Curling up with a good book

Last year, I mentioned why I do not set New Year's resolutions for myself......they never work out too well for me. :-) But I do try to have some goals in mind for the year--goals that I can attain, if I develop the habit early on.

One of my goals for 2010 is to.....READ MORE. I obviously desire to spend more time in the Word, and I have already become more diligent in this area ! But I also want to read more books this year. I always see a book and think, " I really need to read that!" but then I never get around to it. So this is the year of "getting around to it." ;-) I am writing down a list, and attempting to knock off a new book every month.

Do ya think I can do it? Let me hear those cheers......nope, not hearing em. Well, you could at least pray for me, every once in awhile, that I could maybe make it to the library or something. That would really help.....

Without further adeu, I bring you:

Sarah's 2010 Reading List
(catchy title, isn't it? ;-)

1. Finish Everyday Talk-John Younts and Close to His Majesty-David Needham

2. Grace-based Parenting-Dr. Tim Kimmel

3. Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World-C.J. Mahaney and others

4. The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management-Hyrum W. Smith

5. When Sinners Say "I Do"-Dave Harvey

6. Common Sense-Glenn Beck

7. If-Amy Carmichael (a re-read for me)

8. Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands-Paul David Tripp

9.The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook-Erin Chase

10. Mere Christianity-C.S. Lewis (no, I have never read it!)

11. Voices of the Faithful-Beth Moore

I am excited to get started on these. And I am starting tonight with my newly-developing habit.....reading in bed for 15 minutes before I go to sleep. I just may get through this book list after all. (No thanks to you and your lack of cheering for me.) ;-)

Not gonna do it!

I hate making resolutions.

For me, personally, they don't work.

Because I never resolve them. I never seem to follow through on those big, lofty, well-meaning resolutions that I make for myself concerning the coming year.

Resolutions to exercise for 2 hours every day......
Resolutions to eliminate every ounce of sugar in my family's life.....
Resolutions to create an elaborate and perfectly-working organizational system for my papers....
Resolutions to send out my Christmas cards by November 1st......
Resolutions to build my Usborne business into a booming Fortune 500-level venture.....
Resolutions to read 50 Bible study books and journal about them all.....
Resolutions to never yell at my family members again....

So--lest I feel like a complete and utter failure--I have given up on making them every New Years' Day.

But before you shake your head in disgust and click to the next blog (written by an organized, industrious entrepreneur of a mom, with perfect hair and a Donna Reed approach),
bear with me!

Instead, I have chosen to set a few "guidelines" for my life each year. I guess you could also call them goals. But I try not to focus solely on the act of SETTING and CHECKING OFF, as on the idea of growing toward them. As I set a few goals this year, I prayed over them, desiring that God would grow me in these areas. I focus on specific areas in my spiritual life that I know need to be deeper and richer. I desire, at the end of 2009, to have glorified Him with my life. No matter if I have reached "goals" or not. Goals are good, but growth is more important. Sometimes the goals we set for ourselves are unrealistic. Sometimes they are not what God desires us to achieve. As a wife and a mother, I have many areas that I desperately need to "grow up" in. But I don't always know EXACTLY how to do that! I pray that I can develop my character this year, and if some goals happen to be reached along the way, all the better!

As my pastor put it on Sunday,
"Personal goals are temporary......God's purposes are forever."

What areas do you want to grow in this year? (I will state mine later this week, so you can all check up on me once in awhile.) :-)

***EDIT: After I read this post again this morning, I realized that it sounds like I don't believe in setting goals for yourself. That is not the case at all. :-) I think I just needed to remind myself that my perspective needs to be heavenly, rather than earthly. Most times when I set goals, my focus is on how I can make myself a better person. My motivation is often selfish, desiring to look better to others or gain approval from those around me. I want my desire for self-improvement to be God-honoring.
So, before you think that I am downplaying goal-setting, realize that my encouragement in this post is to have a godly motivation for accomplishing goals, always desiring to ultimately glorify our Father.