Do you make New Year Resolutions? If so, do you keep them?
What is it about the new year that makes us want to change something about ourselves, to have a fresh start, to try something new? Surely we can do these things at any time in the year, yet we wait until the New Year (capitalised) to make resolutions.
Normally I don't make any, well, at least not in a public organised way. I'm still not going to lay them out, but here's a few things I'm thinking of improving in this year of 2009.
Reading - 2008 was the first year I didn't keep meticulous records of the books I have read (see the 2007 list). I don't think I read as many books as in previous years either. So this will be a big thing - to make sure that I'm reading lots, and also retaining the stuff that has been read.
Photography - in recent months, my camera has been left sitting far too often. 2009 will hopefully be a year of improved photo-taking skills as well as more photos. I was even contemplating a photo-a-day series, but can't think of what to take a photo of today. Not a great start to such a scheme!
Weight - I'm slightly over what I should be according to the old BMI and would like to see a bit of an improvement. All told, I'm half a stone lighter now than I was this time last year, but there's room for more. More walking and less chocolate should help me in this area.
Music - having recently acquired a new iPod Touch, I'm going to discover lots of new and different music over the next wee while. Much better than just filling up the iPod with stuff I know already. Any recommendations gratefully received!
Ministry - I realise I have an awful lot to learn in ministry, and in my first full year of curacy (DV) I want to grow both as a Christian, and also as a pastor and preacher. (While this is last in the list, this is by no means the least!)
What are your resolutions?
These are interesting and practical potential resolutions, and good ones. may you be enabled to keep them all.
ReplyDeleteI don't make resolutions either, though I do set goals for myself and another aspect of my work. These have to do with personal and spiritual development - I've still a long way to go.
I think the most necessary development we need as ministers is for growth in personal holiness. In this matter, we can only take our people as far they we ourselves have gone.
The big drawback of this is that the church has no place for ministers who are increasingly governed by the Word; the church just is not big enough for such 'intrusions.'
What do you think our people's greatest need is? Our holiness. They probably will not want that, but this is what they need above all else. Think of Richard Baxter in the parish church in Kidderminster, and recall what he achieved in his ministry there.
If we are to achieve similar outcomes, we must be a dedicated to Christ as Baxter was.
In my blogspot, which may be visited at www.TheReformedFaith.blogspot.com , I highlight the great ministerial deviation of attending committee meetings more abundantly. Attending these gives you a real sense of importance by 'moving' in the right circles. You can read what I have written about this menace, and about other relevant church issues, there.
Keep up the good work. As Robert Murray McCheyne famously said, "What a man is on his knees before God, that he is, and no more."
Hazlett Lynch