Since I was goofing of in the British Virgin Islands on January 1st, I missed making New Year's Resolutions. So, yesterday on 1/11/11, it seemed liked a good date to formally set a couple of goals for the upcoming year.I'm generally lousy at keeping resolutions if I make a long list. Long lists fall into the same category as long meetings and long talks; hard for me to tolerate!
Plus, if I have multiple goals in multiple categories, it doesn't take very many days before all my good intentions are abandoned. I do much better with a simplified approach.
So, in the interest of keeping things simple I'm using 1 scripture as a touchstone for my 4 daily goals. I'm hoping that by taking on just 4 goals at a time, this model will prove more manageable than longer lists from previous years.
I can't take credit for the idea behind using this scripture as a template. Joe C. Christensen used this scripture in his talk on Resolutions to BYU students in 1994.
Luke 2:52 reads: "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man."
So, the 4 ways or areas that our Savior developed before his ministry are:
1. intellectual (increased in wisdom),
2. physical (increased in stature),
3. social (increased in favor with man), and
4. spiritual (increased in favor with God).
Initially, my first goal is just to make sure I've taken action in each area daily! So, every night I'll run through a mental recall to note my progress (or lack thereof) in each of the 4 areas.
The specific goals in each category are mostly personal so I won't write down the details. But I like the concept, a simple, single (& measurable somewhat) goal for each area. And, I really like using this scripture to help me consider ways that I can also strive to improve (increase) my wisdom/knowledge, my stature/health, and favor with God/spirituality and with man/socially. It seems like an apropos checklist in an ongoing effort to become more Christlike. So, be it therefore resolved!
