Goals for 2012

I love a new year... 

a fresh new start,

isn't that an awesome feeling? 

A new year.. exciting new opportunities... new plans... new goals... I prefer to set goals for a new year rather than make resolutions. Resolutions (for me) tend to fall by the wayside, whereas goals are something I can continue to peck at bit by bit.

Last year I chose a word for the year as well.

2011's word was 

JOY. 

2012's word is still undecided. 

I am stuck between 

PRAY 

and 

OBEY.  

My word for the year is merely an overarching goal for the year... a focus area beyond all my other goals. My word is one I pray about and has spiritual significance for me, however, many people choose a word for the year that has no real spiritual meaning- rather just one of discipline. It is a fun little idea. For a little more info on what I'm talking about, check out this link:

2012 - One Word

For 2012, I have set many goals. Here is a sampling:

Goals to.... READ

January

Liberty of Obedience by Elisabeth Elliot
Prayer by E M Bounds -a large volume containing several of his writings. (begin)

February

Prayer by E M Bounds (finish)
A Gospel Primer by Milton Vincent

March

The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

Goals to... Create

January

Marbleized clay heart pendants (I completed this little project last Saturday- I love the result.)

February

Tote bags with vintage fabrics

March

Hand crafted paper

Goals to... Get Active

• Snowshoe, X country ski or walk for at least 1/2 an hour every day during the cold months.
• Use my kayak at least once a week during the warm months (this certainly will not be hardship to implement as I love it so, but it is hard to find the place, people to go with, etc.)
• Walk, Hike, etc. for at least 1/2 an hour every day during warm months.

Goals to... Do

• Post at least 4 items a month in my etsy shop.
• Memorize scripture.
• Share Christ boldly in love and with joy!

These are just a few of the goals I have for 2012.  Will I accomplish them all? I hope so. However, I know that if I don't reach a goal on a time table I have set, I can set a new goal and peck away at it until it is done.

Here are some resources I have found helpful in planning for this year:

• Productive Flourishing -- Charlie Gilkey has created and gives away freely some very helpful charts. I especially like his "Monthly Action Planner" "Annual Strategic Planner" and "The Blog Post Planner"
• Money Saving Mom has a Books I Plan to Read list that is exactly what I was looking for in planning for this year. I find her weekly "10 Goals for This Week" posts to be motivational. Here is an example: 10 Goals for This Week There are a LOT of resources on her blog, be sure to take some time and look around.

I would love to hear from others on what your goals are for 2012, how you decide on those goals and what you use for resources in planning them...

Happy 2012!!

I've linked up with


Hmm...Can't get the text (box) to post.... I'll keep trying...





Click on the box to read more encouraging posts.

To post or not to post, that is the question!

Hmmm...writing blog posts...

I struggle with how often to post and what to post. I nearly always have something I could post but yet neglect to post. (Seriously, did I use the word post enough?? ~smile)

I have over twenty posts in draft form and many more I have posted and then removed.

Why am I this way?

Sometimes I feel that what I have to share no one would really be interested in...
Sometimes just writing a "draft" is all I need for me... the need to write is fulfilled.


So, what will you read here on this blog?

That's a tough call.

There are bound to be plenty of ramblings (usually snippets of my complete thoughts on a subject).
I would love to say that anyone could come here to read great words of wisdom but since I am firmly grounded in reality... you may get my take on wisdom for what it is worth... (~smile)

However, I can assure you that when I post from the Word,

IT (The Bible)

is

true

wisdom.

I hope to share more practical tips..
making soap,
salves,
recipes,
natural cleaner how-to's, etc.,

Possibly I will share some sage advice from a veteran home educator (~smile).

Even though I am not sure what exactly I will share in the future here on this blog, I do have one over-arching goal and desire for this, my little place on the web. ~~My one greatest desire with my blog is that all I would write would bring glory to Christ and that I would post nothing that would be a stumbling block to a fellow believer or someone seeking Christ or that anything I would post here would in any way hurt my precious Lord and Savior.

Thanks so much for reading....

Every woman

Found this quote on Simply Vintage Girl. It really makes me think about how much influence I have on those around me...

 

"Every woman, whether rich or poor, married or single, has a circle of influence within which, according to her character, she is exerting a certain amount of power for good or harm. Every woman by her virtue or her vice, by her wisdom or her folly, by her dignity or her levity is adding something to our national elevation or degradation." —John Angell James

Man, I just want to moan and complain!

When you realize how temporal this life here on earth is-- how very short it is in comparison to all of eternity, it changes your perspective quite a bit.

This life isn't about me - 

I am to live it 

and 

God expects me to live it with 

joy! 

But it really is all about Him. 

So what if there are problems, issues, arguments, criticisms? -- We have all of eternity to live in the totally blessed wonderfulness of His love. 

Oh there is much work here on earth to be done... showing His love to others... listening... giving... going out of our comfort zones...pushing through when tired...no time for a break...always more to do... and I get tired, selfish, angry, and want to moan. But I have all of eternity to rest in Him!! All of eternity to feel the physical presence of His love. 

I can be so prone to fussing over my problems in this life. 

I want... 

I need...

Yet,

in 100 years they will not matter in the least... 

then I will be with Him...

Free-falling

 Today's "Five Minute Friday" word is catch.

"On Fridays around these parts we stop, drop, and write. We write bold and beautiful and free. Unscripted and unedited. We just write without worrying if it’s just right or not."  I did however correct one typo - it wouldn't have made sense otherwise. It is really hard for me to post something that I haven't edited at all- this post is like one big rambling thought.
When thinking of the word catch, this is what came to my mind...






Catch.

Free-falling. Sometimes in this life we feel alone don't we? We feel like we are free-falling. Falling down, down, down.... when will we stop? When will it end? It is a scary and alone feeling. No one else there, just you and all this empty space.

Who will catch me when I'm falling? Who is there? Is there a big hand that will reach out and grab me just before I hit the ground? Or am I to hit and smash into a thousand pieces?

We are given all these thoughts and emotions by God so we can fully live this life. Sometimes our feelings are raw and painful. It is how we are as people. Everything thought, every moment is not all daisys and lollipops. Sometimes we do indeed feel as though we are free-falling.

Thankfully when we have Christ, He IS there. We need not crash-- we can accept these emotions for what they are- just feelings. We are not alone. He is with us.

I am so thankful to be peacefully resting in His hands today......

To read other posts visit:  Five Minute Friday

Gifts!!

Yesterday, my son and daughter in law stopped by my house to give me a little gift. 

I opened the package to find a bib that said,  

"I Love Grandma" 

Wow. 

I wept tears of joy.

There are times in life when I wonder why am I so blessed? Why has God seen fit to bless me so? To think that a little child will join our family next June, the joy of that thought is so wonderful I am nearly ready to burst.

I have been blessed with two wonderful sons and had prayed to be blessed with more children (through adoption if possible), this has been my earnest prayer for many years now. God has not blessed me with more children of my own, but He has seen fit to bring along a little grandbaby. Ooooo! I realize I will have to share this little one with his/her parents and another set of grandparents, but just the thought-- a cuddly sweet little child - possibly a bouncing little boy like his Daddy or pretty little girl like her Mommy. To realize that God already knows this little one. He has known him or her since the beginning of time! How wonderful! And next June I will hold this little one in my arms. Oh, isn't that amazing?!

Oh my son and his wife, his beautiful little wifey, as he calls her, are young and as poor as church mice. It is true. But they love each other and they are so happy about this little one coming along. A baby born into a house full of love, that is something money can not buy.

I purchased my first little gift for this sweet little grandbaby today. The book, God Gave Us You by Lisa Tawn Bergren. It is the story of a little polar bear. She asks her Mama, "Mama, where did I come from?" Her mother tells her, "from God." Mama tells her little cub the story of her pregnancy and how when she first heard Little Cub's heartbeat, "I cried happy tears then." "Why?" the little one asked her... "Because God had given us you," Mama bear told her. It is a beautiful story and the illustrations are lovely.

I am so very, very glad my precious little grandbaby, 

growing inside your Mommy's belly, 

that God has given us 

YOU. 

Salvation is so easy.... ??? Really?

Someone made a comment recently that salvation is simple, easy. Although I do understand their reasoning, I disagree.

Christ suffered death.
 
"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

At no time do I think of death as easy.

And considering HOW Christ died, and what He went through prior to his death, neither simple nor easy come to my mind.

Read along with me the following verse:

^"And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified." Mark 15:15

Scourged him... are you familiar with the term? To scourge is to whip, but this was no ordinary whip. Wikipedia gives a bit more thorough definition of scourge:   Scourge . Does that sound like an easy thing to endure??

They had only just begun:

^"And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!" Matthew 27:28 & 29

Doesn't that sound nice? They placed upon his raw (likely down to the bone in many places) and bleeding back a robe. Imagine how it would sting- imagine also after a while how it would feel to have His clothes removed once the blood had begun to clot against them. ...

Let's consider that crown as well....  

One of the most vivid symbols of Christianity is the crown of thorns, which Jesus wore before his crucifixion. The scripture text tells us that the soldiers "platted a crown of thorns", that is, they braided long vines of thorns together to form a crown. There are two types of thorn plants that grow around the Holy Land, one called the Zizyphus Spina Christi and the other qundaul. Both have long, flexible twigs that can be woven into crowns, however, the qundaul has the harshest thorns of the two. Considering the cruelty of the soldiers, most theologians believe that the qundaul plant was used, with its spikes of 1 to 1 ½ inch long. The Roman soldiers had to weave this plant very carefully. If they were careless, they would be wounded just as easily as they wounded Jesus. One must ask, “What purpose drove the Romans to take that extra step of torture?” Such an undertaking to braid the thorns was certainly work and not pleasure. This was not something easily accomplished in a few moments. It was not something accomplished without risk to the soldiers. Weaving the thorns into the shape of a crown would have been a toilsome task.

                                                                     -Dan Southern

How about that crown-- it wasn't easy to wear and it wasn't easy to make.

The Bible tells us more of his crucifixion, I've only just touched at the beginning. I encourage you to read more of it for yourself.

Now, I must ask you. Does any of this sound easy? How about simple??


Let's look at the other side for a moment, the receiving end. This is where it gets simple right?
Now I'm just going to summarize what happened for me.

Acknowledging and repenting of my sin.
"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Romans 5:23

Ah... I don't know about you, but this is not a simple thing for me. I have realized it and Christ has forgiven  my sins.. but easy... hmm....no.

Next consider that as a person I am to give up control of my life and turn over the reigns to God.

"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" 1 Corinthians 6:19

My body not my own??? Excuse me?? Well... I'm a little bit stubborn and a wee bit mistrusting... and I am supposed to let someone else tell me what to do, rule my life, be my Master??? Hey, I'm an American. I was born to be free. Right?

Thankfully in Christ is freedom. 

TOTAL freedom. 

REAL freedom. 

And

REAL peace

And

REAL love.

No, I do not call salvation easy. I do not call it simple. 

It is

Amazing

Awesome

Wonderful

It is beyond description.

and I am SO thankful that He offers it freely.