Intentions for 2008

My Intentions

1. I intend to live in conscious awareness of God's loving presence.
2. I intend to live so as to make plausible and tangible the love of God.
3. I intend to trust God's sovereign love, to abandon myself to God’s providence,
4. I intend to be aware of and to follow the Spirit's leading.
5. I intend to be a good steward of my body, to eat right and less (fewer carbs, less fat, less salt),
and to bike or walk at least five days a week.
6. I intend to read and watch what is beneficial and enjoyable, to watch less TV, and to spend
less time on the computer.
7. I intend to read two books a month.
8. I intend to write more and make available to others what will be helpful, to write what is
positive, beneficial, to be a bearer of light.
9. I intend to simplify my life, to get rid of stuff: possessions, clothes, metings, beliefs that don't
work, all "baggage," etc.
10. I intend to teach well but not to obsess about it to listen more and more carefully, to talk less
and to ask more questions, to teach for depth and to test for breadth.
11. I intend to keep daily times of prayer, silence and meditation.
12. I intend to develop and nurture relationships, taking time to listen, staying in contact with
family members and friends.
13. I intend to “enjoy the life I have been given,” to be thankful, to eliminate criticizing and
complaining, to accept what is, and to be peaceful through vicissitudes.
14. I intend to be open to new ideas and experiences.
15. I intend to have fewer opinions, to listen more & talk less.
16. I intend to be less influenced by trivial, external 'noise'/stimuli and so to be less reactive.
17. I intend to have fewer intentions.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Life in Baseball

MY LIFE IN BASEBALL My earliest memories of baseball haunt the side yard of the "farm" I grew up on in Troy, Michigan. Most of our 12-acre property was a corn field or lay fallow, but about two acres was laid out like the diagram below. On this field we played softball . . . carefully. Breaking windows in the house in shallow center field could result in the neighborhood season being canceled, at least until the window was fixed and paid for out of our meager allowance. So, we all, including we right-handed hitters, learned to hit to right field (a skill that came in handy later in church league softball!). You could also pull the ball to left field, but not too deep, so you wouldn't get a muck ball from the leaky sewage drain field. (How did we not get hepatitis, dysentery, hoof and mouth disease, or some other noxious crud? But we didn't.) The barn made a decent backstop, though you had to stay out of Mom's rhubarb that grew along the barn near home plate. ...
Read more

Eleven Beliefs That Cause Problems

From Albert Ellis , edited by Kathie Keeler and Tom Johnson Our behavior is determined by what we believe, whether we are aware of it or not. Anxiety, depression, sadness are all caused by what we believe. Below are listed eleven common beliefs that cause problems. The list is adapted from the work of Albert Ellis , one of the originators of cognitive-behavioral therapy. His pioneering research brought a significant paradigm shift to the world of psychology. 1. I must be loved by everyone. Actually, everyone doesn’t have to love me, or even like me. I don’t necessarily like everyone I know, so why should everyone else have to like me? I enjoy being liked and loved, but if someone doesn’t like me, that’s OK. I will still feel loved and am OK. I can’t make someone like me anymore than someone can get me to like them. I don’t need everyone’s approval all the time or anyone’s approval all the time. They don’t approve of me: that’s OK. I don’t approve of everyone else either. 2. I mu...
Read more

Instead of T.U.L.I.P.

In a recent Koinonia blog ( http://www.koinoniablog.net/2014/05/tulip-is-so-20th-century-proof-is-a-modern-framework-of-dort-and-gods-irresistible-grace.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2FpQHu+%28Koinonia%29 ), Pastor Jeremy Bouwma, cited, but did not recommend, a revision of the traditional Calvinist T.U.L.I.P called P.R.O.O.F. If this stuff interests you, check out the link above. Let me offer my alternative to both of these, a version that emphasizes God's grace: Instead of Total Depravity      1. Sin - it affects all aspects of our humanity. We cannot turn to God without God’s saving GRACE. Instead of Unconditional Election      2. Salvation - it is entirely by God’s GRACE that we are saved and come to know God. We do not merit or earn salvation. Instead of Limited Atonement      3. Sacrifice - God in GRACE and mercy accepts the the death of Christ as a perfect and suff...
Read more