Resolutions

I've never liked New Year's Resolutions very much and have mostly tried to avoid them... (ha)until this year. Suddenly I'm excited about them and feel more like I could actually keep them going. Maybe it's because I finally had a real victory with a resolution last year when I trained for and ran my first 10K. That actually worked! :) So I'm now into Day 4 of reading the bible through in a year and I'm really enjoying it. Today was Day 1 of starting a new running plan to do a 10K. It WON'T be the UAH run like last year - I'm going to take a little longer than 2 months to get back up to a 10K this time and see if my hip will tolerate the pounding a little better than it did last year. I hope so. I still want to run the Cotton Row 10K and that's 5 months away -- that's probably a good goal. :) If you're interested in a good website to get started running, here's the one I'm using: http://halhigdon.com/ Don't be afraid of all the stuff about marathons -- scroll down and you will see the 5K and 10K running programs. :)

Here's a funny thing that Jack pointed out after Day 2 of reading... we're both reading a Chronological Bible so by day 2, we had gone through creation, the fall, and the flood. And this is just Day 2... of 365! Kinda sad that it only took 2 days of reading to get from God creating man in His image and it being 'very good' -- to God being grieved that He had made man and deciding to wipe mankind off the face of the earth with a flood! The thing that I thought was that I wish that we did have a little more said about Adam and Eve's time in the garden - when things were good. What was that really like - that little slice of heaven? Do you ever think if we knew more about that, it might be more motivation for us to want to stay as close as possible to God? Of course, Adam and Eve actually LIVED there and and it wasn't enough for them to avoid the temptation to disobey... hmmmm...... we're just a mess, aren't we?

Anyway, my desire in reading is not just to 'check a box' and say I've done it, but to really let it sink in, let God speak to me through His word, and let it change my heart. I want to spend a lot of time listening - and trusting what I'm hearing enough to obey and surrender my will to God's - even when it hurts, even when it's really hard. There's a verse in Psalm 15 that comes to mind... "Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? .... he who keeps his oath, even when it hurts." That's a hard teaching, but it's part of what keeping resolutions is all about. The good news is that I know that even though it feels hard to do, God is using it for my good and that's a blessing. :)

Well, I've gotten interupted a bunch while I've been writing this, and looking back over it, I can tell. ;-) But those are my thoughts and all I have time for tonight. :)