Here are some New Year’s Resolutions I’m making:
Be more organised in prayer
A few months ago I drew up a list of people, situations and the like to pray for, and it was really helpful for giving structure to my prayer life and focusing my prayers on other people and the wider world, rather than just me and my problems and those people I’m immediately in contact with. Unfortunately I lost it, so I need to do another.
Spend more time doing stuff outside the “Christian bubble”
It’s good to get a wider perspective on things than just the peculiar little subculture of Christian students, and if I’m to have a positive impact on the world through living out and explaining to people the message of love and hope that I try to live by as a Christian, I need to be involved with people.
Visit a different church from the one I regularly attend, Mackintosh, for one service a month at least
I was talking about this with some people at New Year (one of whom was Lewis, who says he reads my blog. Hi Lewis!) and I think that it’s a really good idea to visit other churches. Christians can fall into a tribalistic attitude where anything slightly different from how their church does things is viewed with deep suspicion and is considered, if not out-and-out heretical, then at least decidedly Unsound. Maintaining a living fellowship with the wider body of Christ helps combat that, and work towards being “one” in Christ and the Gospel as Jesus prayed.
Write 1000 words a week towards my book
Having the discipline of writing a piece each week for my Creative Writing course was really helpful last term, but I’d like to aim to write regularly on my own personal project of the first book in my planned series. 1000 words is a significant, though not huge amount, and I want to try and discipline myself to fit it in.
Manage my time better
In particular, cutting down on time wasted. Some specifics include only doing Su Dokus at the weekend, cutting down on the time I spend on Internet discussion forums (especially Outpost Gallifrey’s Doctor Who forum). I may even try and spend less time on my blog!
There are a couple of others which I’m not going to mention here. Another aim I have is to check back at quarterly intervals to see how I’m getting on. Hopefully with the help of the Lord and a bit of effort, I can make this year better than the last.