Today is December 31. End of the year, and the issue of New Year’s resolutions is coming up. Alte gives an example of how goal setting can work for you.. Now, there is a truth here. Setting goals, writing them down, helps concentrate the mind.

Last year I resolved to lose my excess weight and work out regularly. I’ve achieved that. I think that this year I’ll resolve to read a book every evening, and spend less time blogging. I’ve somehow slipped out of the book-reading habit, which is something I never thought possible. Hopefully, the blog will profit from my improved literacy through better articles, even as it suffers from my less frequent commenting.

But things happen. (As Cam Slater is showing, in today’s series of posts about what happened this here in NZ. We have had earthquakes, mining disasters, floods, an election, and we are watching the global economy crunch in slow motion. We cannot control these things. So when we plan, we have to balance this.

James 4:13-17, 5:7-11

13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” 14Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” 16As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.

7Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. 8You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. 9Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! 10As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

Goals for this year?

• There are a pile of work related ones: I have enough projects to keep my going through 2012 and there is a long-term one that I need to research before committing to.them. In addition, my clinical workplace is moving from one hospital site to another.
• From the fitness point of view, I want to run some trial runs/races. This requires quite a lot of gym time as I have chronic injuries (lots) & I need to be cautious.
• Musically, I’ve committed to sitting viola exams, and I have to practice my fretted instruments as well.
• Alte is challenging me on reading as I have been blogging too much and not reading enough.
• And… I have to get kid one through NCEA II and kid two through Year 10. And support the Canadian family as well.  I need to get to one overseas meeting next year, and visit them during that.

But all the detailed plans have to be written in pencil. Written yes,  but I have to be able to let things go… the aims I have in January may not be able to be done this year. For instance, the running goal is the same as last year, but this year I managed to injure myself (again).

It is time to break out Google calendar, and start planning. But lightly. I literally don’t know what God has in store in the next decade. The one thing I do know is that things change.