looking ahead

I said that my focus was going to be on being Intentional. So here's what I've done to help myself with that. I bought a weekly planner that has the days divided into hours. I'm going to keep it on my desk and plan my time ahead of time. Not a tight schedule, but a schedule at least.

Then I also bought a smaller planner that just has six lines for each day. I am going to write in that what I have done. A type of accountability for myself. I hope these steps help. If you have any advice, I'd like to hear it!

I've realized some more things that I think I'll be focusing on this year. Some are follow through from this year. Humility. Intentionally being humble. I think it takes intent. Humility doesn't just happen.

Learning God's love for me. And learning to love others with God's love. Those things have been very active in my heart lately. I plan to volunteer somewhere. I've sent in an interest form to the Pregnancy Center, so we'll see what comes of that. That takes intention, too, doesn't it. See, my main theme weaves throughout my other themes!

2007

Learn, laugh, stretch, fear, attempt new things, cry, beauty, confession, love, Amazing Grace, forgive, forgiven, confused, tired, peace, refine, redemption, deliverance, hope, fear, scream, pray, question, purify, doubt, trust, swim in grace, Jesus washing my feet, hang on, direction, counsel, support, prayer, friends, rejection, acceptance, accept, disappoint, let go, grow, leave, arrive, change, promise, challenge, open eyes, learn to love, learn God's love, wisdom, new friends, old friends, new life, lonely, content, drown in grace – breath it in until there's nothing else.

speaking of resolutions

I read somewhere that Jonathan Edwards wrote these Resolutions when he was nineteen years old. I am including some of them here, but go to this site to read all seventy of them. They are challenging to say the least. Resolve means "to reach a firm decision about." Surely I can reach a firm decision about some of these same things!

BEING SENSIBLE THAT I AM UNABLE TO DO ANYTHING WITHOUT GOD' S HELP, I DO HUMBLY ENTREAT HIM BY HIS GRACE TO ENABLE ME TO KEEP THESE RESOLUTIONS, SO FAR AS THEY ARE AGREEABLE TO HIS WILL, FOR CHRIST' S SAKE.

Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.

Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.

Resolved, never to do any thing out of revenge.

Resolved, to examine carefully, and constantly, what that one thing in me is, which causes me in the least to doubt of the love of God; and to direct all my forces against it.

Resolved, to inquire every night, before I go to bed, whether I have acted in the best way I possibly could, with respect to eating and drinking.

i didn't take any pictures

Today I went to a wonderful wedding! It was sweet and fun. We laughed; we cried.

My cousin died in 2000 from ovarian cancer. It was her son who got married today. But the fun thing was that I knew the bride, too, before I knew that they knew each other. So I not only got to see family, I also got to visit with friends from the bride's side.

My other cousin put a rose on the Mother of the Groom's chair before the ceremony started. That's when I started crying. The bride looked beautiful and her entrance down the aisle is when the groom started crying. During the vows, the bride started crying, to the point that she could barely repeat her own.

Ah, but there was silliness and laughter, too. Afterward when I told the groom that it was a fun wedding, he looked so relieved and said, "Really? Because I'm not much fun." I don't know about that, but I have a feeling his new wife will more than make up for it!

In a family that's had too many funerals, it was a complete joy to be a part of this celebration.

God bless Annie and Ben!

And prayers for them as they travel to Egypt in the morning!!

unresolved

I don't do resolutions. I barely even do goals. I am not by nature a very goal-oriented person.

I tend to find that each year a theme develops. A focus.

I am sensing that this year my focus will be living more intentionally. I tend to just let life happen. It washes over me and time goes by and nothing has been accomplished. I kinda live by the seat of my pants. I'm finding that's not really workin for me. I mean, I like it. It's easy and all that, but haphazard living isn't getting things done the way I'd like.

So, I am going to have to learn how to have just a little bit of structure in my life. I am going to set up just the tiniest little schedule for myself. If it's too much, I will just rebel, so I have to go easy.

And I'm going to have to set a goal and try to care about whether I reach it or not.

So, I will schedule housework because doing it when I feel like it… well…I don't want to talk about it.

The same goes for writing.

I need to make some plans and follow them. I can't plan my life, obviously. That is outside my control. But I can plan my hours. I'm tired of seeing time slip away unchanged.

So, do you do resolutions? Goals? Anything? What do you want to do differently in 2008?

what was i doing?

There are three posts for today, so keep reading! I also posted on my new blog. Yeh, I need a life. LOL
I was tagged, (I love getting tagged!) by Michelle at Just a Minute. It's the 10-20-30 meme and I have to talk about what I was doing 10, 20, and 30 years ago.

10 years ago , 1997- Oh, that was a rough time. I was pregnant with my son. I had been suffering from depression for a year or so already. My aunt had just died earlier in December from complications from Lupus or the medications she had been on for decades. Who knows. She had aneurysms and a staph infection. Basically, it was just her time. There was too much going on. My grandma died then in February of 98, then my aunt's husband in April. I also got very sick while pregnant and had a health issue that involved frequent encounters with a scalpel.

20 years ago, 1987 - I was in college at Liberty University in VA. A Sophomore, I guess. I had just gone to Mexico City on a missions trip and I was dating a guy from India that I met on the trip. Before that a cute Mexican guy and a Canadian were vying for my attention. I guess I am just Internationally appealing! LOL! Or "was" anyway.

30 years ago, 1977 - Yeh, like I can remember. I was 11. My cat had just been born before my 11th birthday. I had him until I was 26 years old. He was my best buddy. I don't really know what else exciting happened then. I think I may have had my first crush about that time.

Ok, I'm going to tag Angie, Jan, Bet, and Jen.

friday's feast

Appetizer

Name 2 things you would like to accomplish in 2008.

I would like to finish the rough draft of my novel.

I would like to write a Bible Study

Soup

With which cartoon character do you share personality traits?

Oh, this is easy. Lucy from Peanuts, unfortunately.

I also share a few traits with Daffy Duck.

Salad

What time of day (or night) were you born?

Just after noon.

Main Course

Tell us something special about your hometown.

It is home to most of the state's prisons.

Dessert

If you could receive a letter from anyone in the world, who would you want to get one from?

Someone from college that I've lost touch with. No one in particular, just one of those people that I frequently wonder about.

See more Friday's Feasts!