Well, the new year and the new decade are breathing down our necks. I have tossed around a couple of ideas for Goals for the new year....and only have come up with one or two clear goals and the rest remain undefined and nebulous. One goal, for sure, involves my weight and the weight I would like to attain in the next year. I have a good head start and have almost reached my 20 lb. Phase One goal already.
Of course whether or not I reach this goal partly depends on whether or not I have to go onto IV steroids in the coming year. I am working with a Health and Weight Loss Coach with whom I've had the blessing of becoming friends. We share an enormous amount in common and I know that I would not even have come as far as I have were it not for her sagacity and wisdom and for her encouragement. She is helping me to see positives in the things I have done and cheers me on when I normally would be despairing.
Another goal is a yearly tradition for me. And that is when I annually re-design my time with God for my daily quiet time.. As you may already recall, I call my time with God, "Penuel" which means "The Face of God" (If you recall, Jacob, when he wrestled with God named that place "Penuel" because it was there he saw the face of God and lived.). It is in these daily encounters with God that he shows me his face.
Last year I started to read the Chronological Bible (In March) and I will finish that up, hopefully in March of 2020. I have not yet hammered out the details but my goal is to do some in-depth study of either specific topics or words and also of some short passages. In the past three years I have been reading through the Bible three times, and thus have been reading about 5 chapters a day...and while that is great for getting the big picture, I find myself hungering to dig deeper. I also would like to incorporate reading some classic books by mystics from centuries past. I have many book shelves filled by some of the greatest wisdom in Christian history...and I had read them all, however, when I had 15 ECT treatments ("shock therapy") it eradicated my memory of all of those books. This is the saddest loss for me. I also lost all my memory of herbs and herbal medicine. Years of study --gone.
And the other side of Penuel is prayer. Quiet listening to God as well as intercession. My prayer times have been times of struggle lately, becoming diverted and losing focus. I will put an end to nebulous, distracted times of prayer. I've done a lot of reading in the past year on listening prayer and meditation and plan to incorporate that as well.
Those are some of the Christian version of typical New Year's Resolutions. I would like to have a few concrete, creative goals as well. For example, SparkPeople.com encourages their members to create "Vision collages" or posters. I had made two of them and sadly, threw them out after they had graced my walls for years. It has occurred to me that it would be neat to use a scrap/sketchbook/ journal I have ( a spiral ringed notebook filled with cardstock pages) to create an illustrated volume of wisdom and motivation in my pursuit of a healthy weight. The illustrations would be mostly collages but I may be inspired to do some drawing and maybe lettering as well.
And then there are the behavioral , personal challenges that I am posing to myself. 1) Stop interrupting when people are talking to me. 2) be a better listener and show by my body language that I am being attentive to what people are saying. These are both areas where my husband - rightfully- has made complaint to me about my terrible listening skills.
I also have, in the past, sought God in reference to assigning me a word to carry with me into the new year. In the past, the word "Blameless" was given to me and it marked at least two years of internal housekeeping of confession and repentance...and it greatly impacted my life and my spirit. I think maybe this year's word will be "sensitivity". I am aware of my need to be sensitive to God's voice, to conviction, to seeing things from God's perspective and to the needs and feelings of other people.
Of course whether or not I reach this goal partly depends on whether or not I have to go onto IV steroids in the coming year. I am working with a Health and Weight Loss Coach with whom I've had the blessing of becoming friends. We share an enormous amount in common and I know that I would not even have come as far as I have were it not for her sagacity and wisdom and for her encouragement. She is helping me to see positives in the things I have done and cheers me on when I normally would be despairing.
Another goal is a yearly tradition for me. And that is when I annually re-design my time with God for my daily quiet time.. As you may already recall, I call my time with God, "Penuel" which means "The Face of God" (If you recall, Jacob, when he wrestled with God named that place "Penuel" because it was there he saw the face of God and lived.). It is in these daily encounters with God that he shows me his face.
Last year I started to read the Chronological Bible (In March) and I will finish that up, hopefully in March of 2020. I have not yet hammered out the details but my goal is to do some in-depth study of either specific topics or words and also of some short passages. In the past three years I have been reading through the Bible three times, and thus have been reading about 5 chapters a day...and while that is great for getting the big picture, I find myself hungering to dig deeper. I also would like to incorporate reading some classic books by mystics from centuries past. I have many book shelves filled by some of the greatest wisdom in Christian history...and I had read them all, however, when I had 15 ECT treatments ("shock therapy") it eradicated my memory of all of those books. This is the saddest loss for me. I also lost all my memory of herbs and herbal medicine. Years of study --gone.
And the other side of Penuel is prayer. Quiet listening to God as well as intercession. My prayer times have been times of struggle lately, becoming diverted and losing focus. I will put an end to nebulous, distracted times of prayer. I've done a lot of reading in the past year on listening prayer and meditation and plan to incorporate that as well.
Those are some of the Christian version of typical New Year's Resolutions. I would like to have a few concrete, creative goals as well. For example, SparkPeople.com encourages their members to create "Vision collages" or posters. I had made two of them and sadly, threw them out after they had graced my walls for years. It has occurred to me that it would be neat to use a scrap/sketchbook/ journal I have ( a spiral ringed notebook filled with cardstock pages) to create an illustrated volume of wisdom and motivation in my pursuit of a healthy weight. The illustrations would be mostly collages but I may be inspired to do some drawing and maybe lettering as well.
And then there are the behavioral , personal challenges that I am posing to myself. 1) Stop interrupting when people are talking to me. 2) be a better listener and show by my body language that I am being attentive to what people are saying. These are both areas where my husband - rightfully- has made complaint to me about my terrible listening skills.
I also have, in the past, sought God in reference to assigning me a word to carry with me into the new year. In the past, the word "Blameless" was given to me and it marked at least two years of internal housekeeping of confession and repentance...and it greatly impacted my life and my spirit. I think maybe this year's word will be "sensitivity". I am aware of my need to be sensitive to God's voice, to conviction, to seeing things from God's perspective and to the needs and feelings of other people.
No comments:
Post a Comment