Three Suggestions For Your New Year

It's the New Year!  I am sure you have some goals already.  You have probably reflected on what you want to accomplish, made a couple "resolutions," and maybe even began something new in your life.

At the risk of being too late, i would like to make a few suggestions for your new year.  You can call them resolutions if you want, but I think they are worth actually accomplishing (not that you won't accomplish your resolutions...through February!).

1. Commit to less this year.

Yep, that's right!  I think this is the single most important suggestion I have for this year.  Why?  Can I be brutally honest?  It is because you and I already do way too much right now!  I know, it's just normal, but is normal good?  Is normal what we want?

Do you really think it will be a bad thing to be obsessed with fewer TV shows?  Do you think it will really hurt your kids chance at college if they are not in an extra-curricular activity all the time?  Do you really have to run around like a chicken with your head cut off to be considered a good parent or a good person?

Make a list:  What is most important in your life.  Don't commit to things that don't actually harvest growth in one of your top areas.  (Just so you know, my top areas are:  1. Jesus Christ 2. Family 3. Lowell Church of Christ 4. Writing 5. Close Friendships)  I am not going to commit to anything (hopefully!) that does not help me cultivate one of those areas of my life.

2. Commit to focus on someone else.

Let's face it, we spend way too much time on ourselves.  Wouldn't it be cool if we spent the year taking time to serve at a soup kitchen?  Taking your kids to talk with the elderly folks at the local home?  Wouldn't that be much better for your family than giving them another new phone, another hobby to focus on, etc.  Teens, I work with y'all, and let me be frank--it is time you spend less time on yourself!

3.  Commit to be intentional.

So much of our time is wasted because we are not paying attention to the time at all.  Would you really spend 5 hours on Facebook and Youtube if you knew this was the last week you would live?  I sure hope not.  Be intentional about how you spend your time and what you do.  I bet that if you think about how you spend your time, you will spend it better.

What other ideas would you give me?  What suggestions would you give me this year?