Regretting or Rejoicing on 1/1/11?

Wahoo! It is the 1st of October! A new month, a new quarter and it is on a Friday! It could only be better if it was a Sunday then it would be a new week as well. I LOVE new beginnings. Pulling out the next set of pages for my planner – they are all blank without anything on them but possibility. It is also a great responsibility – this precious commodity of time. In a flash, it will be gone and I can never reclaim it but if I am mindful and aware, stewardship will come naturally and I will hear a “well done.” We all know that the last quarter of the year flies by because of the “push” the retail world does toward Christmas (I saw them putting up Christmas lights yesterday at Highland Village and it is not even Halloween!) as well as the busyness of our schedules. So, if we are not intentional with our time, the quarter will be gone and we will be eating black-eyed peas and turnip greens on January 1st regretting what we did not get done. I challenge you today to make a plan so that does not happen.  Why not rejoice on that day by setting a few simple goals that will help you be a good steward of this commodity called time?

To give you some ideas, here is what can be done in 90 days in some key areas of our lives.

Lose 10 pounds. Ramp up the exercise, reduce your portions of food (some of us can do by half - others may only need 10-20% reduction) and do not indulge daily from the Halloween candy to the Thanksgiving turkey to the Christmas treats.

Save $250. Are you a Starbuck’s drinker? $4 a day times 5 days a week times 13 weeks. You can even make it spiritually and say you are fasting from Starbuck’s!

Save $650. Are you a family of four that eats out regularly? $50 a meal times 12 weeks…you get the picture

Memorize Psalm 32. It is only 11 verses long!

Read 3 books on significant areas of your life (i.e. marriage, faith, family, leadership, teaching, etc.) On average people read 200 words per minute and a book is on average 60,000 words. If you read only 15 minutes a day, you can read a book in 20 days. Why not skip one TV show a night (they will be doing re-runs in January) and read instead? If you are married, why not read it out loud and discuss it? You may not get as many books read but having deep conversations with your spouse is way more important.

Send 26 handwritten note cards to encourage or bless those who are in your life. Don’t be too closed minded about this….include your friends and family but why not write a note to your pastor or to your Sunday school teacher or the custodian who empties the trash in your office? Also, don’t forget to think about those whom you may never hear back from – governmental leadership that you pray for and support; a solider serving in the military or a famous pastor or Bible teacher who has really impacted your life.

Read the Bible in 90 Days or at least the New Testament.

Take your child out on 13 dates or for that matter how about your spouse. (To not throw #2 or #3 from above off, here are 21 cheap dates that you can modify to do with your child or your spouse.)

Train for a 5K (even if you are a couch potato).

These are just a few of the hundreds of things you can accomplish in just 90 days. What about you? How are you going to avoid regrets on 1/1/11? What are you going to do in the next 90 days? Would love to hear from you!