And also, it’s June! So that means we can reset our goals for the year and re focus. I love a good restart don’t I? And truth be told I need one because I feel like I’ve been floating lately. I am enjoying my life and my family and working on my “more of less and less of more” mantra, but I don’t feel like I’m working toward anything specific and I am the type that needs to have concrete goals, otherwise I struggle to move forward and grow (other than everyday organic growth caused by adulthood…but those are generally just hard lessons so it’s nice to sprinkle other ones in there too!)
My first and possibly only goal for the next month will be to set a routine…you’ve heard this before haven’t you? I suck at routines. I just do. I think the first step to me getting a better routine is to admit I am awful about routines in general. I feel like part of the problem is I have gotten way to good at winging it so I manage to function pretty well in a state of flexible routine and winging it. However, all I am able to do in this is maintain and I’m ready to grow and accomplish new challenges. I’ve attempted to make little changes over the last couple of weeks to get me going on the right path, but then last night I stayed up until 1:00 eating mini muffins and watching re runs of Southern Charmed so obviously I have a little room for improvement.
My first step in setting a routine is to ask myself one very important question,
What do you want out of this routine?
Great question Joy, let me get back to you on that. For real though, I think the biggest goal I have now is exercising and getting healthy. However, I just really struggle to exercise in the morning. A lot of it has to do with the late nights and mini muffins, but on a more serious note I just in general don’t feel good in the mornings. I have always been this way. I couldn’t eat breakfast until high school because it made me sick. I think part of the problem is I don’t hit my deepest sleep until the morning hours so I wake up tired and groggy and I don’t know how to change that, so I need to re configure my routine. Getting more sleep would be a good start! Fitting in exercise is the next part…I’ll let you know how it goes.
Reading my Bible is what should really be my biggest priority. The fact that I didn’t list it first shows that I need to just sort through my priorities before I try to establish a routine. I am tempted to delete everything I’ve written and make that my biggest goal from my routine, but the whole point of this blog is to share my journey in an honest way so this is me being honest and trying to be better. Now that I think about it, the fact that exercising in the morning is a struggle might just be God’s way of saying “Why don’t you just read your Bible?”
Hmmm, that just might work! My eyeballs work just fine in the morning.
The truth is I have gone through periods where I do well with reading my Bible in the mornings and then fall off, but I’m determined to make it stick. Praying for strength and believing God will provide it is a start. How many times do we say rote prayers and not believe they will be answered, or see them answered and don’t acknowledge they are answered prayers? We chalk things up to coincidence or just completely forget it’s something we prayed for and fail to acknowledged it at all. I’m working on this and it has made me so much more grateful for all God has done and continues to do for me.
However, it is also important to have balance and not make your whole life about checking off a to do list and checking off goals. At church yesterday our pastor talked about Christians entire purpose is to bring hope. (He said it in a more eloquent way which I wrote down, but I don’t have it with me at the moment so you will have to get my memory’s version). In short he was saying if you see something that needs to be done, just do it. If you see someone who needs hope, bring it to them! It’s important to remember this when we are working on our own goals. Our goals shouldn’t be so self centered but God centered which by default makes them people centered so that we can show God’s love to others. So I will be keeping this in mind as I work toward concrete goals to make sure I’m looking out for opportunities to bring hope to other people. I encourage you to do the same!
I have so many things I want to write about but I can’t seem to find a cohesive way to put them all together at the moment (I know some of you are thinking “You think what you just wrote is cohesive?” Well, no but it’s as good as it gets today, I’m rusty ok!?) but I hope to become more consistent and let you know how the routine goes!
And if you’re wondering about the picture that is a double rainbow from a couple of weeks ago that I just couldn’t get enough of. Rainbows are God’s promise to us and remind me of new growth and new starts. I have never seen one that was so clear. I felt like the double rainbow guy from youtube many years ago. I get it dude, I get it!
Oh and here is a funny little conversation I had with little j this morning in case you need a laugh. I was putting her in the car and she said:
j: It’s kinda cold outside.
Me: It feels good! Makes you feel alive!
j: No, it’s making me feel dead!
You never know what may come out of a 3 year old’s mouth, but it is likely to make you laugh!
Go enjoy your day! I hope it makes you feel alive and not dead!
Joyously Living 