New Year Resolutions

Warning: If you are after intellectual material to stimulate extremely intelligent conversation, not today please. Thank you :)  Just thought I should get that off my chest, now let's continue.

As we approach the new year, new year resolutions are frequently discussed in social circles and I don't usually make them but I have decided to make an exception this year. I have heard quite a few already from friends and family. Here they are: lose weight (Nah!), get a better education (No thanks, I'll take the money), drink less alcohol (err mmm), quit smoking (haven't got that far),  recycle more (i think i already do too much of it).

I have put together my very own list:

Jump out of bed when the alarm rings

To jump out of bed when the alarm rings and not crawl out thirty minutes later, I can already see all the things I can achieve in the mornings: eat breakfast at home, apply my make up properly, time to plan the day before leaving home etc. Perhaps going to bed before 1am would be very helpful. 

Make more friends

By that I mean in real life not all those people I wish happy birthday once a year on Facebook! I haven't made new friends in ages and haven't really kept the old ones alive. Spending my weekends doing other things apart from sleeping will be a step in the right direction. Get out of the house, meet people, travel and do things people my age do (I wonder what that is)

Learn to dance properly

That bum wiggling, two dance move at the Christmas party must stop.

Get a better job

I have had enough of looking at those lovely dresses, shoes and bags on display with my face pressed to the shop windows. I will have to pay for all that shopping and travel I intend to do. Bye bye to the sale only shopping (err, maybe not!)

Get Married

If my mother has her way, then this is the year. Any takers? OK, maybe not straight away, but still, any takers?? ha! It would stop me from trying to catch the bouquet (without any luck) at weddings.

N.B: Broke guys need NOT apply.

Feel free to make suggestions of what you think I should add to my list or share your new year resolutions with me. Have a happy new year!

Midnight Thoughts

I was reading my Bible (No, don't stop reading now) when I came across a passage that I have read on many occasions but saw it in a completely different light today. It is in the book of Jeremiah 29:10-14. God through the prophet Jeremiah promised to deliver all the people Nebuchadnezzar carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon....well actually, He said He would keep His good  promise to them and visit them. He talked about HIS plan for them, to give them a hope and a final outcome. All these words must be sweet to hear for people exiled in another land and those held captive or perhaps they met the prophecy with absolute scepticism in the light of the difficulty they were facing . Only that there was a twist.... It will happen when seventy years have been completed. This is where I begin to wonder ....why? He is not lacking in ability or resources and could have done it immediately: cast blindness on the captors, change their language like he did in Babel, turn them on one another and release the Jews to go back to Jerusalem? But no! That is not his plan - It will happen in 70 years, oh dear! As if that is not enough, they are to call upon him and seek his face and require him as a vital necessity! Excuse me, in captivity? OK, lets get this straight, He allowed them to be taken into captivity because of their sins. He could have left them there to die, seized the opportunity to wipe them away from the face of the earth, use them as an example of the outcome of disobedience and raise a new people to serve Him but He didn't. 

But there's some comfort... He will be found if they search with all their heart  (AMP, vs 13). He promised to gather them from all the nations they have been scattered and driven to all over to the place for which He caused them to be taken captive from. That tells me something about the person of God, inspite of our disobedience and His chastisement, He still cares about what happens to us in the end. It's like telling your child that the consequences of his disobedience will not be waived but it does not stop your love for him.

So even when I am in the place of my "captivity", bound by my negative thoughts, unbelief and subtle lack of faith in God's abilities and sometimes, outright disobedience leaving me emotionally sapped and tired, He is still sending me messages... I am not alone, He has plans for me and even I cannot have better plans for myself... Seek me,  inquire for me, want me and you will find me.  Lord, I will obey and I thank you!