New Year’s Resolutions 2019

I am continuing my habit of publishing my new year’s resolutions for the purpose of accountability. It is my desire to genuinely grow and to take seriously the areas of personal weakness and the need for improvement. So, thanks for indulging/humoring me in this post.

Last year I had four specific goals that I wanted to work. on; a recap of those finds a mixture of good effort and poor progress on the respective goals.

1. Increase My Personal Prayer Life – This was much better than the previous years efforts. I have done a much better job over the past year of incorporating a regular habit of prayer into my life, focusing particularly on my dependence upon God. I certainly want to improve in this area but I have been encouraged by the effort and even the mild progress.
2. Home Maintenance Guru – Guru is NOT the right word. I’ve learned far more about what I don’t know how to do than about what I can do, but I have grown in my interest and enjoyment in taking care of our home. I have particularly, much to my surprise, fallen in love with working in my yard! I will keep this up and already have some plans for the new year, but I feel pleased with what I have done over this last year.
3. Healthy Eating – This was my worst category and while I was often conscious of my poor eating, I did not make any concerted effort to improve this area. I will be renewing this goal for 2019!
4. Hospitality – We love our home and love having people over. This was probably one of the best achieved goals for the year and I am looking forward to continuing it over the next year.

So, what then are my goals for 2019? I invite those who know me to read below and ask me about how I am doing on these goals for the new year:

1. Healthy Eating – I desperately need to try harder at this. I do not have any weight problems, I know, but that doesn’t change my responsibility to be a good steward, self-controlled, and take care of my body. I will be making a concerted effort to improve my eating habits this year by limiting the number of sweets I eat per day and attempting to make healthier choices at meals.
2. Finish my second book – I have been working on another book project, one I am super excited about. In fact, I have been co-writing it with my wife! We sent the initial proposal off and we will see what one select publisher has to say about it and move from there. Either way, however, I want to complete the book.
3. Be more patient with my kids – This year the Lord was gracious to reveal that I have had short fuse with my children. I get frustrated easily and respond poorly far too often. I want to work on being more patient, and correcting with gentleness. It’s a big goal and I have talked with my kids about this goal so that they can help me identify when I am not responding well in the moment.
4. Develop a plan to help our church with “misfit ministry” – I have a heart to see more people feel connected to the church, to feel like they belong, and to grow spiritually. I want to help our church grow in this area of ministry and discipleship. In fact that is part of my larger study plan for 2019.

These are my four major goals for the year, and while I hope to be intentional about them I hope too that my friends will ask me about them and help me to achieve progress in each area.

Happy New Year’s, friends. I hope your year is full of joy and growth.