NEW YEAR - NO EXCUSES

Last year at this time I spent the month of January trying to lead into a new me.

• I blogged for 5 days a week for 6 months straight. 
• I started a new reading plan
• I started a new exercise plan
• I started a new financial plan 
• I started a new neat freak stage and declared war on flat surfaces- trying to stack nothing on the floor or tables and such.
• I started a lot of stuff really... 

Truth be told, a lot of it went pretty well until the end of June.  Then it went pretty much down hill.  I was out of town/country for 6 weeks straight and life went nuts and my plan pretty much went out the window.  

• I stopped blogging for those 6 weeks and then only picked it up sporadically after that
• I stopped the reading plans I was on
• I exercised kinda
• Let's not talk about finances.  It will only make me say stuff I should not say on a blog.
• And the flat spaces... well, all the coming and going made them uh... bumpy spaces I guess. 
• (Reading my summary of this from last year at this time was actually pretty humbling.  I know I can start and finish stuff in my job, but when it comes to me, I'm evidently accustomed to fits and starts that don't stick. yuck.)

So, in the process of evaluating life these past few weeks, I've discovered that my January through June is pretty manageable and good for goals and such.  Yes I still have a marriage, 5 kids, a full time job, and go to school.  But when school is out and the fall hits, I'm slammed.  Summer plans for ministry and family go sky high, soccer coaching begins, the fall launch of ministry and small groups hits full throttle, the kids go back in school, and the development of pseudo new rhythms then gets clogged up by the holidays.  All of it combines to send my June through December into a bit of a tailspin.  

Now it's January and I'm starting over again.  But this time I'm tying to head into my year with this awareness and a change pace that I can maintain for 12 months instead of just 6.  I'm trying to do some planning that takes into account seasons where I can expect to reap and seasons where I can only plant.  

Toward that pace, I'm letting this be a month of intentional evaluation.  I'll take some steps to solutions, and some will actually be more like clearing a path to a longterm and future solution.

So I'm asking again:

• How am I taking care of my body and soul wisely?  What is healthy and unhealthy in my sleep, eat, read, exercise, rest, and work rhythms?  
• How is my marriage?  How can I see it grow and deepen and mature and flourish in 2012?  What do I need to do to bring my A game to that? 
• How is my family and parenting? What are the specific needs of each of my kids and how can I help address them and adjust my schedule and life to care for them? 
• What in my ministry is broken and what is working?  I'm trying to ask it again like it's my first day on the job and asking God to give me fresh eyes.   I don't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but it's definitely time for some fresh suds at least. 
• ... etc

Anyway, I'm trying to live my life to it's fullest and taking some time to evaluate how to do that well in the time I have ahead.  This year I turn 40.   I'm trying to charge it and make this new season of life one where I learn from my own successes and failures and make wise decisions.  

Thus NO EXCUSES!  It's time to kick some stuff in the teeth and at this juncture, I'm finding that January is a good season in the rhythm of my life to make some headway on that.