Not really resolutions

I don't make new year resolutions these days.  I used to in the past and usually broke them very soon into the new year.  A few years back I made a list of goals I wanted to accomplish in the new year which worked out better in achieving them. The only goal I can remember from that year (lol) was to be up and moving around a bit more as I was basically a couch potato.  I remembered I set the goal to reduce the time I sat around by 50% over the year which I did.  I got up more, did more exercise and definitely achieved that goal.  The other ones I remember also achieving, I just don't remember what they were (oh the fun of getting older).

Some years I would pick a word that I would focus on for the year.  Like joy or love or the like.  I didn't do well with those either.  After a week or two I had pretty much totally forgotten the word or gave up really trying to achieve what I wanted to do with it so I stopped picking a yearly word, though I might have one this year......

I really don't have any goals this year.  I will do what I have done the past several Januarys and that is what I call "Reset January."  Because of all the extra eating one does around the holidays and because I do enjoy drinking wine, sometimes more than I should, a few years back I decided to give up alcohol for the month of January as well as getting back to healthier eating after the holidays.  It worked in getting off the extra weight one might put on this time of year.  So I'll do the same this January though I'm drinking less wine than I used to on average and miracle of miracles I didn't gain any weight this holiday season.  I was up 2.5 pounds Christmas week but then had lost that this past weigh in on Friday and ended up the month a pound down than I had begun the month.  So definitely a win there! I hope to drop a little more weight in the new year but I don't have a specific amount nor a monthly goal of wanting to lose so many pounds per month.  

So many people set what I think can be an impossible goal and that is of reading the Bible from cover to cover in a year's time.  Some fall behind in the reading plan, especially when they get to the tough book of Leviticus, and never catch up and then give up that goal.  I've been reading the Bible consistently for about 20 years now.  When I first started, the plan I did had one reading through the Old Testament in 2 years and the New Testament in one year.  That was more manageable and a very attainable goal.  Then I just started reading the Bible straight through from Genesis to Revelation, reading for about 15-20 minutes daily.  It would take me about 13 months to read it cover to cover.  For the past few years I haven't really read it straight through.  Have skipped around from book to book, study to study, and there were times when I wasn't reading it daily like I used to due to new schedules of hubby being retired and home more, me working outside of the house when I worked for years at home, etc.  I finally got into a good routine when I took my last blogging break when I used the evening time when I used to blog to read/study the Bible.  I got back into the habit of doing so and now have kept it up pretty much daily like I used to do.

I wasn't sure what plan I would follow this year for reading the Bible or if I would follow a plan but a few days before the new year began I ran across an article that mentioned the M'Cheyne Bible-Reading Plan.  Now, like I said above, I have been reading the Bible for about 20 years and I never heard of this reading plan before.  So I checked it out and I liked the plan.  It is designed to read through the New Testament and Psalms twice in the year and the Old Testament once.  There are 4 readings assigned per day.  It looked manageable so I printed out the schedule and I started it yesterday.  I'm estimating it would be probably about 30 minutes of reading per day if one read through them all but I intend to break it up a bit as time permits.  Perhaps one chapter in the morning before work, one when I get home from work and the other two in the evening after dinner.  I want to read slowly and really think about what I'm reading and take notes and do some research if something comes up that catches my eye that I want to know more about.  

So, when I was at church today and thinking of the Bible reading plan and listening to the sermon, the word "learn" came into my mind.  So maybe that will be my word for the year.  Learn.  Learn more about Jesus and God than I did before.  Grow in my knowledge and hopefully my faith.  I think that is probably a doable word for me for this year.  We'll see.

I think that is about it for goals this year.  Keep it simple and hope for the best in this new year ahead of us.  And trust in God.  He's carried me this far, I think He isn't going to give up on me yet (never).  

And hopefully at the end of 2022, I'll be wiser and would have learned a lot more about God.  And for me, I think that would be the mark of a good year, no matter what may be happening around me and to those I know and love.  

I'll let you know if I achieve that goal.