Each year I like to make New Year's Resolutions. Now, there will always be haters when it comes to this topic but I don't really care. Brian and I have all these like mini themes that we use in our life, eg: "we don't make fear based decisions"....or "we don't borrow money" (except to buy a house :)....or "our pocket books and calendar reflect our hearts"- now that one is a famous quote, I think by John Maxwell. Anyways, we or I, have added a new one: "whatever we do, it's going to be on purpose!" There are enough unknown obstacles in life, but when I have a choice, I want to recognize it and make a decision. The definition of resolve, according to google, is to decide firmly on a course of action. So, here is my course for 2016, because I know you care!
1. I resolve to read to my children more.
I have recently been introduced to author Sally Clarkson and she is AMAZING. She was a homeschool mom of 4 who now writes, speaks, and encourages other women. Titles you might of heard of from her are "Ministry of Motherhood", "Desperate" co-authored by Sarah Mae, "Own Your Life", and "Educating the Wholehearted Child". I have only dipped into her writings but wow, she has really substantiated several ideas that I had rolling around in my head for a while. You should check her out!
So, anyhow I also was directed to the "Read Aloud Revival" podcast which talks about the why behind reading. I also read "Read for the Heart" by Sally Clarkson's daughter Sarah and probably for the first time EVER I understood why I should read to them. My new found why is my motivator for not pushing reading aside in our schedule. This includes good wholesome stories as well as family read alouds. Baker's second grade curriculum included a daily read aloud time for the two of us. I have really enjoyed reading chapter books with him. Since I have such a great husband he has agreed that these professionals are right and he took the liberty upon himself to start reading "Robin Hood" as a family. We have always had Bible story time, but this is different. Just reading a story aloud together in the living room throughout the week. I think he likes it as much as the boys do.
2. I resolve to DIG.
I feel like our first six months in Texas have been filled with indecision and grief. Seriously. We, especially Brian, had to grieve North Dakota. I was so not prepared for that. Then we have been in limbo with possibly selling our house, finding a church home, and who the heck is going to be our friends?
So, we are NOT selling our house... for now. We are going to stay at our church.... for now. And in the mean time we are going to dig. We are going to put in our relational "reps" as Jon Acuff would say. I love this excerpt from his book Start:
"Want to be great friends with someone? Do the reps. Go to coffee. Help them move. Stop by on random Tuesday nights. Stack up enough reps until you have the relationship you'll want. We tend to think it works the other way around. That if we want to have a great friendship, we need to do great moments together. And those are important, but those are few and far between. Every coffee you have with a close friend will not be a moment you journal about later. "Dear diary, Jill cried at coffee today again. We shared our hearts over huckleberry scones and solved several of our problems through the power of conversation and transparency."
More often than not, you'll just have coffee. You'll just talk and laugh. You'll just do a rep. And one day you'll look up and realize you have an awesome friendship."
You know who that sounds like right? The Stroupes- they kick butt at digging in and putting in short reps. So, while I miss my Nodak friends so bad, I have to understand that it will take time for any relationship here to resemble any relationship there. I must invest though, if I want to earn a reward.
3. I resolve that WE make our schedule.
We recently listened to a fantastic sermon series by Alex Himaya www.thechurch.at called "Simplify". It's one of those lessons that is basic yet profound and has the potential to be life changing if you implement it. The premise is to decide who you want to be and your schedule is made from that. If its important for us to live in community with people, then we write down community group on our schedule every Sunday night. If corporate worship is important, then we write down Sunday morning church and we decide in advance to go, not just if we feel like it. Not that we have ever wavered on church attendance, but its a good example. If we want our kids to be super star wrestlers then we go to practice 3-4 times a week. If wrestling isn't that important to us then how about we just go once a week, lol. We are allowed to make our own boundaries with our evenings. If we need to be at home 3 nights a week just to do nothing except be together for beat up and reading then we have to put that in our schedule. I must recognize what I need for a successful day. I need to get up before my children to have time with the Lord. If I don't, then the day is often compromised. So simple yet so transforming.
Thanks for letting me share these goals with you.
