Maybe it was Easter, maybe it was talking about the future and where we want to "end up"... but this weekend compelled me to know the Lord more deeply.
Sometimes I try to blame this stale spiritual valley on post-partum life changes, but I know that's no excuse for me to be distant from God.
It seems that there have been too many decisions lately that I try to pray about, but then I run out of time (or so I think). So, I make the best decision possible, crossing my fingers that that's what God would have had me do. Wow. What a testimony. Not.
My life needs revival. I need to get to know my Lord again. And I invite you to join me. From Easter 2007 until Easter 2008, I plan to implement one new spiritual discipline at a time, which may include growth areas such as:
Hospitality
Global outreach
Community outreach
Giving
Prayer
Bible study
Evangelism
Friendship
Exercising talents
Enjoying and honoring God’s creation
Solitude
Prioritizing/managing time
Scripture memorization
Controlling the tongue
Dedication to home, husband, and family
Denying self
And now for the plan. Too many times, I've implemented yearly plans (Write 1500 words every single day!) and petered out within a few weeks (or days?), feeling like a failure. My husband had some indispensable wisdom he borrowed from software project planning -- stuff he tries to implement at work.
He said a sure-fire way to miss a long-term goal is to have only a long-term plan. As you miss each consecutive deadline, you've dug yourself in so deep a hole you'll never catch up. Kyle recommends setting small, three-week milestones, taking time to review after each one.
I'm going to go for month-long milestones instead, just because it's easier that way. I won't decide on each month's spiritual decision until I'm almost ready to implement it. Only God knows what journey this year will take me through, so there's no need to pretend I know.
In spite of having small short-term goals, having one long-term goal is invaluable. I haven't had enough time to come up with a formal description of my long-term goal, but roughly, here it is:
To grow in intimacy with God; to know Him more deeply, to hear Him more clearly, to serve Him more passionately, to believe Him more actively, to love Him more radically.
1 comment:
Your post reminds me of Benjamin Franklin's virtue journal (from http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/oal/lit2.htm):
Franklin's Autobiography is, in part, another self-help book. Written to advise his son, it covers only the early years. The most famous section describes his scientific scheme of self- improvement. Franklin lists 13 virtues: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility. He elaborates on each with a maxim; for example, the temperance maxim is "Eat not to Dullness. Drink not to Elevation." A pragmatic scientist, Franklin put the idea of perfectibility to the test, using himself as the experimental subject.
To establish good habits, Franklin invented a reusable calendrical record book in which he worked on one virtue each week, recording each lapse with a black spot. His theory prefigures psychological behaviorism, while his systematic method of notation anticipates modern behavior modification. The project of self-improvement blends the Enlightenment belief in perfectibility with the Puritan habit of moral self-scrutiny.
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