New Year's Resolutions

I have made some New Year's Resolutions, and I want to blog all about them, but the fact is that I have been under the weather for a couple of days. I rarely get sick! Saturday I came down with both a sore throat and a throbbing toothache. Yuk! One of my brothers is my dentist, and based on the description of my pain, he figured I would need a root canal. Since he lives 1.5 hours away, and we started back to school today, he recommended that I visit a dentist here in town--someone that he knew from dental school. So, I went to the dentist today, and yes, I will be having a root canal in the next couple of days.

In the past I have not really made any resolutions in January. I just sort of plod along, always trying to improve myself, but not really making any concrete goals. This year, I decided to resolve to set some goals, and then to resolve to work towards meeting those goals. A friend of mine recently blogged about choosing a word to consider all year long--she did this last year, and I think her word was choose. I like that idea, to have a focus word. So in keeping with my resolve to make and work towards meeting goals, I have chosen a key word for this year: Perseverance. I believe it will take perseverance on my part both in meeting my specific goals and also in my every day life as I seek to serve the Lord in all that I say and do.

A couple of Scriptures come to mind when I consider the word perseverance:

• Romans 5:3--And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulations produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope...
• 2 Peter 1:5-9--But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance, godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

I certainly want to persevere in my faith, but I also want to keep on keeping on in all areas of my life: in spiritual, mental, physical areas, as well as improve myself in my roles as a wife, mother, friend, teacher, daughter, and homemaker.

I hope to blog about resolutions that I have made in each of these areas over the next few weeks. For now, I am going to share two of the biggies--two goals that I have set that hopefully, with perseverance, will be met by late March (for one) and early April (the other).

1. I have signed up to run a marathon on April 9th. My official training began this morning. I am excited and nervous and feeling like I am crazy all at the same time. I have no idea if I can actually survive the training, or if I can even finish the marathon, but I am certainly going to try! My dear, dear friend Lynn signed up too (along with our husbands), and we are planning to persevere through the weekly long runs together. We both look forward to our long runs if for no other reason than to chat uninterrupted for 2 hours (which will be extended to 3+hours as the distance of our long run increases).
2. I began the Read the Bible in 90 Days Challenge on January 1. So far, so good. I completed day 3 today and read half of day 4 in the dentist's chair while waiting for my exam. I am enjoying reading large portions of Scripture at one time, and I have already jotted down questions I have while reading. I am not studying these passages or taking notes, but trying to just read as if I were reading a novel. Of course the Bible is not a novel, but the inspired Word of God, but just reading it without analyzing and trying to apply every verse to my life has so far been a pleasurable experience. I know that this resolution will require perseverance as I get deeper into the Old Testament, but I am up for this challenge as well.

So there are two of my New Year's Resolutions, and I will share the many little ones later.

What about you? Have you resolved to do anything differently this year? Have you set some goals? Do you have a focus word for this year? Please comment and share!