3/12/2012

Still Working on It


Two weeks ago I started to write about my self improvement projects.  I meant to finish talking about it last Monday, but, if you've been keeping up with the blog you know I got involved with the blog comment project and just couldn't keep up with my writing as well as reading over 130 blogs.

The remaining three self-improvement tasks I've set myself involve reading, my spiritual life and my future.  

Reading?  What, she needs to learn how to read?  Actually, it's the quality of reading material I want to improve.  My favorite genre is historical mysteries.  I love history, I love mysteries.  And while I think that’s fine, I know I should read more books of real worth.  I want to, but historical mysteries are like junk food to me.  I can't get enough.  Who want to eat broccoli when you can have cookies?  

This is part of the self-discipline I'm trying establish in my life.  I am lazy at heart and just want to please myself.  Can I get a witness?  

One of my reading goals is to read Winston Churchill's The History of the English Speaking Peoples (four volumes) this year.  Can you guess how far I've gotten?  Confession time,  page 42, volume 1.  Pretty shabby.

I also have started reading The Sovereignty of God by A.W. Pink, twice, (I love his book The Attributes of God, life-changing for me) but haven’t gotten far.

Then, I picked up David McCullough's newest book The Great Journey: Americans in Paris, 1830-1900 from the library.  This book has a two-week loan period.  Am I optimistic or what?  Do I really think I'll read this in two weeks?  Well, I might if I put aside my fluff reading and dig into something a little more challenging.

This segues into spiritual life.  Again, I need to dig in and make more time for prayer and reading and studying my Bible.  I need to stop making excuses about busyness and make the choice to put aside some of my leisure activities in favor of the better thing – God. 

I started reading my Bible-in-a-year-chronological-bible in November because I felt it was time I systematically read through the Bible again.  I don’t plan to finish in a year because my goal isn’t to see how fast I can read through the Bible but to think and study while I read.  My desire was to read it in 18 to 24 months, but I’m only on February 16 of the schedule and have been at it for four months.  Again, I’m not using my time and energy the best way I could.

If reading the Bible isn’t at the top or near the top of my priority list, what is?  Apart from taking care of my family, homeschooling, my part-time business, blogging and homemaking, the answer is doing things that are more fun such as watching TV, messing around on the computer, reading and knitting.

So, something has to change, but it won’t until I stop trying to satisfy my lazy nature and start desiring to please God instead.  All of this self-improvement takes a lot of discipline and requires making a lot of choices.

This post is getting long, so my last self-improvement area, the future, will have to wait for another day.

Exercise update : Exercise has been happening five days a week.  Day 20 of the 30-Day Shred is done and, while I'm not going to lose the 20 pounds in 30 days which is supposed to be possible, I am losing inches slowly, very slowly.  To change things up a little last week, I went to a zumba party at the gym.  Crazy, intense, cardio fun.


1 comment:

  1. I'd say that exercising 5 days a week is pretty good. Great job! Now I need to do that.

    ReplyDelete