Worship more. Pray more. Read more. Celebrate more. Work less. Play more. Eat less. Exercise more. Write more. Create more. Spend less. Give more.
So, how did I do?
Worship more. Thing is, I don’t think I worshipped any less. I was in church most Sundays (unless there were travel or other reasons I had to miss). I did find Spotify later in the year and while I don’t know that I would necessarily times of worship, there were definite times of praise as I listend to traditional gospel, contemporary Christian or even classical music. But I didn’t have the times of quiet worship and contemplation that I longed for and needed.
Pray more. I talk to God all the time. What I continue to struggle with is talking to Him to ask for things, for answers to prayer. I want prayer to be different. I want it to be times of praise and times of listening for His voice in my life.
Read more. That I did. I managed to once again read through the Bible, and plan to do so again in 2012. I need to be about deciding on a plan. In addition I also read the 17 books listed here. And I’m constantly reading on the Internet and on my phone. That’s more difficult to measure, but that remains my prime source of news and information.
Celebrate more. There were the traditional family celebrations of Easter, Christmas, Independence Day and others. So, we celebrated. I’m not sure we celebrated more. However, this Christmas, we did have time to do some more family oriented activities that we’ve not seemed to be able to do before.
Work less. I supposed I accomplished this one just by quitting, or not returning to the third job at Kings Dominion. I have my regular full time job with the state, then the freelance writing and editing that I do in the evenings. But, unlike 2009 and 2012 I wasn’t working weekends at the amusement park. I’m not sure I worked less. But I worked in less places.
Eat less. See More or Less 2012.
Exercise more. This was hit and miss. I did manage to get to the pool pretty consistently in the earlier part of the year. And I was walking at lunch time until the summer heatwave hit. But in June we dropped our gym membership. We joined the YMCA in August, and I’ve been moderately consistent with the pool. I did get trained on the equipment earlier this week, so I have no excuse. And with a decent pair of shoes and moderate weather, I’ll be walking again.
Write more. This I did. While I’m no longer an editor or contributor at Bearing Drift, I keep my own blog going, I write as the Richmond Bible Examiner and I’ve got some contracts going for blog posts. The best part here is that after all this time trying to establish a writing career, I am finally getting paid on a consistent basis. Sadly, I did have to bail on Nanowrimo this year.
Create more. I tried here. I did manage to complete the project, and some birdhouses. And I’m constantly designing new products for The Write Side Shop. But I want to do more. I still long to get back into painting on canvass. Maybe this year.
Spend less. With my wife out of work for about four and a half months, that happened naturally. Still, we’ve managed to adjust our household budget so that we don’t put anything on credit. And we’ve got a point in the not to distant future when all our debts will be paid with the exception of our mortgage.
Give more. I’m still working on this one. I need to remember that giving is not always of a monetary nature. We give through involvement at church. But we’ve also been trying to give in terms of hospitality, having folks over for a meal, or taking meals or treats when appropriate. We gave a little of our time to ring bells for the Salvation Army. But still, there’s more we can give.
So, I didn’t have a perfect year. But this was not a list of simple resolutions. It was merely a list of areas where I wanted to do better.
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