Resolutions for 2010
Posted in Personal and Family on 01. Jan, 2010
Whereas it is common to make various and sundry resolutions at the start of the New Year; and whereas I am admittedly lazy, undisciplined, and doubleminded; and whereas I am a more inclined to follow through with commitments that I have made in the light of day and before both God and man; therefore, let it be resolved:
- That I will walk a minimum of 30 minutes at five separate and distinct times a week—if at all possible with my main squeeze, Megan.
- That I will continue to I resist the lure, draw, and undeniable seductiveness of tobacco in all its forms, particularly the cigar.
- That I will pray the morning, noon, and evening offices, making exception only for times of gathering and liturgy at Church.
- That I will add to these times of prayer the traditional reading of the Psalms—through the entire Psalter once a week.
- That I will read Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel and Mario Vargas Llosa’s The War at the End of the World before the earth wanders around the sun once more.
So let it be noted. So let it be done. And please kick me in the drawers if you see me getting off track.
Nicely done! And rather ambitious, I might add. I can only imagine how meaningful it will be to read through the Psalter every week. Marvelous strength for the journey. In fact, perhaps it will help with the whole tobacco thing.
Very nice. I have the Psalter broken out by kathisma and staseis on CDs/mp3s, which I listened to straight through on the way to and from PA. I think Fr. Thomas Hopko says the Psalter is like a microcosm of the Scriptures; it really is beautiful.
Justin, Sheila: Holy Transfiguration Monastery puts out a great little portable/pocket Psalter–not much bigger than a prayer book. It’s broken out by kathisma. There are guides and schedules in the back.
Like Sheila and Justin, I am amazed at your ambition to pray the entire Psalter through each week. And that you will pray the offices each day! And you hold a steady job and have a wife and kids–wow! I am single, hold a steady job, and try to have a social life so my spiritual goals exist as well, but I have to be careful not to let them consume me–because they could if I let them! I want to memorize more Psalms, and try (the operative word being try) to pray at the third, sixth, and ninth hours. I want to finish my study of the Old Testament with commentaries (I started last year), and I want to get through the New Testament again. I only read a few New Testament books last year because I focused more on the Old Testament.
I have found that the Scriptures opened up in a whole new way once I converted to Orthodoxy two years ago.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Joel!
I am fairly unfamiliar with your church, but I want to share a picture I carry in my “spiritual” wallet. I live my life seated on the most comfy couch between my Papa Father and my big brother, Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:6). I am constantly talking to both of them about everything–what’s going on, what I think, what I feel, how should I deal with things.–and I ask for their knowledge, understanding, and wisdom in everything.
In Deuteronomy 30:20, God encourages us to cleave to (become one with Him) because He is our life. So my prayer for you and those you love and relate to is that you’ll go beyond the formal prayers into living the nitty-gritty of life snuggled between our Father and our Big Brother.
Patricia,
I appreciate your kind words and gracious offer to pray for me. I grew up in a charismatic church that put a high stress on spontaneous prayer. I knew many very dedicated and holy people in that church and still know many of them. I can say, however, that I was never spiritually mature enough to pray so well. I found using a prayer book to be one of the most wonderful and liberating experiences ever–and count it God’s great mercy that he led me to a tradition that uses one regularly. I’ve written a bit about it here. I hope it helps explain where I’m coming from a bit.
Blessings in the New Year (and many thanks, again, for the prayers).
These resolutions are awesome. I’m proud of you!
Hi, Joel,
Can I relate to your statement about your mind wandering during prayer! When I was younger, my mind would go all over the place when I prayed. I think what changed for me was my desire to understand the Bible for myself. The more time I spent delving into the scriptures and the more I wanted to understand, I found it almost natural to ask God to give me knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. I’m glad you have found direction in a prayer book–isn’t God wonderful in how He meets our individual needs? In fact, He’s just wonderful, period. I will be praying for you and I ask that you will pray for me. God bless!
What an idea for accountability! Bless you as you make your way through the year with these goals in heart and mind.
Will you also post on how you’re doing?
Joel,
Nicely done! I just did the same thing on my blog, it is important to put yourself out there.
I know you will achieve all you want to in 2010 and if I can be of any assistance please let me know.
I have heard nice things about you from Bucky Rosenbaum!
God bless!
John
PS I actually bought the pocket Psalter after I saw you recommend it. It is coming this week, and I am totally looking forward to looking at it and using it. It will definitely find a place in my purse along with personal notebook for religious notes and my small Orthodox prayer book put out by St. Tikhon’s.
Ali: I haven’t seen the little St. Tikhon’s prayerbook, but I’ll have to check it out. (I mostly use the St. Vlad’s one and the pocket edition put out by the Antiochian archdiocese.)
Joel, my priest gave me a copy from an old parishioner when I was in the process of converting. Father Stephen Freeman has made references to it on his blog. It is white and has a little red outline on the cover, My copy is quite battered up, but it obviously works fine. I go to an OCA Church so obviously some of our prayers are a little different. I have gone to several Antiochian Churches (my sponsor is/was Antiochian and is at seminary with her husband), and I always get confused during the prayer before Communion. I only have it memorized in the OCA version!
Well hello Joel!
I signed up to review your book in exchange for giving a review, so here I am on line looking in to the author before I receive the book!
I am looking forward to reading the book as I love history and am excited at reading something about Paul Revere!
Your list here is absolutely wonderful and I am hoping that nearing April, that you have been successful so far.
Thank you for taking the time and the effort to pen a book
All the best
Jennifer
Well, so far I’ve stumbled in most. My prayers have been far more irregular than I wanted, and my reading of the psalter hasn’t been what it should be either. I’m closer on the walking, though far from perfect. I started the Vargas Llosa novel just the other day. The one area of total success at this point: cigars. I haven’t had any tobacco since December. That turned out to be the easiest one of all–humorously, it was the one I was most worried about.
I hope you enjoy the Revere project. It’s surprisingly timely I think.
I received The Revolutionary Paul Revere from Thomas Nelson Publishers to read and review. What a good lesson for adults to refresh and for children in school to read. So sad, I asked my grandson, 10th grade, who was Paul Revere and he did not know. Sadder, he said Samuel Adams made beer.
I placed a review on booksneeze.com, LIbraryThing.com and a social site, SparkPeople.com on the History group site as well as Facebook.
I was very impressed with tthe book and the research that you did on it.
This book goes to my grandson to learn about the founders of our country.
Thank you,
Leona
PS I actually bought the pocket Psalter after I saw you recommend it. It is coming this week, and I am totally looking forward to looking at it and using it. It will definitely find a place in my purse along with personal notebook for religious notes and my small Orthodox prayer book put out by St. Tikhon’s.
[...] friends what you are committed to achieving. Better yet, post your resolutions on your blog like my son-in-law did. Going public creates accountability and leverage. Several years ago, I blogged about my goal to [...]