Resolutions

I love making New Year's Resolutions. They're so much easier than keeping them.  I can get wildly ambitious and not feel bad when I fail because nearly everybody does.   However, this year, I'm looking at things and thinking, I need to do better.  I want to do better.  I want to be healthier, which means not just waiting until January 1st, but starting now.  I want to become a better writer.  It means Ugh...editing.   I want to get more organized.  I bought a planner. It needs some love...and a pen.

They don't sound crazy.  Perhaps that's why I look at them and think, they lack sizzle.  More to the point, they lack focus. They're generic.   Resolutions fail because they don't come with an action plan, they're more of a wish list of the archetype we aren't.  In my case, a desire for a me who is more healthy, more polished, more organized, less slap dash, organic and cluttered. 

So...the plan. 

For the gym...I'm going to go. To go, I will have to rework my afternoon.  If they go to aftercare, it's expensive, so I need to pick them up at 2:45, and go to pick up Paul so no one is wedded to the afternoon bus at 4:20.  It means Paul, Anna and I can go to the gym at 4:30 until 5:30.  It also means, anyone who is doing an afternoon activity will get picked up after wards. 

It will also mean assigning two different children to make dinner Monday through Thursday to ensure we are eating healthy and with some variety and before eight in the evening.   Monday will be Bonn's and Regina's night.  Tuesday will be Will's and Rita's.   Wednesday will be John and Faith, and Thursday, Anna, Paul and me.  I've made the parameter that dinner must include a protein, and either two vegetables and a starch or a fruit may be substituted for the protein if one wishes to go vegetarian. I reserve veto power in the event someone goes on a weird eating jag I know will be rejected by everyone.

For the organization...one of the biggest killers of my time is laundry.  We've needed a system for years. We've tried systems for years.  They fail because people stop using them.   They fail because we get into efficiency via bulk, rather than efficiency via consistency.  So tomorrow, I go to Bed Bath and Beyond and everybody gets their own laundry bag.  I will be tagging said bags with names and laundry day.  I will also post it in the main room. If you miss...you're on your own. 

For editing.  I printed up my draft.  I put it in a binder.  I'm now going to open up the binder and begin making notes on post-its.  I will do it until I get through all the pages.  I will then go through it again with a second color post-it.  I will make the edits.   I am telling myself to do the first five pages today.  I can already tell, I don't want to do it, which means I must.   I have a second book which needs some love.  I will be working on that too.  Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. I think I hate editing more than exercise...maybe not. 

Good luck to all of you with your resolutions.  Happy 2019! 

Reflections and Reactions

Writing is weird. I can spend hours sweating over a piece I think I've made beautiful and get crickets. I fire off something after an afternoon of ordinary life and it's one of the bigger posts I've ever made. Writing Catholic is weirder still. Whatever you write gets debated, with the presumption being either I am ignorant, or failed to say everything that should be said.

One can never address everything. No one would want to read it. I already ramble enough in my attempts at grappling with how to witness with words what I know to be true. Besides, I'm not required to write everything. What I'd hope, is whatever I write inspires others to write the more they find lacking. I'm not even a nucleotide of the DNA of the body of Christ, (My daughter's studying DNA in science class). I'm more of an RNA, a strand designed for carrying out the message of the DNA, and hopefully, not getting it wrong.

I wrote "Run to the manger." Someone said I should write run to the cross. I'd agree with that answer as well. The two are not mutually exclusive, they are in fact, part of the fullness of Christ's reality. The reality is both, and today, in this season of Christmas, we are to seek the stable and the King in the manger, as earnestly as we will after the 40 days wandering in the spiritual dessert, find ourselves at the foot of the cross. The goal is the same, to arrive at the feet of Christ, whether as a babe, at the Mount, on the Cross or as the Eucharist. The goal is to embrace the heart of Jesus and offer Him our own. Everything else is a manifestation of that offering or of our unwillingness to make that offering. Guess my ego is getting in the way of things. Memo to me...do not read comments posted on my articles.

Over at the Register Today

I've been busy (as I'm sure you are) with Christmas preparations and Christmas itself, but here's my latest at the Register.  I hope to get back in earnest with writing today...

Five Ways the Devil Tries to Rob You of Christmas Joy. (Or, Sherry took her kids out to look at lights and overheard how organized everyone else was for Christmas a week before, so what did she do? Write about it).