I enjoy marking the New Year. In particular, I enjoy thinking about how to improve my life. Since I no longer have to fill out 4-H paperwork, I like setting goals (ok, so even when I was in 4-H I enjoyed having goals for running, school, and other things, just not 4-H).

This year, I missed out on that a bit. We got back to the cities on New Year’s Eve, and I hadn’t done any serious contemplation on New Year’s before that. That would probably have been ok, but I’ve been exhausted this week. I knew some of my general goals, but I hadn’t worked out much of the specifics. Now that I’ve had time to think about it, it seems a bit late to post my New Year’s goals...

So I decided to redefine New Year’s Day. My personal New Year’s Day is tomorrow. A week late, I know, but better late than never. I think it is fine to start goals whenever, but my traditional year-long goals are usually fit for a year, and the beginning of the year seems like a good time to make such goals. Without further ado, here are 5 of my year-long goals for the rest of 2010:

#5 Lose Weight

I have about 30 pounds to lose for my weight to be in the Normal range for my BMI. I know BMI is hardly a perfect system, but I felt better when I was 30-40 pounds lighter than I am now. I’ve gained that weight in the last four years, but this year I want to get rid of it.

#4 Blog More Regularly

Now that I have my blog up and running, I want to be more consistent in it. I enjoy blogging. I notice that when I’m writing something, I’m better able to communicate in general (although Michael has become very good at interpreting my gestures when I can’t think of names for things like the salt shaker...). One of the ways my blog suffered in the past was a lack of consistency in how often I posted. This year, rather than blogging in spurts and dry seasons, I aim to blog about 3-6 times a week.

#3 Learn/Improve my Greek

I’ve wanted to learn Greek for over a decade. This year however, I have a tool to help me that I haven’t had before. At a used book store, I picked up a copy of William Mounce’s Basics of Biblical Greek (affiliate link) and the workbook (also affiliate). Michael has agreed to try to work through those over the course of 2010 with me, and we’ve scheduled a weekly time to work on it together.

#2 Finish Memorizing the Gospel of John

Pastor John has been preaching through the Gospel of John, and I spent most of last year reading John rather than reading through the whole Bible. I’ve gone back to reading through the Bible (this year, I’m using Denny Burk’s plan which I started at the more traditional beginning of the year), but I want to finish memorizing John. I had originally planned for my timeline to be as pastor John preached through it, but I’ve discovered that I need a more concrete plan than that.

#1 Increase in Prayer

This is the least concrete of my goals, but I want to make 2010 (and every following year) a year marked by richer, deeper, prayer. I want to increase my dependence on God as displayed in prayer, the depth of my prayers, the time I spend in prayer, and my enjoyment of prayer. I think this is the most important of my goals, and it is also the hardest.

If the Lord wills, I will accomplish them, but I have no idea what the year holds. I want to finish them, but I would rather Jesus return in 2010 than to finish memorizing the gospel of John. These goals are not a vow of what I will do or even the standard of what would make this year a success, but I think having these goals sets a far better direction for 2010 than having no goals at all.

I look forward to the new year, even if it is starting a week late for me.