Resolution

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The heart of man plans his way,
    but the Lord establishes his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)

Ocean Isle Beach, NC. Taken January 1, 2022, at around 8:00 a.m. My first photo of 2022!

I generally love the idea of New Year's resolutions. I enjoy reflecting on the past year and thinking about how, by the grace of God, I will "do better" in the coming year. For some reason, however, I didn't give a lot of thought to resolutions this year. I plan to continue with my morning prayer and Bible-reading time, as well as my "memory walks," and I figure God will direct my steps.

That being said, I couldn't resist jotting down a few goals. My only concrete "resolution" so far involves my 2022 reading challenge, which I started on January 1. Here are a few other, very general goals:

  • Wean myself off the Couch of Doom. This is an oversized armchair that I've been using for Bible reading, writing, TV-watching, Twitter-scrolling, and general cat-cuddling. I estimate that I've been spending a good three to four hours of every day in that chair ... which is too much! If I cut back on the TV-watching and Twitter-scrolling, and if I move my writing to a desk, I suspect I will be able to cut a good two or three hours of Couch of Doom time. My favorite part of every day is the early morning, when I curl up on the Couch of Doom and read my Bible and cuddle with the cats, so I'm not giving that up. This resolution will be my biggest challenge because I'll be fighting some ingrained habits, and also giving up some of that cuddle time with the cats.

  • Go to bed earlier. I've always been an early-to-bed, early-to-rise girl. But over the past year or so, I've been finding myself still awake at 11:00, 11:30, or even midnight. Not a good practice for someone who still likes to be up before dawn. So I'm planning to be in bed by 9:00 every night, with lights out no later than 9:45. This challenge will be a little easier because it will give me an extra 45 minutes of reading time that I haven't had lately. I love reading, so I can see myself eventually going to bed even earlier, just so I can fit in a few more minutes of reading.

  • Memorize the book of Matthew. That's a big one, I know. I am currently memorizing Ephesians and am about a third of the way through Chapter 5. I expect to finish Ephesians by the end of this month, at which time I can start on Matthew. Matthew is 28 chapters long, and if I memorize 2.5 chapters a month, I can have the entire book by the end of the year. This is a not a strict goal, but it is a goal--whether it ultimately takes me 11 months or a couple of years. This challenge will be difficult, but I think it will be easiest in terms of motivation. I enjoy memorizing (weirdly enough), and I enjoy my means of memorizing: working on verses while on long-ish walks on the trail at my workplace.

Those are all of my goals/resolutions for 2022 (so far). I'll leave you with some words of wisdom from Holly, a mathematician I follow on Twitter:

That works for me!

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