Goals

As we draw near the end of another year, I'm starting to think of things that I will consider as goals for next year. I saw a list on another blog today and thought some of them were great. Here's the list:

• Take a 10-30 minute walk every day and, while you walk, smile. It’s the ultimate anti-depressant.
• Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes a day.
• When you wake up in the morning, complete the following statement, ‘My purpose is to _________ today.’
• Live with the 3 E’s - energy, enthusiasm and empathy.
• Play more games and read more books than you did last year.
• Make time to pray.
• Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6. Appreciate their genuine nature, strength and innocence.
• Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
• Try to make at least 3 people smile each day.
• Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid.
• Smile and laugh more.
• Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
• Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
• You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
• Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
• No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
• Frame every so-called disaster with these words: ‘In 5 years, will this matter?’
• God can heal any hurt.
• However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
• Your job won’t take care of you when you’re sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
• Envy is a waste of time.
• No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
• Do the right thing!
• Call your family often.
• Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
• Enjoy the ride. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy the ride.
• Glorify God with your life.

Can you add any?

Wednesday November 25th

Read Genesis 4:8-10.

• How would you describe the mindset of Cain in verse 8?
• How do people often use the popular phrase in verse 9?
• Is there an attitude or sin you need to confess to God and to a sibling/friend related to how you feel about him or her?
• How should Cain have responded to Abel? What would God have you do in your relationship with your sibling/friend?

Tuesday November 24th

Read Genesis 4:4-5.

• What was the real problem with Cain’s offering?
• Does God need whatever you might give Him as an offering?
• What does God really want from you?
• What is the important value of bringing an offering to God?
• Is there an attitude you need to lose or develop related to giving an offering to God?

Monday November 23rd

Read Genesis 4:1-3.

• If you have siblings, are you the oldest, youngest, or somewhere in between? How well do you get along with your sibling(s)?
• What things tend to make you angry?
• What kind of relationship do you think Cain had with Abel?

Sunday November 22nd

Read Genesis 3:22-24.

• Why did Adam and Eve have to leave the garden after God forgave them?
• What consequences of sin have you suffered even though you were forgiven of the sin?
• Write a short poem or prayer to God thanking Him for His forgiveness and the boundaries He sets in your life.

Saturday November 21st

Read Genesis 3:20-21.

• How did God demonstrate His love and forgiveness to Adam and Eve?
• Why is this often described as a sign of the coming death of Jesus Christ for our sin?

Friday November 20th

Read Genesis 3:16-19.

• What were the consequences for the woman after her sin? Are they fair?
• What were the consequences for the man after his sin? Are they fair?
• Is having to work a consequence of sin? (See Gen. 2:15.)
• Talk with your parents today about the pain of childbirth and the labor of work.