Sunday, January 4, 2009

Off to a New Start...BRAND New

Happy New Years everyone! This is my post of new-years resolutions and, the past weeks' events. Also, hopefully, a little food for thought.

My mom and dad went to PA on New Years Eve, leaving me to the house alone (don't misunderstand..I WANTED to stay home this year...nothing against them :). I decided to spend new years with my friend and her family. It was also nice to have a few days of complete quiet solitude. It sure doesn't take long to start getting lonely when you're so used to company though! Still, I got some much needed rest, a start on the new year's practicing (and many upcoming performances) among other things that needed done (the least glamorous of which included cleaning the poo out of the kitty's litter box and spraying and cleaning out the whole thing.....the only good part of that (aside from that it doesn't stink downstairs anymore) is that tomorrow it will be one less thing to have to NOT look forward to!!

So, as anyone who knows me knows, I am a list FANATIC...making New Years resolutions one of my FAVORITE things to do!! The hard part of course for all of us is keeping them....at least a little!

Here are some of my 2009 New Years resolutions. Feel MORE than welcome to ask me about them now and then. Pray for me and help hold me accountable. We all need that.

1) Read the whole Bible. Now is the time to admit. In all my years I have NEVER read the entire Bible. I'm very ashamed of that. I'm sure I've read almost all of it at some point in my life, but to really sit down, memorize verses, be able to site scripture, that's something I've never been able to do and really WANT to be able to.

2) A more steady devotional and prayer life...as my pastor was saying today...the more you set out to pray whenever you worry, the faster the worry slips away!! And I am certainly the QUEEN of worry warts, so this would be a fantastic start for me :) (and yes I AM aware that there is a scripture passage that speaks about how worrying doesn't add any years to our lives...and how God takes care of all the other creatures..and not to worry about tomorrow...now by Jan. 4th, 2010 I'll be able to pop out the scripture that's in!

3)Stop chewing my nails...which I've actually not been doing since a day or two BEFORE New Years!! They are looking quite nice I must say :)

4) Lose about 50 pounds....yes that's right. FIFTY POUNDS.

5)Eat healthier and take more preventative steps towards healtier living (like more regular exercise...which I've also been doing much better at for about the past 2 weeks :) and taking multi-vitamins, drinking more water, stressing out less, sleeping more regularly, etc. etc.

6)Paying off a very large amount of debt this year...so, cutting back on all kinds of unnecessary spending, pinching pennies, and learning the true meaning of "necessities" vs. "wants" Yes, I will need MUCH prayer in this area.

7)Read at least 50 good books this year. God must be out to see me read more because yesterday someone gave me a book, a friend put a blog on about wanting lists of new books to read, my mom came home with a new book today for me to read, and then she told me there was another one I HAD to read before that one :) ...oh yeah, and I also had someone else mail me a book...so, yes, my reading is cut out for me :)

8)Give 3 recitals and at least 2 competitions before the year-end. 2 recitals will be this spring, and one in the Fall.

9)This is redundant to another resolution but I MUST say it...fit into ALL the pretty clothes sitting in my closet....waiting and waiting...some for YEARS to be worn!! No need for me to shop when the pounds drop...I've got about 4 different size wardrobes...yes, wardrobes, in my closet, droors, and basement storage!!!

10)Realizing this is TOTALLY in God's hands, I pray that this year will be the year I meet my future husband...and who knows...maybe even get married?! :) I would be willing to settle for at least meet and get to know though :)

I guess that's it! Ah, enlightening thought. Well, my pastor was speaking about new years resolutions today. And he was also saying out the place between our two ears (haha) is where the battle-ground lies for whether we do or don't do what we set out to. Either we PLAN to fail, or we PLAN to succeed...now that's not saying you can't try to win and still fail...which really wouldn't be failure anyways. But, what he said hit home for me. I know when I look back on certain moments in my life that I see spans of laziness, where I let the excuse of days, weeks, months, or even years passed by to weigh me down and discourage me not to change anything. Then, there are times I remember working so hard, focusing so much on the goal, and feeling so wonderful when I achieved it. The one thing that happened during those positive times was that I didn't really think too much about doing it. I just DID it....I guess Nike knew what they were talking about after all :)

God Bless each of you in the new year. Best wishes with your new years plans. Don't forget to include God, and He will help you not only meet those goals, but strengthen you as a disciple for Him...what more could we ask for than that?

Happy New YEARS!!!!!

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