Happy New Year

Did you set New Year's resolutions this year? The sad truth is that only 8% of people who make New Year's resolutions actually keep them. Why do so many fail to do what they know would be good for them?

I think there are a few common reasons:
     *We tend to make resolutions about our weaknesses/shortcomings rather than our strengths.
     *We set unrealistic goals. Going from never working out to working out every day? Hmm.
     *We don't consider what we'll have to give up in order to fit something new into our schedule.

And the top reason is that we don't truly care about the resolutions. If we did, we would re-prioritize our lives. Carrie and I have set a lot of new goals for 2014; some we'll achieve and others will drift because they're not as important. That's okay. New Year's resolutions are a bigger blessing when partnered with grace. 

Hopefully our resolutions will inspire us to do more of the activities we love:  
Encourage others in the Lord: This is a (low quality) picture from this past weekend. Fifteen of us jumped on a bus to head to Branson, Missouri, where 5000 of us gathered to worship God. There were great speakers (like David Nasser), great bands (like Newsong and Skillet), and great bonding with our youth group kids.

My highlight, though, was praying with one of our youth group members, Larry, as he prayed to receive Christ. I'll be sharing more of that story in this weekend's sermon at our church.

All you married folk out there -- have you set goals for praying with your spouse? Have you considered doing a devotional together? Carrie and I are so hopeless without a system that we even split up the chores around the house; this last year taught us that I'm better doing laundry than I am keeping the kitchen area clean. Sigh.

   
Travel: Carrie and I like to experience new things but we live in a homogenous town. The occasional get-away is great at keeping our energy lifted. This picture was taken a couple months ago at the famous 'gum wall' in Seattle.

   
Eat well: There are some days when 'eating well' means healthy, and other days when 'eating well' means something really delicious. Ha, whatever, the point is that we like food.

So we should have known better when we recently asked for gyro meat at our local grocery store and the clerk said, "I would never eat this stuff but here you go." He then instructed us to cook it like bacon. Hmm. And there were no regular pitas so we got Italian Herb pitas. Hmm. At least we had something in the end that sorta kinda slightly reminded us of the gyros we used to love getting in a bigger city.

So how about you? Have you considered how your resolutions lean into your strengths and interests?