2012: Spiritual Goals

You can hop all over the blogosphere and see everyone talking about making goals, so I'm not going to reiterate any of that here. I thought the best way for me to actually complete some of my goals was to make them and then post them here. Maybe what I will share will be helpful to you or give you some new resources you haven't heard of or thought about.

Personal goals

Would you go days without speaking to your husband? or friend? This is an important area and too often, as moms, people excuse us from our responsibility to have a growing relationship with Christ. How does God teach us more about Himself, speak to us, and grow us - through the reading of His word. Please make this an important part of your day. Don't stay a baby Christian.

I've been reading Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman by Anne Ortlund for several months. What an awesome little gem. Let me share a few of her quotes in this post.

"Everybody knows stories of someone who says, "If I have a normal day, I can get by with one hour of planning and quiet with God. But if I have a very busy day, I need at least two or more."

Okay - let me just say... I need two, every day. All of my days are busy so I have to get up really early. In the last month, since my surgery, I have had a hard time getting up and it has shown. This morning I did it. Praise the Lord - and my time with Him was so sweet! So, yes, I need 2 hours everyday and that means I have to get up by 5am.

Goal #1 - Meet with the Lord daily, waking up by 5am.

Mrs. Ortlund goes on to say:

"Most important, every Christian needs to become a specialist in God! Many of your magazines, books, and papers need to feed your spirit. These lives of ours are to get us ready for eternity, you know! So we must "be diligent [or study, as the King James Version says] to present [ourselves] approved to God as [workmen] who [do] not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15). We need to be knowledgeable women - knowledgeable in doctrine and in Christian world affairs. This world globe has a timetable with it; we need to be alert, discerning the times and living with care.
Submerge as much of your day as you can, to make it your invisible keel, by eliminating less important things. You need time to look into the face of God, time to read and study his Word systematically, time to think and plan for your life, time to praise, time to intercede, time to get wisdom for handling people and for making decisions."

Goal #2 - Daily Bible reading - using the M'Cheyne plan along with D.A. Carson's devotionals. Here is a link to our pastor's blog post about daily Bible reading.
Goal #3 - Morning and evening habit of reading Daily Light on the Daily Path. I have this in the NKJV in a book version, but with this link you can read it free in the ESV.
Goal #4 - Continue Colossians/Philemon study with our ladies at church.
Goal #5 - Lord, Teach Me How to Pray - Kay Arthur. I will start this in mid-February. Prior to that my extra study time will be used to prepare to teach on Colossians 3:1-17 to the ladies at church.

And one more quote from Mrs. Ortlund (this really is an excellent little gem - chocked full):

"What are you papers, your magazines, your books? They tell volumes about whether you're a dawdler, like a sheep nibbling on any tuft of grass that comes along, or whether you're going after's important to you. They represent a quiet part of your life - part of your ship's keel. They should be a reflection of the depths of you."

I would add that they should be a reflection of the woman you want to become. In that vein, I give you my final personal goal.

Goal #6 - Continue non-fiction reading plan. You can see more about that here.

As a family


I think that it is very important to make personal spiritual goals as well as goals as a family. We are keeping our family goals very simple this year and they will add on to what we are already doing (church 3x per week, Sunday school, etc.)

Goal #7 - Usher children to the lunch table with Bibles and ready to listen to Daddy have family Bible study. We will also sing one hymn before prayer and lunch. This particular goal falls more under personal, because I have accepted responsibility for getting the children there, while Pete has accepted responsibility for teaching the hymn and Bible.

Goal #8 - We will have discussions about the sermon with our children following every church service.

Goal #9 - Memorize Westminster Shorter Chatechism. This is a program that our church is starting and we won't complete it in one year. Each quarter there is a section of the catechism (question, answer, and Scripture verses) that we will memorize together as a family, and thusly as a church (whoever wants to participate).

So much for my resolution of shorter posts.... Hope some of this is helpful.

And you? What kind of spiritual goals do you have for yourself this year? Or your family together? Please post in the comments!