New Year, New Goals

Wow, 2010...where has time gone? This year my husband and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary...that is unreal! Life has been such an incredible journey these last 10 years.

I gave up doing New Year's resolutions years ago, but I am a list maker and a goal setter, so I changed things up. I set goals instead, things I want to accomplish sometime in the year ahead. I don't necessarily forge ahead and jump into all of them right away. This year, my goals are pretty focused and pretty short. As much as I have on my plate right now, I have to really make sure my priorities are in order. So here goes...

1. Spend daily time with God, focusing on Bible study, prayer, Bible memory and stillness before God, focusing on and listening to Him. This is far and away my most important goal for the year, and it's something I've let slide the past few months. I am well aware of my shortcomings - and there are a lot of them! The older I get, the more aware I become of how imperfect I am and how, without God, I can do nothing. Another reason this is so important to me is because I'm a mom. More than anything else in life, I want my boys to follow God wholeheartedly all their lives, and need and deserve good examples to follow. I cannot give what I don't have, so I have to make sure my kids see me putting time with God first.

2. Run. Pretty simple. I am still very much a newbie, but I love running, and I want to work my way up to running 5 miles a day, 3 to 4 days a week, by the end of 2010. Who knows...maybe I'll enter a 5K this year too, just to prove to myself I can do it...

3. Spend more time doing things with my family. I'm with my family a lot, but I want to really have fun with my family and have designated family time every week - playing board games and card games (which my boys love!), riding bikes together (I need to buy myself one...my hubby and kids all have one), reading, bowling, going to the library (something we used to do often but have let slide this past year) - just spending time enjoying each other's company.

4. Finish 5 college classes and apply to dental hygiene school. This will be a major obsession focus this year, since the program is highly competetive and if I don't get in, I'll have have spend all of 2010 taking prerequsite classes for nothing.

5. Have a weekly date night with my husband. I don't even remember the last time we went out alone, kid free. I know once a month isn't really enough, but with me returning to college, time and money will both be tight. At least this will give us a good start.

6. Put more time and focus into Kids BLAST, our children's ministry, which I head up. I love working in children's ministry! It is my passion and my calling. My goal for the kids in our church is to instill in them a love for Jesus that will last a lifetime. I want to make the Bible come alive for them, and I want them to know that each and every one of them is precious to God. I think kids need to hear a lot more often that they are precious treasures and that there is Someone who loves them unconditionally. I will be handing over other responsibilites, such as Vacation Bible School, so I can really pour myself into building our children's ministry into the best ministry it can be.

So there it is...my outline, my priorities for 2010. Short and sweet.