New Year's Resolutions

So I always joke that I go by the Chinese New Year when it comes to making New Year's Resolutions, meaning I have no intention of making any at all.

But since becoming a mother (I almost wrote 'monster' - yes, it's been a rough day!) I have been overwhelmed by my inability to accomplish everything that NEEDS to be done. Therefore, I have had to prioritize like never before. After Annie was born, my fabulous, multi-collumned lists were reduced to three check boxes a day - I told myself I just had to accolmplish three things each day, just three. And giving her a bath counted as one of them.

Prioritizing like this has led to some painful personal sacrifices. Like having my mom over without getting all the dishes washed or the floor mopped beforehand. And like having to give up the dogs. (It's been one year.)

It's meant giving up a lot of my "I won't ever..."s - like "I won't ever let my child sleep in our bedroom on a regular basis." (It's been almost one year.)

It's meant holding off on most of my favorite activities - like reading. Actually, I just finished a book last week. (It took almost one year.)

I've changed so much. I never used to be a hit-the-snooze-button person. I'm still not, but I would be if I had a regular alarm clock instead of the two-year old human variety. But no mater how many times I hit Annie on the forehead  at 6:30 in the morning, she just won't snooze!

But in the middle of all this change of schedules and habits and personality, one thing has not only remained the same but has grown into the all-encompassing reality of my life - GOD'S WORD IS A SOLID FOUNDATION. It is a rock, it is bank, it is an anchor. It doesn't change but it can change me.

So as for New Year's Resolutions, I have just one. This year I want to fill my mind and my life with the Bible.

Last year I had made a resolution, too - I wanted to read through the whole Bible in a year. Not a big job, I know, but at the time I had a 19-month old and a one-month old and it felt like an absolute impossibility to me. Especially since for a couple of years I had made the same resolution each January only to quit somewhere in I or II Kings every time. And since I was exhausted from 4 or 5 wake-up calls every night and could hardly keep my eyes open through one paragraph (wide awake for Survivor, though! Funny how that is...). And since I even experienced a major set-back (well, it seemed like it at the time). I was proudly keeping up with my little printed reading schedule only to turn the page sometime in April to find that I had only been reading the Old Testament portion and hadn't even seen there was a daily New Testament checklist as well. But I made it and by the end of November, no less. Not to make it sound like it was my doing, though. It was amazing how the kids would sleep as long as I was reading my Bible, but the minute I got up to check e-mails or laid down to try to take a nap the kids would wake up!

So spurred on by that accomplished New Year's Resolution (my first ever!) I resolve to make this new checklist:
     30 Bible Verses
          []
          []
          []   etc...

The plan is to memorize 30 verses with Annie. I'll let you know how it turns out. (In about a year.)