One of the cool things about the turning of the calendar year (in my mind the Church new year in September is more vital to Byzantine Christians) is making goals or resolutions. So in this spirit I have decided to set some spiritual goals for myself for this upcoming year.
1- Read Sacred Scripture from start to finish in a year. This is going to be a great challenge but a rewarding one. Thanks to the Orthodox Study bible and also the publisher Thomas Nelson who provide a daily reading schedule. If my wife and I follow it, as we plan to do, we will read the entire Sacred Scriptures in a year. There are four readings a day, one from the Old Testament, one from Psalms, one from Proverbs, and one from the New Testament.
2- Fast better. Every one wants to lose weight after the holidays (and I am not saying that I don’t because I do) but how many Eastern Christians want to fast better? I for one struggle to fast. Even when I eat foods that are approved for the fast period I still eat to much of it. So my goal is to observe the fasts better and to limit the intake of fast friendly foods.
3- Pray in the morning. This is the hardest thing for me to do. Countless times I have made the resolution to offer prayer in the morning. But in the battle between the snooze button and morning prayer it is the snooze button running away with the contest.
These are just a few goals for 2012. Of course the goal is Theosis but this is a life-long process that requires working on the little things of daily picking up of ones cross.
sounds like great goals! I too want to ‘fast better.’ It’s not so easy with kkids and a busty schedule- but the spiritual gains are worth it!