Planning for the Rest of Your Life

Well, the apocalypse never came. No shattering earthquakes rearranged geography. We weren’t hit by a civilization-ending asteroid. Nary a tsunami wrought despair and destruction on coastlines. No invasion of evil forces. No alien invasion. The Rapture didn’t happen.  No explosions of nuclear weapons devastated humanity. What that means is two things: the prophets of 2012 got it wrong, and you have to plan for the rest of your life.

While 2013 is an unwritten book, don’t just let the pages be written for you. Be active and intentional about your life in the coming year.

Here are 20 suggestions to help in making a plan as you enter 2013…

1. Decide to be a follower of Christ.

It is the most important decision we make every day before we get out of bed. Today, I am going to be a follower of Christ. Today, I choose in all my actions and thinking, in whatever I say and do to be a disciple of Christ.

2. Decide to be a joyful person. We talked about that during advent. Many people aren’t joyful about their life because they have just never decided to be a joyful person. Joy means that you have a settled assurance that all is well with your soul. Lamentations. Evaluate life’s events from the standpoint that the Lord is your portion. That means the Lord is enough.

When I start getting ‘worried’ or ‘anxious’ about life and all that it does and could bring, I will often say, ‘Today I have God and that is enough, tomorrow will be the same’. That is realizing the Lord is my Portion.

Is perfection possible?

No, but striving for perfection is. 

3. Decide that this year you will live as a forgiving person.

Make a list of people who have hurt you. Consciously forgive them. That means you aren’t going to build your life around their offense. 

May mean consciously overlooking the faults of others.

If you decide you can’t forgive.

Ask yourself if you could forgive would you want to? 
Forgiveness is keeping the pressure off of you.

4. Buy a journal.

A journal gives you access to a free, unlicensed (but effective) therapist.

You won’t believe what you can get for a number 2 pencil and a piece of writing paper..

When we’re drawn to fill a page, we’re often surprised at what is summoned. Oftentimes, we don’t truly know our thoughts until we put language to them.

Writing presents us with a slower, solitary mode for reflection.

You could start your journal with the reflections from the insert this week.

If you reflect this week on the goodness of God and you accept the proposition that His mercies are knew every morning, you could write some of them down. Consider the ways God is transforming your life into one of holiness. List one person, one circumstance, and one Bible passage that have been instrumental in transforming your life this year.

In what ways do you see God transforming your life in the coming year? In what ways would you like God to transform your life in the coming year?

5. Write a letter. Yes, write a letter. Not an email or a card.

Write a letter to someone you love, someone you respect.

We have lost the art of expression.

6. Get a library card or make a list of books you want to read this year.

It doesn’t have to be religious reading either.

Professionals who deal with people suffering from depression or other mood disorders call reading; Bibliotherapy.

The “emotional impact” of imaginative literature, they say, surpasses the rational examination elicited by most didactic self-help works.

In those solitary hours absorbed in the folds of printed pages, we envision a different life for ourselves and find inspiration that eludes us in the course of our daily lives.

7. Spend a day or two or three in nature recharging your batteries.

Mountains are good for thinking. Not with ear buds shoved in but listening. Listening to the sounds of nature. Waiting for the voice of God.

Scary thing is that it may force you to face the truth about yourself. But all of us have weaknesses and needed areas of improvement.

Lost the art and desire for self-reflection.

8. Exercise.

We aren’t exercising because we worship our body,

we are taking care of the body He has given us. It is a precious thing.

We are wonderfully made creatures. The height of His creative power.

We have surrendered our bodies, its care and upkeep to the dictates of our feelings and taste buds. Shameful the way we abuse our bodies.

9. EAT HEALTHY. (greatly benefit from cutting out all sugar)

Rather than make another resolution to lose weight. Make a conscious decision to eat what is healthy.  Intend to be a healthy person.

Our mindless indulgences of food often carry over into indulgence and laziness in our spiritual life.

10. Clean out your refrigerator and cupboards.

You could go along way in accomplishing #8 if you’d just clean out everything with ingredients you can’t pronounce.

11. Be Affluent. We have determined in our culture that being affluent means having lots of money and living at a certain standard. I think being affluent is learning to live with what you have. Reducing your wants and desires. Living within your means. If you don’t have enough money to do what you want then change what you want.

12. Formally join DBC.

It doesn’t make you more spiritual. It doesn’t make me think you are more important. It won’t make God like you more.

It goes along with the living a disciplined life thing.

13. Make time on a regular basis to read the bible.

But don’t just read, reflect. Meditate. Memorize a Psalm.

Psalm 23, Psalm 100, Psalm 1, Psalm 92.

You can keep your thoughts in that journal you bought.

14. Turn off the TV earlier.

It is generally accepted that watching TV before bed destroys your sleep. That is probably the least of the consequences you’ll have.

15. Consciously everyday reflect on the new mercies of God given for that day. “His mercies are new every morning.” What might those be?

Another use for that journal.

16. Take time to play.

We take ourselves too seriously. Life is from God and it is to be enjoyed.

Maybe you might even smile or laugh.

17. Do Something for someone who can’t give you anything in return.

18. Get involved in a home group.

19. Learn to do something new.

Write a poem or knit or a language.

20. Pray.