About two years, I realized that my favorite nightgown was too big. I started looking for a new one, but didn’t see anything similar. (By the way, why do clothes designers seem to only make clothes for very thin young women or very large older women? But that’s another post.)

I considered making my nightgown smaller. Didn’t look that hard – just take in the seams at the sides. I even pinned it to see if it would work. Looked possible.

But sewing it meant getting my sewing machine out, and it was kind of buried behind a bunch of other stuff. Another day.

Time passed. I’d think of it every so often. Even got the nightgown out and wore it a few times, but it was just too loose. Finally found another nightgown in a similar material; not as good, but passable.

I also had a pair of black pants I’d bought three months ago. They were a little long, and needed to have the bottom inch or so cut off and a hem done. Even though I only had two pair of winter everyday pants, they sat waiting while I wore the same pair of jeans every day.

Finally, during Christmas holidays, I moved some things around so that I could access my sewing machine more easily.

And today, I decided to see if I couldn’t get some of the sewing done.

The black pants took me all of fifteen minutes. I already had pins where I needed to cut. Snip, snip. Turn over a small seam, pin, sew, try on, turn over one more time and pin again, sew, done. Three months wait for fifteen minutes of work.

The nightgown, which had been waiting two years, took twenty minutes. It looks and feels great.

And all I can do is shake my head and wonder why I am so ready to put things off. I’m sure I spent more time and expended more energy thinking about those pants and that nightgown, and wishing I had them to wear, than it took to fix them!

Excuse me. I have to go and look for some other things I’ve been putting off. What do you bet it will take far less time and energy for me to get them done than it will to keep putting them off?

goals · little things · procrastinating · setting goals

I’m in the checkout line buying groceries. As usual, I glance at the magazine headlines for a casual check of what’s going on. But all I see are headlines screaming at me:

• Get Thin in Three Weeks!
• Firm up-fast with Hollywood’s Top Personal Trainer!
• Organize Everything Better!

Now I have nothing against improving myself. I actually want to lose a few pounds. Okay, more than a few. And I want to eat healthier, and exercise more, and get a little more organization in my life. But these headlines make me feel depressed, not motivated. No wonder they talk about the January blahs. It isn’t the weather: it’s the pressure to be something we aren’t.

I don’t need to begin the year by being accused of being overweight, out-of-shape, disorganized, and whatever else some magazine editor thinks is wrong with me. (I’m so depressed I think I’ll buy one of those chocolate bars they keep right next to the magazines!)

Do they really expect me to believe some magazine article is going to help me get thin in three weeks? I mean, how thin can you get in three weeks? (I have heard of people who fasted that long, but I don’t think fasting is recommended as a diet plan.)

Let’s get real. Sure, I know I’m not perfect, but there are certain things I’ve discovered over the years about how to motivate myself to change.

1. I need to be encouraged, not yelled at. I need to affirm what’s good about me. Just as I know I’m not perfect, I also know I have a lot more positive qualities than I do negative. Why is it that headlines rarely say, “Become an Even Better You!”, “Be a Kinder, More Patient Person in Three Weeks!”, “10 Tips for Encouraging Each Other!”, “Overcoming Stress by Liking Yourself As You Already Are”?

2. I can’t handle too many goals at one time. Often, one is all I can manage, depending on how much time and energy it takes. So I know I have to pick just one or two things to work on.

3. Whatever I want to do has to be important enough to me to make me keep trying even though it’s difficult. It has to be something I want badly enough to make a sacrifice or two.

4. I need to set a reasonable goal (not getting thin in three weeks). It has to be something I have control over and can break into small steps that I can actually work into my life.

5. I have to allow myself to blow it without thinking I’m a terrible person or giving up. In other words, I have to keep plodding along no matter what. If I blow it, I’ll be annoyed with myself, but I won’t feel I’m an awful person. And I won’t just give up.

I do have a goal this year. I recently learned I’m on the verge of having osteoporosis. Not something I needed to hear! I had already been walking on my treadmill three days a week.

Now I know I need to walk every day if I can, and ramp up the intensity. I also need to add more exercises to strengthen my back and the rest of me. I know I need to change my lifestyle to force myself to pay attention to my exercise time.

Right now, I’m trying to walk and exercise right after I get up in the morning. Otherwise, it’s too hard to break off what I’m doing. Then I will do short, low-intensity 10 or 20 minute walks just before lunch and supper to keep myself moving.

My hope is that in another month or two I’ll be in a routine where I don’t have to make time to exercise, but will do it automatically. Then I’ll set a new goal—or perhaps a new step towards my ultimate goal—getting in shape so I can keep up with my grandchildren!

And next time I’m in a checkout line, I’ll ignore those magazines that blare at me. Maybe instead of reading their covers, I’ll make a list of titles for positive articles I’d like to read. Maybe I’ll even write one.

get thin · goal-setting · goals · how to lose weight · losing weight · new year goals · realistic goals · resolutions · set goals

A year ago, I bought a small silver locket and asked God to give me a verse for the year, which I would then write out on a slip of paper and keep in the locket around my neck.

After praying for God to give me a verse, I more or less opened up my Bible at random and put my finger on a spot. It turned out to be Isaiah 30:15. “If you will be calm and trust me, you will be strong.” Not a verse I was familiar with. But I liked the promise it offered.

I wrote it in tiny letters on a very small strip of paper and folded it and enclosed it in the locket. I can’t honestly say I wore the locket a lot. But I often thought of it, and occasionally opened it to reread the verse.

365 days later, I can attest that that verse carried me through a rollercoaster year. Whenever something happened – either bad or good – I said to myself, “Be calm and trust God.”

And I calmed right down and I believed that God was in control and would take care of things.

I don’t have room here to list the things that happened: the answers to prayer, the struggles, the joys, the surprises, the disappointments… Let’s just say that life is a somewhat rocky road, and no matter what you see on the outside, we all have our ups and downs, our sorrows and joys, our highs and lows.

But whenever I felt I had reached a really low point and I wasn’t sure how I’d keep going, I thought of my special verse and remembered who was really in control. Not me! God. And I stopped thinking it was all about me and remembered it was really about him. And I stopped “doing” and left it for God to do.

That little verse got me through a year of many changes, challenges, and transitions.

Do I have a verse from God for this year? Actually, I didn’t even have to ask for one. A few days ago, a verse just started running through my mind. Yesterday, I realized it’s my verse for 2007. It’s a verse I know and love, but this year, it’s also my special verse. It’s the one I’ll remember when I get tired and drained, or when I wonder if I can keep going. It’s the one I’ll remember when the good things happen too.

My 2007 verse is also in Isaiah – 40:31. “Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”

It’s on a similar theme of waiting for God, and relying on him instead of running ahead in our own strength.

Interestingly enough, during the past two weeks, both my husband and I have been bone-weary – almost too exhausted to even talk to each other. It’s been a strange time of just letting go of our cares because we don’t have the energy to care. We’re read and watched some TV and done very little of long-term “value.”

But as my new verse leapt into my mind, I was reminded of the time when Elijah was exhausted after his struggles with Ahab and Jezebel, and thought he was all alone. He just wanted to die. But God sent an angel with food and drink, and then God spoke to Elijah as a gentle breeze, and then he sent Elijah to complete the next phase of his work. And just at the end God said told him he wasn’t alone – there were 7000 other loyal people in Israel.

Like Elijah, I feel we have completed a huge work for God, and we have good reason to be physically and emotionally tired. And I can’t wait to see how God is going to do to revitalize us, and what our next task will be!

Should you ask God to give you a verse for the year? Well, that’s between God and you. I’d never say, “Everyone do what I do….”

But I would encourage you to ask God to show you if he has a verse he’d like to give you. And you can either put it in a locket or write it on a card and post it on a bulletin board or keep it in some other way as a reminder that God is with you, and that he is faithful.

be calm · be faithful · God gives a verse · Isaiah 30:15 · picking a verse for the year · running ahead of God · trust God