“How about you? Would you like one?”
The lady wearing the white apron and the hair net behind the Super Saver bakery counter holds out a chocolate chip cookie.
“Oh, no thanks…New Year’s resolutions and all,” I say, thanking her for the cookies for the boys.
“All right then,” she says, laughing as I push my grocery cart away, “see you in February.”
I’ve always been a New Year’s resolution kind of girl. I love the idea of a fresh start, a new beginning, the chance for a clean slate. I typically don’t make one resolution – I make a half-dozen, sometimes more, every year.
I know what you’re thinking… “So do you actually keep all those resolutions?” And the answer is: yes and no.
Every year I resolve to floss, and every year I run the smooth, white thread through my teeth vigilantly for a week or two, and then give up. This year “Floss” didn’t even make it onto my list. I’ve finally accepted the fact that I am a Person Who Only Flosses Three Days Prior to Visiting the Dentist. On the other hand, two years ago I resolved to read the Bible every day, and I kept true to that one, more or less.
So here are my 2013 Resolutions. I typically make at least one resolution in each of three categories: Physical Health, Work Life, Spiritual Life:
Physical Health:
- Take a multi-vitamin and calcium pill daily. [This, too, makes it onto my resolution list every year, and it usually falls by the wayside after a month or two. I’m getting old, though, so I feel like I need to start shoring up my bones.]
- Sleep: Lights off by 10 p.m.; up at 5:45 a.m. [I’m yearning for more quality quiet time in the morning before the boys get up, which means getting to bed earlier so I don’t hit the snooze button 46 times.]
- Exercise: Run 4 mornings/week. Register for the State Farm 10 Mile race in March [I originally intended to run the Lincoln Half Marathon, but it was full two days after registration opened. What’s with all the Lincoln exercise nuts anyway?]
Work Life:
- No computer between 7-9 a.m. and between 3:30 – 9 p.m. [This is probably the most important of my resolutions this year, prompted by my boys’ persistent complaint that I am “always on the computer.” I’ve resolved to limit my work day and computer time to the hours they are in school and after they are in bed. I suspect this will take a huge amount of discipline on my part. When I told them about my resolution, their unbridled joy and excitement made me feel like a complete troll of a mother, but it also steeled my determination to stick with it.]
Spiritual:
- Continue Sunday Sabbath practice. [Back in November, after reading Keri Wyatt Kent’s Rest: Living in Sabbath Simplicity and Mark Buchanan’s The Rest of God, I started a Sunday Sabbath practice. It’s been really fruitful so far – you can read more about it here – so I am excited to keep up the practice for the whole year.]
- Read The Message. [A few days before Christmas I finished my first-ever complete read-through of the Bible. It took me close to two years (I’ll be writing more about this next week). This year I want to read the Bible again, using The Message translation.]
- Dinnertime Bible reading using The Message. [More on this topic next week, too.]
Now. Some of you may have heard about the One Word practice. Basically the idea is to choose one word on which to center your spiritual growth for the year [read this post for an example]. Last year I chose the word “Surrender,” which eventually morphed into “Obey.” This year, though, I’m stumped. I’ve considered “Discipline,” “Moderation,” “Balance” and “Sabbath,” but truthfully, I’m not really feeling any of those. So for now, I’m waiting. Maybe my “One Word” will present itself over time. Or maybe God’s trying to tell me that he wants me to stick with “Obey” (the fact that I’d rather not leads me to suspect I’m stuck with Obey for another year).
What about you? Do you make New Year’s Resolutions? Did you choose One Word for 2013?
Sharing over at Ann’s place today, for her Walk with Him Wednesday series: The Practice of New Habits.
