Friday, Januay 2, 2009

A new year has begun. At this time, it's human nature to look at the clean slate of a year ahead of us and try to figure out how to make our lives better. We make resolutions - and usually break them. This year I am not going to make New Year's resolutions. I am going to make New Day resolutions. Each day I am going to resolve to do certain things. For me, it really is all about baby steps. I am too overwhelmed when I look at the big picture. I know it's there, but my focus has to be on the small steps - the pieces of the puzzle that I am going to put into the big picture.

In Overeaters Anonymous, the focus is always "One Day at a Time." That is my resolution - not for the New Year, but for my life. In God, through Jesus Christ, we are new creations each and every day.

I am off to do my workout - Just for Today.
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Daily stats:
Type: Treadmill
Route: Manual controls
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate: 120
Max heart rate: 133
Down 0 from last Friday

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Word of the day
Memorial of Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church
Gospel
Jn 1:19-28

This is the testimony of John.
When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him
to ask him, “Who are you?”
He admitted and did not deny it, but admitted,
“I am not the Christ.”
So they asked him,
“What are you then? Are you Elijah?”
And he said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
So they said to him,
“Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us?
What do you have to say for yourself?”
He said:
“I am the voice of one crying out in the desert,
‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’
as Isaiah the prophet said.”
Some Pharisees were also sent.
They asked him,
“Why then do you baptize
if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?”
John answered them,
“I baptize with water;
but there is one among you whom you do not recognize,
the one who is coming after me,
whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”
This happened in Bethany across the Jordan,
where John was baptizing.

Thoughts from the cornfield:
John did not suffer from an identity crisis. He spent his life doing what God intended for him - making straight the path for the Messiah. If others were confused about his role, John wasn't. He focused on his own mission and not on his own glory or reputation. He didn't seek honors or to be someone he wasn't He spent his life being John and doing it to the utmost. How often do we let others define who we are? How often do we decide that we know better than God what we should be doing? What if we all had the humility of John the Baptist? What if we all spent our lives being the best "me" we could be? What would the world be like? Sounds like heaven to me.

God bless our troops!