm not trying to be a nuisance/I just think we can do better than this"). I can count on one hand the number of times I did crunches in 2009. That needs to change.
3. Be smarter about what I eat. I know, I know--so ambiguous! So not measurable. Here's the thing. I actually signed up with sparkpeople.com recently and counted calories for the first (and only) time in my life. Turns out--and I am dead serious about this--I easily consume 2500 calories a day. Easily. Now, on the one hand, I will defend that number. My body needs a lot of food! It does! And sleep, but that's another story. I'm pretty convinced that my body has NO energy on its own. I wear out so easily. And at 5'9'', I'm a large mammal:). So I need to eat. Eat a lot, apparently. But, I mean, I guess I can cut back a bit. Maybe edge that number closer to 2000:). For one thing, sparkpeople showed me that I eat way too much shredded cheese, and it would be a big step just to cut back on that. So that's what I'll do. Cut back on shredded cheddar. And generally think more before stuffing my face:).
4. This one is the most important. And it will take more time and effort than the other three combined, but that's okay. Because it's the most important (I may have mentioned that). My last resolution is to read through the One Year Bible. I've done F. Lagard Smith's Daily Bible before, but, unlike the Daily Bible, the One Year Bible has an Old Testament and New Testament reading each day, along with an excerpt from Psalms and Proverbs. That means no getting marooned in Ezekiel for weeks at a time. Now, that resolution is daunting, but doable. It's the other part of my resolution that has the most potential to crash and burn.
The other half of my last resolution is to blog the Bible. In the past, I have loved journaling as I read through the Bible. But by now, I type much faster than I write, and I am very much in the habit of blogging. So I want to start a Bible blog, and basically blog about what I'm reading each day. Or if not every day, then very regularly. I'm going to confess: I have planned for weeks to do this anonymously. I have been harboring fears that if I said the wrong thing about the Bible, or asked the wrong question, or suggested the wrong interpretation, then I would offend someone and, God forbid, Greg may have to deal with some kind of brouhaha, being a paid minister. Not that my views of the Bible are terribly controversial or anything. I was just scared. I like openness, but not controversy (and they often go hand in hand). But Greg and I talked, and we decided that that is dumb. The Christian life is not meant to be lived in fear. I love the Bible, I love my Christian family, and I would love to combine those two loves and get feedback from people better read and wiser than I. Or anyone, really:). Plus, my mom is wanting to read the One Year Bible, too, as is my bff, and several members of our adult Sunday school class, so maybe this blog can be a place of mutual encouragement. Or maybe the idea of reading my thoughts/theories/mental meanderings of Leviticus and Lamentations sounds completely mind-numbing to you. That's okay, too. Either way, I'm just putting it out there that it is something I'm going to try to do. It's not to late to go buy the One Year Bible:). If you are wanting to read it, just know that you will have company:)!
So those are my resolutions. It is definitely not a guarantee that I will follow through on them. But better to try and fail than not try at all, right? Whether you make formal resolutions or not, I hope that you all have a wonderful 2010 and that you step closer toward the person that you were designed to be!
Now, I've gotta go eat something....
But. On the other hand, that is such a defeatist attitude! Don't try something because you know you are going to fail?? That's the spirit:). C'mon, it is the perfect time to resolve to do better. We just finished a month of gluttony and indulgence; now is the time to get back on track. Plus, the weather is cold, the days are short...what else are you going to do? Go to the beach? No. You might as well take this opportunity to improve yourself. You can do this! It'll be great!
To help maybe add some motivation, I will share my New Year's resolutions. There are four of them, and they predictably have to do with fitness, both physical and spiritual. My youngest child is about to turn two, so I figure that enough time has passed after all that baby-having to really focus on getting back in shape. But even if you don't find the prospect of reading about my resolutions compelling (though they are groundbreaking, let me tell you), at least skip down to the fourth one and read that. It's the most important.
1. Run 150 days this year, and at least 12 days a month. That might sound crazy, and let me quickly clarify that I am not a runner. I don't even like to run. Furthermore, I'm horrible at it. I feel very strongly that I don't have the respiratory system to be a runner. When I run, it is two miles. That's it. No more. I will never do a marathon; a 5K is highly unlikely. But I read a very convincing article in one of my teen magazines in high school, which extolled the virtues of running, and so I decided to try it. The article maintained that running is a great way to keep in shape (which is true); it helps your immune system (which is true); it relieves stress (which is very true); and it leaves you feeling great, what they call a runner's high (which is an outright lie, devised by sick people who enjoy pain). Though I never, ever get any thing close to a "high" from running, I do love the way it clears my head and relieves the stress of the day. I'm sure there is a medical explanation for that, but the best I can figure is that the near death experience from lack of oxygen really helps put the rest of my life into perspective;). This past year, I ran 137 days, so I figure 150 is not too much of a stretch.
2. Do crunches. Daily. Bi-daily. With some regularity. After gaining 50+ pounds with pregnancy twice, my abs aren't going to flatten themselves:). And though I will most likely never regain my pre-baby stomach, I'm tired of hearing John Reuben in my head whenever I see it in the mirror ("I'm not trying to be a nuisance/I just think we can do better than this"). I can count on one hand the number of times I did crunches in 2009. That needs to change.
3. Be smarter about what I eat. I know, I know--so ambiguous! So not measurable. Here's the thing. I actually signed up with sparkpeople.com recently and counted calories for the first (and only) time in my life. Turns out--and I am dead serious about this--I easily consume 2500 calories a day. Easily. Now, on the one hand, I will defend that number. My body needs a lot of food! It does! And sleep, but that's another story. I'm pretty convinced that my body has NO energy on its own. I wear out so easily. And at 5'9'', I'm a large mammal:). So I need to eat. Eat a lot, apparently. But, I mean, I guess I can cut back a bit. Maybe edge that number closer to 2000:). For one thing, sparkpeople showed me that I eat way too much shredded cheese, and it would be a big step just to cut back on that. So that's what I'll do. Cut back on shredded cheddar. And generally think more before stuffing my face:).
4. This one is the most important. And it will take more time and effort than the other three combined, but that's okay. Because it's the most important (I may have mentioned that). My last resolution is to read through the One Year Bible. I've done F. Lagard Smith's Daily Bible before, but, unlike the Daily Bible, the One Year Bible has an Old Testament and New Testament reading each day, along with an excerpt from Psalms and Proverbs. That means no getting marooned in Ezekiel for weeks at a time. Now, that resolution is daunting, but doable. It's the other part of my resolution that has the most potential to crash and burn.
The other half of my last resolution is to blog the Bible. In the past, I have loved journaling as I read through the Bible. But by now, I type much faster than I write, and I am very much in the habit of blogging. So I want to start a Bible blog, and basically blog about what I'm reading each day. Or if not every day, then very regularly. I'm going to confess: I have planned for weeks to do this anonymously. I have been harboring fears that if I said the wrong thing about the Bible, or asked the wrong question, or suggested the wrong interpretation, then I would offend someone and, God forbid, Greg may have to deal with some kind of brouhaha, being a paid minister. Not that my views of the Bible are terribly controversial or anything. I was just scared. I like openness, but not controversy (and they often go hand in hand). But Greg and I talked, and we decided that that is dumb. The Christian life is not meant to be lived in fear. I love the Bible, I love my Christian family, and I would love to combine those two loves and get feedback from people better read and wiser than I. Or anyone, really:). Plus, my mom is wanting to read the One Year Bible, too, as is my bff, and several members of our adult Sunday school class, so maybe this blog can be a place of mutual encouragement. Or maybe the idea of reading my thoughts/theories/mental meanderings of Leviticus and Lamentations sounds completely mind-numbing to you. That's okay, too. Either way, I'm just putting it out there that it is something I'm going to try to do. It's not to late to go buy the One Year Bible:). If you are wanting to read it, just know that you will have company:)!
So those are my resolutions. It is definitely not a guarantee that I will follow through on them. But better to try and fail than not try at all, right? Whether you make formal resolutions or not, I hope that you all have a wonderful 2010 and that you step closer toward the person that you were designed to be!
Now, I've gotta go eat something....
Thursday, January 01, 2009
The Clock is Running
Happy New Year, everyone!
I love the new year--the blank slate appeal and all the resolutions go perfectly with my personality. And, as always, I have several (probably ill-fated) resolutions for this year: run 100 days, give the kids more veggies, make a better effort at reading to Anna daily, catch up on scrapbooking, etc. I usually use this time of year to ruminate and brainstorm on how I'd like to improve things and how I'm going to accomplish those goals. In fact, the other day, I was in a reverie about getting my entire house organized and was formulating a plan on how to do that when a thought hit me that has for some reason recurred to me throughout the past few days:
"The clock is running."
I put that in quotes because I hear it as a quote from Tom Hanks in Apollo 13. He, as always, has a unique cadence in his delivery that has stuck with me. He says it as astronaut Jim Lovell, who sees the clock in the rocket ship starting to run as the ship is about to take off. There is both an excitement and a matter-of-factness in his voice that reflects the reality that there is no turning back now. They are going into space. This is not preparation or training...the is the real deal.
This sounds weird, but sometimes I seem to forget that the clock is already running in my life. I look forward to what I want to accomplish as a wife, mother, and woman of God, but I sometimes overlook the present. Recently, I saw a billboard that said, "Life begins when you stop renting." I laughed out loud at such a ridiculous lie and wondered if anyone was actually falling for such a bold piece of manipulation. But sometimes I somehow forget that life doesn't begin once I get the house organized or become the perfect wife and mother. The clock is running now.
Goals are nice, but I don't want to spend my life always feeling like I'm one step behind on my dreams. I want to move forward, but I don't want to live in the future.
I've been doing this Beth Moore Bible study on the fruit of the Spirit, and being in the Word with this study has really helped to center me and remind me what it is that I want out of life.
Simply speaking, I want peace like a river and righteousness like the waves of the sea.
I want to rest and rejoice in God's love.
And I want to understand more fully how to die to myself each day.
To sum up, I want to be clothed with Christ.
And that is not accomplished through a to-do list. It is accomplished by the Spirit, through time with God, and through His Word. Though there are elements of discipline involved, a lot of it involves simply embracing the truths that I've known all along, that have been planted in my heart long ago.
Deuteronomy 30 says, "Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it."
Moses was giving the Israelites a tall order here: he was telling them to obey the Law and to love God with all their hearts. But he was saying that it was a choice they could make today, right now. And that they could accomplish today, right now.
I don't want to obsess about resolutions and peer into the future to imagine my life if I did x, y, and z. I want to choose life today. I want commune with God now, to live for Him now.
After all, the clock is running.
Happy New Year.
I love the new year--the blank slate appeal and all the resolutions go perfectly with my personality. And, as always, I have several (probably ill-fated) resolutions for this year: run 100 days, give the kids more veggies, make a better effort at reading to Anna daily, catch up on scrapbooking, etc. I usually use this time of year to ruminate and brainstorm on how I'd like to improve things and how I'm going to accomplish those goals. In fact, the other day, I was in a reverie about getting my entire house organized and was formulating a plan on how to do that when a thought hit me that has for some reason recurred to me throughout the past few days:
"The clock is running."
I put that in quotes because I hear it as a quote from Tom Hanks in Apollo 13. He, as always, has a unique cadence in his delivery that has stuck with me. He says it as astronaut Jim Lovell, who sees the clock in the rocket ship starting to run as the ship is about to take off. There is both an excitement and a matter-of-factness in his voice that reflects the reality that there is no turning back now. They are going into space. This is not preparation or training...the is the real deal.
This sounds weird, but sometimes I seem to forget that the clock is already running in my life. I look forward to what I want to accomplish as a wife, mother, and woman of God, but I sometimes overlook the present. Recently, I saw a billboard that said, "Life begins when you stop renting." I laughed out loud at such a ridiculous lie and wondered if anyone was actually falling for such a bold piece of manipulation. But sometimes I somehow forget that life doesn't begin once I get the house organized or become the perfect wife and mother. The clock is running now.
Goals are nice, but I don't want to spend my life always feeling like I'm one step behind on my dreams. I want to move forward, but I don't want to live in the future.
I've been doing this Beth Moore Bible study on the fruit of the Spirit, and being in the Word with this study has really helped to center me and remind me what it is that I want out of life.
Simply speaking, I want peace like a river and righteousness like the waves of the sea.
I want to rest and rejoice in God's love.
And I want to understand more fully how to die to myself each day.
To sum up, I want to be clothed with Christ.
And that is not accomplished through a to-do list. It is accomplished by the Spirit, through time with God, and through His Word. Though there are elements of discipline involved, a lot of it involves simply embracing the truths that I've known all along, that have been planted in my heart long ago.
Deuteronomy 30 says, "Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it."
Moses was giving the Israelites a tall order here: he was telling them to obey the Law and to love God with all their hearts. But he was saying that it was a choice they could make today, right now. And that they could accomplish today, right now.
I don't want to obsess about resolutions and peer into the future to imagine my life if I did x, y, and z. I want to choose life today. I want commune with God now, to live for Him now.
After all, the clock is running.
Happy New Year.
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