Everyone, it seems, has been putting up their “best and worst of 2005” lists this week … best books … best movies … worst disasters … worst gaffes … etc. I thought I would post the most helpful changes I made in my life last year.
First, last year I read a book by Hank Hanegraaff, The Prayer of Jesus, and, using what I had learned, started praying after the pattern of the Lord’s Prayer in my quiet time. Although I have been having quiet times for 27 years, since I was first born again, praying the Lord’s Prayer revolutionized my relationship with Jesus. I became more acutely aware of His presence with me throughout the day, in a greater and deeper way than I had previously known.
Second, I went on an almost two-week detox diet, which greatly improved my health. It enabled me to learn that I was gluten intolerant. I have since learned how destructive gluten can be to a person’s long term health, if they are intolerant and don’t know it, so I am grateful to have found out before any permanent damage was done (hopefully). Other detox benefits include increased energy and stamina, better rest at night, better nutritional absorption, and weight loss: I lost 45 pounds in 2005. Yay!!
Third, I started buying organic groceries. We have for years only practiced organic gardening, but whatever we bought from the store was conventionally grown or raised. Buying only organic eliminates many toxins from our food, thus our bodies, so we hope to reap more health benefits by not over-taxing our livers. Plus, organic food tastes better. Everyone who comes to our house comments on how much better our milk and produce tastes than the milk and produce they have at home. 🙂
Fourth, I worked on exercising more discipline in many different areas of my life, with mixed results. I have always been a disciplined person, but when my children were little I learned to “go with the flow” in so many areas of my life, since maintaining all the disciplines I had pre-kids was
simply impossible post-kids. But the last of the children living at home moved out in 2005, and there was no reason for me to not return to my former disciplines. How hard that was surprised me, after all those years of being so flexible.
I have mixed feelings about New Year’s Resolutions. Seeing that list in front of me, with everything that needs to change in my life, inspires a sense of dread rather than optimism most of the time. I used to be a perfectionist, so falling into the perfect accomplishment of works trap is easy for me, and I have to watch myself. It is better for me, rather than arm myself with a list at the beginning of the year, to really listen for the Lord’s voice on a daily basis, and set as my goal for the day that which He has charged me with for that day. Changes still come, but they are more measured, more wrought by the Holy Spirit working in me and through me, thus more permanent, and less hard on my family, LOL.
DandelionSeeds says
Blessings to you and yours in the coming year!
In Him,
Amy