Be It Resolved That...

As promised, here are my 2009 hopes and dreams, folks!

Resolution #1 - I've been really inspired by our teaching pastor's latest sermon series on recognizing and unplugging from the lies our culture tells us, particularly relating to consumerism. (It's an awesome series called "Don't Drink the Kool-Aid" - you can listen to it here if you're interested.) As a society, we have become almost completely disconnected from the reality of how goods are produced and the true costs of that production. We also have more of those goods than we really need, and are constantly bombarded with the message that we won't be happy until we have even more. So this year, I will be making sure that every gift we give is a useful object that I either made myself or bought from someone who made it themselves, a donation made in the person's name, or the gift of an experience rather than a thing.

Resolution #2 - In my ongoing quest to decrease the demands that my household makes on the environment, for 2009 I will be actively looking for ways to reduce the amount of water that we use. Any tips and/or suggestions are welcome, and I'll try to keep you updated on the progress we make (if any).

Resolution #3 - I want to incorporate more prayer in my day-to-day life. And by "prayer" I mean having conversations with God about my life and His will and our relationship. Does that make sense? Right now, we don't really have those conversations. I kind of just assume He knows what's going on and will let me know if anything needs changing. I do let Him know if something comes up that I think needs His special attention, and I try to live my life in a way that He'll be pleased about, but we never really talk, just the two of us. I really want to try and change that, but I'm not quite sure what it will look like yet. Again, any tips and/or suggestions are welcome :)

And that's it! Hopefully 2009 will turn out as well as 2008 did :)