Resolutions

I hate making New Year's resolutions for the simple reason that, for me, they tend to be a public declaration of the things I won't do well in the year to come. For that reason, I can't remember the last time I made one. Might have been the '90's (e.g. "I resolve to wear my clothes backwards, because inside out is wiggida wiggida wiggida wack")

Anyway, I'm going to go ahead and set myself up for failure once again in 2009. Here are the resolutions I'm making:

1. This has turned into one, but doubled as a Christmas present for Sara. I am committing to make a post on this blog once per week. My brother-in-law asked me if I made any commitment re: the length of these posts, and I didn't. My hope, though, is that I'll make a thoughtful entry most of the time, not too wordy, but definitely keeping it real, which is hard to do when you're basically journaling in front of an anonymous...albeit quite small, I'm sure... audience.
2. Sara and I made a joint resolution to stay on top of mail/bills/budgeting this year. I am terrible with this (remember I just said I'd try to keep it real?), and I think if we can do what we've planned on, it's going to really be good for us.
3. I have been sensing the need to spend less time in front of the TV each week and more time focusing on the important things in life. I love TV, and I hate it. I love that I can sit in front of it and be entertained while forgetting about all of the day's concerns, just for a while. I hate that even the dumbest, most ridiculous show can grab my attention and make me care about what's going to happen after the commercial, and when it's all said and done, it really doesn't matter. I love turning my brain off for a while, but I hate that it doesn't do anything to help me be the person I hope to be. Part of my faith as a Christian is the firm belief in the importance of regularly spending time in prayer and studying the Bible. My own experience has been that these times have been critical in providing direction for my life and shaping my character (plenty of work left to do there...), in shifting my perspective from the temporal and selfish to those things of lasting significance and to concern for others. So, I want to make sure I'm doing this at least 5 days a week, and if that means less or no TV on those nights, I think it will truly be worth it.
   

One post down, 51 to go.