Resolutions

I admit that I have never actually sat down and written a list of New Years resolutions. I might think about them or talk about them with someone, but I have never written them down before. Perhaps it's because I'm afraid of breaking them, which always seems to happen anyways. Maybe it's because I'm just too lazy. I mean, January 1 is just another day, right? What's so special about it?

Last Sunday at church the service really made me start to think about resolutions. Traditionally, January 1 is a day where we can dedicate ourselves to starting fresh. We can do that pretty much every day anyways, but New Years resolutions seem a bit more final, a bit of a bigger commitment. My biggest problem is the fact that I've never written mine down. See, if we do not actually write out what our goals are, who can we trust to keep us accountable besides ourselves and God? Not that we cannot trust God to keep us accountable. He's really good at that. The problem lies in when God whispers to us "Hey, I thought you were going to cut down on eating sweets" and we choose to ignore Him, which unfortunately happens a lot.

So, I am posting my resolutions up here for all to see, should anyone care to pass by and read them. That way, not only will I know that there are other people out there who know what I am trying to accomplish, but I also will be able to look at them myself when I go to blog. I think I'll even print out the page so I can stick them in my room somewhere to remind myself.

1. I resolve to improve my relationship with God even more than in this past year by dedicating more of my time to prayer and conversation with Him.
2. I resolve to improve my relationship with God even more than in this past year by reading at least eight chapters in the Bible each week. SOAP has helped me with this, and sometimes I have even done 14 chapters in a week, but I have been slacking off horribly lately and not reading at all. Therefore, I dedicate myself to reading His word!
3. I resolve to be the temple God wants me to be by improving my diet after the new year and to prevent myself from gaining the freshman 15 when I enter college by exercising and eating healthier.
4. I resolve to shine as a light of God by improving my relationships with my family before entering college, a task that God set upon me a couple of days ago when He asked me to write letters to them as part of my 30 day challenge at Impact.
5. I resolve to shine as a light of God by going out of my way to do something nice for someone as often as possible (i.e. holding open doors, picking up something that someone dropped, etc.).
6. I resolve to bend to God's will and complete the story that He asked me to write for Him this year that I never actually completed.

If I come up with more, I will definitely list them. Now that I look at this list, I realize that all of these resolutions are possible. I didn't think so at first as I was writing them, but nothing is impossible with God.

Happy New Year! See you in 2010!