something for the soul

My grandma, Annetta began giving all the women in her family Daily Guideposts for Christmas last year.  If you aren't familiar with these they are daily sweet lessons/thoughts/prayers for the christian life.   I've really gotten to enjoy (and look forward) to the 5 minute read each day.  I should have brought the book with me over Christmas while we were away visiting family.  So, I'm a bit behind in my reading.  I just finished Saturday, December 31, and I thought it was such a great reflection for NYE Resolutions.  I love this last paragraph,

"I realized that the real question confronting me wasn't, How did I spend last year? but How will I spend the next?  How will I use the most precious of God's gifts-life and time?  I can make long lists of things to accomplish and commit myself to New Year's resolutions.   But I really need to do only two things:  Love God with all that I am, and love my neighbor as much as I love myself.  This is all that really matters.  Lord, keep me from seeing my days as something I own but rather as a gift that comes from You." -- Scott Walker

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.  Psalms 90:12

to keep or not to keep

Yes, that is right ladies and gentlemen it is that time of the year again.  Its the time of year when everyone breaks out their pen and paper (or mental notebooks) and jot down a few ridiculous resolutions that they never intend to keep. "Lose 30 pounds."  "Say a thankful prayer for something everyday."  "Spend more time enjoying life than worrying about it."  While these all sound like great ideas many won't last a month...or a week... or even a day. 

My good friend Abby over at the Turquoise Penguin sent me this in a forward earlier this week.  Usually I despise forwards and delete them right away.  However, this is probably one of the best forwards I've gotten in awhile.

1. Before you status update, Tweet, Tumble or Instagram, pause and say to yourself, “is it entirely necessary that I share this morsel of thought with my entire social network?”and if the answer is not, “yes, I absolutely must,” then step away from the Internet.
2. Know which candidate you’re going to vote for in the upcoming presidential election, and know why.
3. Enough with the 14-day juice cleanses. If you want to lose a little weight quickly, eat less and exercise like crazy. If you want to lose a lot of weight slowly, do whatever Jennifer Hudson did.
4. If you really like the person you’re hooking up with and would like them to be your boyfriend/ girlfriend, find a way to tell them, and hope for the best. If you don’t and wouldn’t, stop.
5. Find a way to save approximately 300 dollars and spend it on a flight to see a friend or family member who lives far away.
6. Please stop liking the Kardashians, all of them. It’s not helping anyone, least of all the Kardashians.
7. Spend less than or equal to the money you earn each month.
8. Wear clothes that fit you, especially to work.
9. Call someone on the phone at least once a week, and speak to him or her for at least ten minutes.
10. Start preparing now to get over the fact that Facebook is probably going to change again in six months. You’re not going to deactivate your account. You don’t know how.
11. Wait 30 seconds before you look up a fact you can’t remember on your phone, and try to remember it using your brain. This is what the olden days were like.
12. Replace one terrible reality show you’re currently watching with one wonderful scripted show currently available on television.  Swap suggestion: Real Housewives of Anywhere for HBO’s Enlightened.
13. Try that food you think you don’t like but have never actually tried, unless it’s brussels sprouts. They really don’t need any more attention.
14. Cut one person out of your life who you truly do not like and add one person who you truly do. Note: not on Facebook, on Earth.
15. If you’re still blacking out regularly, you should stop.
16. Volunteer once over the next 90 days.  You’ll feel really good about it, and probably end up volunteering again over the next 275.
17.  Tell someone who you love that you love them on a more regular basis. To their face, not in a text.
18. Back up your entire online life onto an external hard drive, especially your photos.
19. Crap or get off the pot. This applies to whatever thing you’re not doing that you should just sack up and do already.
20.  And in the eternal words of Tom Haverford, “TREAT YO SELF!” 

 -- the Thought Catalog

So, who intends on KEEPING their resolutions this year?  I'd love to hear them!