Happy New Year from Of Sound Mind and Spirit. As I sit in the quiet morning, warm coffee wafting fragrantly at my side, Lisa and her children are bundled up warmly (I hope) waving and cheering the Chevron Houston Marathonrunners, waiting to see “her Brian” run past on his fourth marathon.
As usual, we’ve taken a rather long Christmas holiday break from the blog. Maybe we should just plan for it each year and put up a virtual “Happy Advent, Merry Christmas, See you Next Year” sign as a reminder to our semi-regular readers that at some point in the Advent we’re just not going to have time in our lives and jobs to slow down during the day (or be coherent enough after 10 p.m.) to capture the millions of thoughts that run through our minds. Too often something happens that I think would be fun to share with you and I’ll mentally write the post in my mind – maybe I’ll even jot the idea in a notebook or in my iPhone notes, and then Never. Come. Back. To. It.
But as I have a semi-quiet morning, with coffee, and a #fourisFUN year old mesmerized by Dora the Explorer on the Kindle (with headphones, and the occasional outcry “Backpack!”), there are at least ten ideas I’m going to try and write out for posting over the next few weeks. Writing More in 2016: call this my New Year’s Resolution if you wish.
Speaking of Resolutions, did you make any? Like most people, I’ve made plenty of resolutions in the past…. Eat better, exercise more, stop biting my fingernails, organize the house one room at a time, stop watching TV, and these lasted all of about three days (or three hours.)
But one of the audios I listened to last year on my commute that inspired me to write notes (in a notebook on my lap during the morning commute as I sat crawling 2 miles an hour) was a free CD from Lighthouse Media by Matthew Kelly, “Becoming the Best Version of Yourself.” It’s about 60-90 minutes and offered some beautiful and piercing scripture that really sat in my heart for more than a few weeks.
“Do not let your hearts become drowsy from…. the anxieties of daily life.” Luke 21:34
How exactly right is that? How often do we find ourselves slowly falling asleep in our relationship with Christ because of all the other things that pull at us… pull our attention away from Him? How lulled and drowsy do we become spiritually between Sundays? Matthew Kelly says that when we decide to turn towards something, we’re turning away from something else. What are we turning toward? And more importantly, what does that mean we’re turning away from?
As I mentioned above, turning toward my job, toward my family, means I’m turning away from writing here. Turning toward television, often means turning away from sleep.
What do we turn toward that turns us away from God?
Matthew Kelly also had some great ideas for NY Resolutions. There are just four, categorized as Physical, Emotional, Intellectual, and Spiritual.
- Physical: exercise once a week.
- Emotional: Experience carefree timelessness once a month. (Listen to the CD for this explanation.)
- Intellectual: Read a good book for 10 minutes every day. (A good book, not the latest fluff fiction. Matthew Kelly says “What we read today walks and talks with us tomorrow.” So pick something that will help make you a better version of yourself. I recommend Off-Balance by Matthew Kelly.)
- Spiritual: Spend time with God. Ask Him to show you one way that you can become a better person this week.
So that’s my New Year Resolution for 2016. Once a day, Once a week, and Once a month. Sounds manageable even for a busy working mom, right?
