“My son (or daughter), do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.”
Proverbs 3:1-3
In my early twenties, I was a little too obsessed with my weight – always counting calories and fat grams. Now in my early forties, I am just looking for a healthy balance in my diet and exercise. My priorities have shifted over the years, except for one. Following my own mother’s example, I regularly read the Bible, pray and journal.
The New Year allows time to reset and think about priorities, establishing goals and those wonderful resolutions that many will put aside within the first week. I have stopped making resolutions, but have tried to maintain healthy physical, emotional and spiritual goals. As a family, we try to make manageable guiding principles – looking ahead at how we want 2018 to play out in our home. This year, we made an acronym using the letters in our last name, making it easier for all of us to remember.
Establishing healthy habits is not always easy. Many ideas and activities via for my time and attention. I am trying to challenge myself by a key motivator – LOVE. Love for God, love for others and love for self. As I start 2018, I have begun to list a few key guiding principles:
- Be still and know that God is in control of my days.
- Beware of practicing my own righteousness on other people.
- Guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
- Focus on getting my daily bread from God.
- Don’t allow anxiousness to creep in and steal my joy.
- Remember a healthy tree bears good fruit – it cannot bear bad fruit.
- Mature with an appetite for more love and grace.
- Have faith that Jesus can heal me and others.
- Understand that true healing comes through forgiveness.
- Place my hope in the one who knows me best.
Words are powerful in providing direction and guidance. God’s words should be the most powerful voice to guide my heart and home. “My son (or daughter), do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” Proverbs 3:1-3 Without His guidance and truth, I start to stray and lose my way. May His Words daily be written on the tablet of my heart.
Healthy Habits
Physical. Emotional. Spiritual.
How do my 2018 goals align with God’s guidance and truth? What are some guiding principles I want to establish?
Please share your own guiding principles in the comments below.