Yesterday marked 38 years since the Supreme Court reached a decision the case of Roe vs. Wade, which resulted in legalizing abortion, in any stage of pregnancy, in the United States. At our church, we observe Sanctity of Life Sunday, as it's been dubbed, to bring attention to this great evil of our time. There are so many things I could say on this topic. When I was just a childless woman, the very idea of abortion horrified me. Now, as a mother who has carried a living miracle in my womb and experienced the joy that miracle has brought me since his conception, "horror" is a mild way to describe my reaction to abortion. I was going to write a very long (and probably jumbled) blog post about this issue, but then I was introduced to someone who has a much stronger voice than I do in this arena - a voice that, according to the laws of our country, should have been silenced before it could ever be heard. In place of my telling you about the horrors of abortion, I will let Gianna Jessen - an abortion survivor- say it all. Please listen.
From Psalm 51:
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love.
According to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts - you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean.
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
Let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love.
The title of this post is kind of a double entendre. I’m not really one for New Years resolutions, mostly because I dream big dreams and lack conviction, which, if you don’t know, isn’t the greatest combination for following through on things. But the blogosphere is all a-buzz with people posting their resolutions, and since I have been thinking about things I’d like to change, I decided to chime in. So, instead of resolving to do all sorts of ambitious things, like lose 40 pounds or become a coupon maven, I am just setting a few modest goals for 2011 (inspiration for this came from my dear husband and the blog of Patrick Rhone). Nothing huge or particularly life-altering, just little things I feel confident I can improve upon. I am making some resolutions, but I am doing so in moderation so I don’t fall too short.
The second meaning behind this post’s title has to do with one of my modest resolutions, which is to start doing everything I do in moderation. I have a somewhat addictive personality, and I have trouble maintaining reasonable boundaries in a lot of areas of my life. Twitter, for instance, is my new obsession, for lack of a better word. I’ve recently started using it more, and I’ve immediately become somewhat addicted. I find myself constantly checking my iPhone for updates or to send another tweet. Often when a thought crosses my mind, I immediately think, “I should tweet that!” I’ve even found myself glued to my iPhone while Michael and Fox play right in front of me (if you don’t recognize that as bad, then maybe you could use some moderation in your life, too!). So, perfect example of why I need moderation. I find I am the same way with Facebook, TV series, books, house projects, blog posts (ahem), you name it. And I don’t like that about myself. So my first resolution for 2011 is that I am going to try to practice moderation in all areas of my life. If I feel myself going overboard with something, I’m going to stop. My first attempt at this was to delete the Twitter and Facebook apps from my phone so that I wouldn’t carry that temptation around in my pocket all day. And guess what - it worked! I still use both social media outlets, but I have already seen a notable difference in how much I think about them and how much time I devote to them. My first win of the year!
On that note, here are a few more of my modest goals for this year.
- Eat well and feed my family well. To make this attainable I’m going to avoid focusing on the big picture and instead focus on individual changes I can make. If we eat whole wheat toast with breakfast instead of white, that’s one small win. I don’t need to focus on everything at once - just what can be accomplished or decided in the moment. I think this will work, because I can feel good about smart choices and not beat myself up over every little not-so-smart choice.
- Read my Bible a little bit every day. Maybe just a Psalm. I’m not going to try to glean something brilliant from each passage I read. I’m just going to read it and let it soak in.
- Pray for my husband and son every day. This really shouldn’t be hard, it just needs to become a habit.
- Spend more time playing with Fox and less time cleaning up the mess he’s made. Learn to embrace a little messiness!
- Continue purging all the things we don’t need in our house. I’d love to continue becoming minimalists. Make sure everything has a purpose and place.
- Reduce our grocery bill. Do this by being more deliberate about meal planning.
- Don’t beat myself up about every failure. Look at this year like the stock market. Don’t focus on individual gains and losses, but instead look at whether the overall picture shows improvement. If so, then it’s been a successful year.
There they are. I’ll revisit this post in 2012 to see how I’ve done.
Happy New Year!