2011 Goals

I get a little e-mail devotion daily from Rick Warren who is the author of Purpose Driven Life (you can get it here: Purpose Driven Devotional if you'd like, I really enjoy reading it in the mornings). Below is the devotional I received today:

God plans to bring all of history to its goal in Christ. Then Christ will be the head of everything in heaven and on earth! Ephesians 1:10 (GW)

"It's not just a good idea; the Bible says you need to set goals in order to grow in your faith."

Over the past few days we've talked about seeing things with the eyes of faith: How could this year really be different from last year? How could this decade really be different from the last ten years?

Before you can ever accomplish anything meaningful in life, you have to see what God sees so you can see what God can do in your life. Once you are able to see what God can do, then you have to believe he will really do it. You have to believe he can help you make the changes you need to make. If you don't believe change is possible, you won't even make the effort to change. But once you believe you can actually change, then you will be able to set faith goals.

Setting goals is a part of spiritual discipline. It's not just a good idea; the Bible says you need to set goals in order to grow in your faith. Goals stretch you and help you become all God wants you to be.

Setting goals is a spiritual discipline is because God sets goals. Did you know that? God sets goals, and so as you mature in Christ-like character, you will need to set goals. God has goals for history that have not happened yet. God has goals for his family -- the church -- that have not happened yet. God has goals for your life that have not happened yet.

The Bible says God plans and so we know that planning is spiritual. God planned out the universe and the more we scientifically study it, the more we realize how well planned it actually is.

The Bible says God plans to bring all of history to its goal in Christ, all of life is moving forward to a destiny. One day Jesus Christ is coming back and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. One day God is going to close down the books on earth and start a new heaven and earth, and "Christ will be the head of everything in heaven and on earth!" (Ephesians 1:10 GW)

God is a God who sets goals, and he expects you to set them too. Like the Apostle Paul, he wants us to say, "I do not run without a goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something—not just the air." (1 Corinthians 9:26 NCV)

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Some of my personal goals for 2011:

1. Read through the entire bible - cover to cover. Today I am buying a chronological bible where I will read the events in the time line they actually occurred. I'm super pumped about this! I really feel led to do this in 2011. I have never read the bible front to back, I have only skipped around so I am really excited to dive into it and see a new perspective and draw closer to Jesus.

2. Deepen my relationship with Jesus. This goal really hinges a lot on the first goal of reading the bible. I do not believe that I can deepen Jesus' and my relationship without reading His word. But, I not only want to read His word, I want to think about it constantly... let it revolve around my head for a while and really soak it in.

3. Make prayer a continual thing. How the bible says to "pray without ceasing" is something that I want to grow in this year. To continually pray and listen for God's guidance in my life for what he has for the future. Because honestly, I am so lost this year - I have no idea what God wants for my life!

Ok, now for the less "spiritual" things. :-)

4. Save. Corey and I decided together that we want to save a lot more than we did last year. We are going to start a baby fund and open a high-yield savings account where we will try to save as much as we can this year so that when we do decide to have a child that we will be more prepared.

5. Do something crazy. By crazy, I mean, like something that I will remember for years to come. Not necessarily reckless, but something that I would not normally do... something definitely out of my comfort zone. Something exciting! I really have no idea what this could be, but I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for a risk that I can take this year.

6. Continue my education. I am going to try to do my best this year in college. I won't be getting my Associates degree until Spring 2012, but I want to continue on the path and not get too distracted.

7. Pray for Corey and I's future. We have no idea what we're going to do after we're done with school. Corey will have his BA in Journalism in Spring 2012, but he is thinking about going to Graduate school and I'm not sure where I want to go to get my 4-year degree. We are seriously thinking about moving to Oregon and Corey would go to U of O and I might go to a Christian college, but we are really unsure. All we know is that we do not want to stay in Kentucky, and we believe that Jesus is making us uncomfortable here for a reason.

8. Be less critical of myself and others. This would also be described as loving more and hating less. I feel like I am entirely too critical of myself and others. I analyze too much when I really just need to love myself and others and leave it at that. I want to break the chains of my critical spirit and let Jesus unleash His loving spirit on me.

9. Not get stressed when my house is a wreck. I tend to freak out when my house is a mess, even though it is only Corey and I there. I tend to feel like I'm not doing my job as a wife when that is the farthest thing from the truth. The only one it really bothers is me, not even Corey. I need to learn to cut myself some slack when things aren't just as I like them. I work 45 hours a week and am taking 10 credit hours in college! I think I can let the dishes slide every now and then. :)

10. Discipline myself. This is both Corey and my ultimate goal for this year - discipline. We are slowly learning to discipline our eating & money habits. We are learning to eat smaller portion sizes and healthier foods that include a lot of fruits and vegetables. He wants to lose about 25lbs. this year, and I want to lose about 15 lbs. This will not happen without a lot of discipline and hard work, because we both love sweets and soda, but I know that 2011 can be the year that we completely exchange our bad habits for good ones. Financially, we are going to learn how to stick to a budget. We think that the financial part of our life could be so much better if we were disciplined to spend only what our budget allows. This week we did pretty good - we went over our grocery budget by about $1.50 and our eating out budget by about $2.50. Not too shabby for the first week!

I hope that one year from now Corey and I will be closer to Jesus, more financially responsible and healthier people. We want to look back on this year and see it marked by discipline.

What goals do you have for this year?