I don't know if you've noticed at all, but there has been something missing from Scrawltastic lately. I have not out out an update on my journey with my resolutions! That is for a few reasons.
Firstly, I was beginning to hate doing them. My whole month felt like it revolved around trying to keep up with my resolutions so that I would have something good to report. It was nice to have the knowledge that I was going to post an update on my blog motivating me, but that soon dwindled.
Secondly, these updates at first had a lot that was interesting to them. It was fun to see how I might have progressed and changed. But after the third update about my January resolutions came around, it was clear to me that it was all coming off very "me me me"-ish. And I really don't care to fill Scrawltastic with post after post about myself. I was just trying to chronicle what I thought might turn into something quite interesting if I stuck with it.
Which leads me to my third problem. I did not stick with my resolutions. Life happened, as it tends to do, and other more important things surfaced. Eventually the toll of taking on several resolutions at once showed itself, and it became clear that my plans were doomed from the start.
So here is an honest recap of what I like to call Operation Stop Boring My Readers With My Failure, or SBMRWMY for short.
Let's start with one last grueling recap. Here, again, are my resolutions for 2015
1. Two blog post's a week. I think that should be more than manageable. I also want to write at least six short stories this year. That's a half of a story per month. There is no set length, so I can go as long or short as I want.
3. Three chapters a day. And it must be one book at a time. Not counting the Bible, of course.
5. Expect three pictures per month. Yep- three. That feels scary, but if it matters to me, I can take at least three pictures that I like enough to post each month. I owe it to myself to not chicken out of this one, so there it is. Three a month. Done.
8. I really like to do stretches on my yoga mat in the morning, and I use to make at lest fifteen minutes of time for it every day. I'm going to go back to that. A few minutes of yoga every day. That's final. Any person is capable of that. No chickening out, Candace! No chickening out! Also in the realm of taking care of my temple, I am committing to fifteen minutes of cardio at least five days a week. This is not hard to find time for. It's just the execution that I have problems with. Again. No chickening out, Candace.
9. I am committing to at least fifteen minutes of solid prayer time. It's as simple as that.
3, 8, and 9 died a quiet death. I do not make time for exercises. I hardly ever read. And I am sad to say that my prayer time is abhorrently low. But I have, for the most part, keep up with my blog.
So what now? Am I abandoning my quest to keep up with my resolutions? Not entirely. In fact, I sort of have some new ones! But I am not sure that I am going to keep on boring everyone with a new update on my resolutions every month. I just don't know that it is interesting blog-worthy material. Not to mention how dumb it feels to devote an entire post to myself at the beginning of each month. Honestly, I promise I'm not as vain as it seems!
So I will not be continuing with this series of posts. Not month, you can expect not to see a continuance of these Resolution Recaps. But I will let you know about a few things that I learned while engaging in the mountain of a task that I set out to accomplish.
1. 10 Resolutions Is Way Too Many!
I made a list of things that I really wanted to do. I wanted to be someone who exercised their mind and body every day. I wanted to be fearless and get things done. I wanted to be better. But taking on ten thousand new things is not the step to take if you're interested in bettering yourself. It is a great way to figure out what really matters to you, but taking on too many goals means that you're inevitably going to loose some along the way. But that's okay. Don't be too hard on yourself like I was. To accomplish any resolutions is much more than most of the population can say. I should be proud that I stuck to any resolutions at all! Two out of five! Go me! (Not vain, I promise.)
2. January Is Not a Magical Month
I don't mean that it is a bad month, but it is just as good for starting something new as any of the other months in the year. You can have February resolutions, March resolutions, April resolutions- any month of the year will do! But we get in such a frenzy to become better people at the start of the year that I think we forget that the "magical" ingredient is our willingness to obey paired with God's ability to change hearts and lives. The start of the year is not what we need to finally lose that weight or kick that habit. God paired with a willingness to show up is what we need.
2 Chronicles 20:17 says, 17 "You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you. " I love that example, because it shows God telling the Israelites not to fear, but also to show up.
If you're wishing that you had some new years resolution style fire in you, then ask God for help, trust in him, don't fear, and show up. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in how helpless we are against what seems like giants in our lives, that we forget that God never forces us to do anything. God does not control our decisions and gave us free will. We can choose to kick the habit we don't like, or we can sit in is wondering why nothing is changing. God does give us the strength we need, and he does change our hearts. But we need to take a step of faith and step our of the boat if we wish to walk on the water. Could it be that some of us are earnestly praying for a water walk, but we are still camping out in the warm, dry boat?
3. Some Things Are More Important Than Others
This may seem like an incredibly obvious point, but when it comes to New Years Resoultions, it's really not. If I asked you to name off some New Yeas Resolutions, what would they be? According to USA.gov, the most popular resolutions are:
Lose Weight
Volunteer to Help Others
Quit Smoking
Get a Better Education
Get a Better Job
Save Money
Get Fit
Eat Healthy Food
Manage Stress
Manage Debt
Take a Trip
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
Drink Less Alcohol
3, 8, and 9 died a quiet death. I do not make time for exercises. I hardly ever read. And I am sad to say that my prayer time is abhorrently low. But I have, for the most part, keep up with my blog.
So what now? Am I abandoning my quest to keep up with my resolutions? Not entirely. In fact, I sort of have some new ones! But I am not sure that I am going to keep on boring everyone with a new update on my resolutions every month. I just don't know that it is interesting blog-worthy material. Not to mention how dumb it feels to devote an entire post to myself at the beginning of each month. Honestly, I promise I'm not as vain as it seems!
So I will not be continuing with this series of posts. Not month, you can expect not to see a continuance of these Resolution Recaps. But I will let you know about a few things that I learned while engaging in the mountain of a task that I set out to accomplish.
1. 10 Resolutions Is Way Too Many!
I made a list of things that I really wanted to do. I wanted to be someone who exercised their mind and body every day. I wanted to be fearless and get things done. I wanted to be better. But taking on ten thousand new things is not the step to take if you're interested in bettering yourself. It is a great way to figure out what really matters to you, but taking on too many goals means that you're inevitably going to loose some along the way. But that's okay. Don't be too hard on yourself like I was. To accomplish any resolutions is much more than most of the population can say. I should be proud that I stuck to any resolutions at all! Two out of five! Go me! (Not vain, I promise.)
2. January Is Not a Magical Month
I don't mean that it is a bad month, but it is just as good for starting something new as any of the other months in the year. You can have February resolutions, March resolutions, April resolutions- any month of the year will do! But we get in such a frenzy to become better people at the start of the year that I think we forget that the "magical" ingredient is our willingness to obey paired with God's ability to change hearts and lives. The start of the year is not what we need to finally lose that weight or kick that habit. God paired with a willingness to show up is what we need.
2 Chronicles 20:17 says, 17 "You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you. " I love that example, because it shows God telling the Israelites not to fear, but also to show up.
If you're wishing that you had some new years resolution style fire in you, then ask God for help, trust in him, don't fear, and show up. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in how helpless we are against what seems like giants in our lives, that we forget that God never forces us to do anything. God does not control our decisions and gave us free will. We can choose to kick the habit we don't like, or we can sit in is wondering why nothing is changing. God does give us the strength we need, and he does change our hearts. But we need to take a step of faith and step our of the boat if we wish to walk on the water. Could it be that some of us are earnestly praying for a water walk, but we are still camping out in the warm, dry boat?
Could it be that some of us are earnestly praying for a water walk, but we are still camping out in the warm, dry boat? Click to tweet!
3. Some Things Are More Important Than Others
This may seem like an incredibly obvious point, but when it comes to New Years Resoultions, it's really not. If I asked you to name off some New Yeas Resolutions, what would they be? According to USA.gov, the most popular resolutions are:
Lose Weight
Volunteer to Help Others
Quit Smoking
Get a Better Education
Get a Better Job
Save Money
Get Fit
Eat Healthy Food
Manage Stress
Manage Debt
Take a Trip
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
Drink Less Alcohol
Those are all great goals. But none of them will make a person truly happy. There are plenty of thin, smoke free, volunteers with great jobs that recycle and drink less alcohol and save money whilst on a trip to Mexico managing their stress. But if they have no relationship with Jesus, they have nothing.
True holy spiritual completeness/peace/contentment is found only when we find ourselves first in God. Matthew 13:45-46 puts it this way, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it." God sought us out at the price of the life of his son. God did not see failure as an option when it came to us being able to spend eternity with him. And the magnitude and glory of who God is and how beautiful he is urges us to do the same. All else pales in comparison to the treasure that is being reconciled to God. God first loved us, and God's amazing love calls us to mirror that type of field buying passion. When we set aside all else in order to be in a place of utter devotion to God, we discover that all of the things we sold to get there really weren't that important anyway.
So all in all, this experience has caused growth. I am a little disappointed that I'm abandoning a project, but I am still glad that I tried it out. I have many goals that I intend to put into action down the line. I will not stop treating every month just like I treat January around New Years. But all in all, my focus has been brought back to God, and that is where it will stay. A better version of myself might bring slight satisfaction, but in the end, I must not think that my happiness will be sustained by self improvement. God is most important. I do not need to stress over a list any longer.
~
~
~
I'm so glad that you stopped by and took the time to see what all of the fuss was about! What are some current goals that you have? I'd love to read about them! If you don't want to miss out on anything Scrawltastic, you can always drop by and like Scrawltastic on Facebook. Or if you'd like you can go ahead and subscribe via email and get posts sent right to your inbox.
Go with grace, and don't forget that God loves Y O U!
0 comments:
Post a Comment