I'm sitting in Caribou Coffee on this nice afternoon on the first day of January, thinking about a list of New Years Resolutions. As I'm sitting here, I want to be practical, so a year from now I'm not looking back completely disappointed because I couldn't keep any or kept very few. Life gets busy, and God has a plan that may be different than yours, so as I'm contemplating goals, I am thinking about how to make them not so specific. Make your goals more themes. For example: I want to work out everyday. That is setting a really high expectation. In reality it probably won't happen and you'll feel defeated. You may get sick, you may be traveling, life happens. Instead you could say, I want to be in better shape this year than I am now. Don't go and list off a ton of I want to visit here, do this, do that. Some specific goals I think are great…but make sure they are realistic, and the way you phrase your resolution doesn't set you up to fail, but also make sure that it pushes you, so that you still have that drive.
With all of that said, I am going to share some of my resolutions for this year. Some are specific to me and some you may want to join me with. They are in no specific order, but I'm numbering them because it's easier to see =)
1. I am Second.
This year I am choosing to do the Live Second devotional. I want to work on putting God first in everything I do. He gave us so much that we don't deserve, we should be able to give Him all of us. He knows us better than we know ourselves, so why not trust Him in everything. We call Him Lord, let's not just say it but make it real, really make Him Lord of your life. In everything I do and even just the way I act, I want to put God first. I also like the analogy of JOY. J- Jesus (put Jesus first) O- Others (put others second) Y- Yourself (put yourself last). * Side note, notice how I mentioned the devo and I really want to do it everyday and am going to strive to do it everyday, but sadly I know there may be days I forget etc, but the theme I am Second, I can still work on putting God first and me second devo or not.
2. Be in better shape than I am now.
I want to eat healthier and be more active this year than I was last year. I can also tie in being outside more into this. In the summer I love going to the beach to play volleyball, I love being out in the water, playing basketball with my dad and brother. Then I want to eat healthier. More fruits and I'm not a big veggie person, but of the veggies I like, I'd like to eat more of them. Smaller portions etc. Make the healthy choice. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 " Do you not know that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies." Staying in shape and eating healthy is an act of worship to God. Question to ponder: What are you showing God when you don't stay in shape and eat healthy or good portions?
3. Blog more!!!
Reader's I hope you like this one! I want to blog more this year. I restarted this blog in September and have blogged I want to say about a few times each month, but I want to blog at least twice a month if not more. It's been a year of change and new experiences, that it can get very busy, but I do want to work on blogging more. I love to write and share my ideas, and hope you enjoy reading them. Even if no one reads them, I still like to write out my thoughts. I think it's safe to say I like to write. Another resolution is to write more…which ties into this, but I also write lyrics and stories, so I just want to write more all-together.
4. I want even better communication with my Compassion Child.
I am not supposed to give away details on where she lives or anything. I want to communicate more with her and one day I would love to go and meet her. I want to be better at praying for her and sharing life with her through letters. If you want to pray for her too you can. I can't give her name away, so you can just say Jessica's compassion child or make up a name for her. God knows who you're praying for =) Oh! I also encourage you to sponsor a child! Give up a coffee or something once a week and put that money towards your child instead. Save up your tips, God will provide!
5. Lead me, I'll follow
There is a Rachel Lampa song titled that. I really want to follow whatever God has planned for me. I feel like this resolution should be called "learn to listen". I want to follow what God's plan is. I can't always tell if I'm listening or hearing, and I know God speaks to us in different ways. So maybe I want to work on being aware of how He is speaking to me. I want to follow Him and listen to Him, whatever the case may be.
6. Prepare my students for 7th grade and help them grow in character.
I teach 6th grade and my two big goals/prayers for them personally is to prepare them for 7th grade next year, so I need God's guidance daily. I also want them to grow as people. I want them to treat each other and strangers with respect, even if they are different from each other. I want them to be assertive and help others out. I want them to do things without being asked. I want them to be honest, a community, be there for one another. I know maybe not all of those will happen, but I am praying that they can catch onto some of these things. I pray they can become leaders and even if they don't grow in all of these ways, at least grow in one, or get really good at one. I also want them to do good academically, which is part of preparing them for seventh grade, so I pray God helps me teach them what they should learn in ways that it will stay with them. Help them ask questions and look for answers. I'm excited for this second half of the year to see what God does in my classroom.
7. Save Money
I want to work on saving money. I don't like to spend money that much, but I think it's really important to learn how to save, and I want to start saving money for my future. I know some things I would like to save for, but I don't want to necessarily delegate what it's being saved for yet, I just want to work on saving it.
8. Let His Light Shine!
I also had written down, I want to be there for family and friends in good and bad times, but I figured these went well together, because it's a result of letting His light shine. I want to walk the walk, not just talk it. I want to spread the Gospel and if necessary use words. As a believer in Christ, most people will judge us based on our actions and mannerisms. That's what most people see of the Gospel, before learning about it through words, people first gather their thoughts off of what they see. I want His light to shine, so people will want to know more from the way I am. There is a true story, from a teacher I know. A student came up to this teacher and just asked if she was a Christian. This teacher quick looked at her watch as her old one had a cross on it (but broke before the school year started), and checked herself for "Christian" jewelry and she had none, and hadn't been wearing any to school, because she didn't have any. She was puzzled as to why this student asked her this question. What I want you to take away from this story, is that your actions are so important and can tell a lot about you. What do your actions tell other?
9. Actually get up in a water sport, if given the opportunity to go to a cabin and practice.
Whether wake board surfing or water-skiing I really just want to be able to get up. I haven't been able to get up yet, which I haven't had a lot of practice. If I am given an opportunity to go to a cabin this summer, I want to be able to get up =) In order to do it, I need time to practice though.
10. Pray More.
I've been working on this one for a while. Prayer is just talking to God. I don't want to just pray before bed or when I eat. If I'm honest, I usually forget to pray before I eat. I can work on that. But like you don't have to fold your hands, close your eyes, kneel, or anything to pray. I do some of those a lot of the time, but I also work on praying at any time. I'll pray when I'm driving (don't close your eyes!), teaching, anytime. I've been working on it, and I just want to remember. I've had tough days, and some days I have forgotten to pray. I have good days and will forget to thank God and pray. I want to remember to pray more frequently in any situation. I also want to work on when someone asks if I can pray for them, I want to work on remembering to pray, more than just that one time. I also want to work on asking others what they want prayer for. My grandma found a t-shirt that said. Prayer, the worlds greatest wireless connection…because it really is.
11. Memorize more Bible Verses.
I remember in Sunday School, and at the private Christian school I went to, we would memorize Bible verses all the time. Then I just stopped. I still remember a lot of verses, but more what they say than where they are. I want to memorize more and remember the reference. I want to think of different verses in different situations, and one way that can happen is by memorization. Karen Kingsbury as inspired me to memorize more verses, as Bible verses will come to her characters often. I know her books are realistic fiction, and I believe those verses can come to you in real life to. I also want to memorize them so I can give verses to others when they need it. The hardest part is figuring out what verses to memorize, so if you have any suggestions please leave a comment or let me know on Facebook or twitter =)
12. Improve on guitar.
I have a guitar and I'm a beginner. So I want to learn to play some songs all the way through…and I want to be able to do the F chord…my fingers have a hard time doing a bar chord…so I want to work on that. I hopefully want to put some music to my lyrics, but I want to just practice my guitar first and different chords, so I can get good at them =)
13. Spend less time in front of the t.v.
I will say I love movies and different shows. I think it's ok to watch t.v. and movies but limit it. For example, if I'm bored, I don't want to just go to the t.v. Yes sometimes starting a new season on Netflix is fine, and I think it's fine to watch my different favorite shows. But so often I don't know what to do and I just end up finding myself in front of the television. Instead I could play a wii game (just dance…active!), I go do a work out, read, play a game, clean and so much more!!
14. Closer relationships with family and friends.
I have a really close relationship with my family and a number of friends. I want my relationship with my family to stay close, even though my brother and I are grown up. I also want to keep good relationships with my extended family. I have a number of friends I'm close with, but I'm making new friends too, so I just want better and closer relationships all around =) My number one includes having a closer relationship with Jesus =)
I decided 14 resolutions for 2014 =) We'll see how this goes a year from now. I may keep many of the same resolutions, because a number of these are unending and you can grow more and more from year to year, which is what I want to do. Hopefully a few I can just check off as well =) Have a wonderful year and God Bless!
- Jalynn (Jessica Lynn)
