Day 4: 31 Days to Reset Your Life

I posted my Day 1 and then I kept 2 and 3 a little more private. I am back again to post Day 4. I found this exercise interesting, and I honestly don't believe that my list is complete. I think that it's just as complete as it's gonna get for tonight/this morning. So here goes.

Part 1: Make a list of the things that you value:

Love, serving, mentoring, teaching, giving, caring for others, encouraging, Jesus, adventure, faith, learning, friendship, family, being carefree, truth, integrity, genuineness, having my own family, missions, community, children, fulfillment, purpose, wealth, health, creativity, laughter, fun, freedom, travel

Part 2: Create a Reset 10 of your Top 10 values from the previous list. (I listed mine in no particular order outside of Jesus truly being first.)

Jesus

Teaching

Genuineness

Purpose

Faith

Love

Serving

Learning

Community

Friendship

This was definitely an interesting assignment and it really got me thinking. I think I'm going to end up adding more to the list as the week goes on. I guess, we'll see what happens.

If you're interested in learning more about this assignment and the actual #31daystoreset program that it's a part of, go here: http://happyblackwoman.com/identify-your-values/#comment-66261

Happy Resetting Folks!

Love,

K. Denise

New Year's Resolutions

New Year’s Resolutions

Soooooooooo, this is that time of year when people start thinking of all of the stuff that didn’t go right last year and that they want to change for the year to come. They reflect on all of the major situations and they talk about how they want to grow or where they want to go and they make a short or long list depending on the person of how they’re going to get there. I am switching things up this year. I am going to focus on one thing and let it be the driving force behind all of my decisions to the events in my life for the year to come. My resolution is to make each minute better than the last one that I had.

For me it’s just that simple. When you really think about it all you have is the minute that you’re in. The next one may never come. People die in an instant and all of the plans that they had for the year to come will mean nothing. The moment after death is irrelevant. The moment right before though, that is a moment that you can do something with. You can share a little more love, laugh if you feel like, smile for no reason, or cry if you want to. You can pray, praise, or perfect! You can encourage, inspire, and enable. You can do so much with the moment that’s present. Unfortunately, so many people forsake the moment that they’re in for a moment that may never come. They lose all of the possibility of the now, hoping in a future that may be expiring sooner than they think. I don’t want to be that person. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a planner by nature. I will always have some sort of multi-step process in play to get things done. There’s always a method for getting from the point that I’m at the next one on the list. I just don’t want to get so caught up in the plans that the current moment is never lived. That would be a total waste of all of the moments that I am given if I spend all of the current in anticipation of the next. I want to live now, love now, laugh now, enjoy now, work now, grow now, be fully me at my best right now. And if I get another moment, cool. There’s an opportunity to be better.

So that’s the theme for 2011. Make each moment better than the last. I don’t know how many I’ve got. I can’t count the number that I’ve wasted. I vow to make each one count. This is my resolution from here on out!

Something Happened

August 3, 2010 1:08 a.m.

Something just happened to me. I can't really explain it, but I will do my best. I had an encounter with God. I had a moment with the Holy Spirit that has changed my trajectory, FOREVER! No one would say that I was heading in a bad direction before this moment. For all intents and purposes, most people would say that I was right on track, heading in the direction that God wanted me to go. No one would argue against my love for Him, my dedication to Him, or my desire to see His Kingdom come. But I wasn't surrendered fully. I wasn't trusting completely. I was ready to do whatever in the future, but I couldn't completely promise Him my right now. THAT HAS CHANGED! God is my every thing! Nothing is more important than He is. I have promised Him whatever He wants. I have given over all of my rights. I HAVE GIVEN MYSELF AWAY, and I don't want me back!

Does this scare me? Absolutely! I don't know if I'm going to wake up in the morning with an overwhelming impression to walk away from my job, sale my car, move, give away all of my clothes, fast for 40 days, apologize to people that have hurt me, sacrifice more of the time that I don't have, forego sleep, or whatever. I HAVE NO CLUE what is about to happen in my life. I am totally freaked out! All I know is that as long as God is leading me, I will go. My new matra for life is HERE I AM, SEND ME!

People are hurting...HERE I AM, SEND ME. Children aren't being educated...HERE I AM, SEND ME. There are people with no clothes...HERE I AM, SEND ME. People don't know what it's like to feel the love of Christ...HERE I AM, SEND ME. There are not enough volunteers...HERE I AM, SEND ME. Ghettos, prisons, developing countries, orphanages, hospitals, schools, families, churches, subdivisions, homeless shelters, city streets, developing countries, Muslim nations, atheists, indigenous tribes, strip clubs, formal affairs, corporate America, White House, libraries, Oprah, alleys, it doesn't matter...HERE I AM, SEND ME!

Nothing is too much for Him to ask of me, and when it feels like it is, I pray that God help me to remember this quote, "When it feels like God is asking too much of you, remember what He first asked of Himself."

The Eve of my 29th Birthday

In less than 24 hours I will be 29 years old! That is so crazy to me. My life is totally not what I thought that it would be at this point, but I think I love it none the less. I thank God for placing me where I am. I thank God for giving me a heart to serve him and his people. I thank God for amazing friends that bring joy to my life. I even thank God for the trails that I’ve gone through that have helped me to become who he destined for me to be. It hasn’t always been easy, but it has definitely been worth it. As I look at my future I know without a shadow of a doubt that some amazing things are about to pop off! I mean really. And I’ll be the first to admit that I honestly don’t know how much time I have left to see this stuff happen, but I do know that my legacy will be great! This year is special for me. It means a lot for various reasons, but the main one is because I have aunt that died at 29, almost exactly 3 months after her birthday. I am currently about to embark on a year that she never got to fully explore. The crazy thing is, I remember teasing her on her 29th birthday and telling her that this was the last year she would be able to call my mother old because the next year she would be in her thirties too. Her response was how do you know that I’m going to be here next year. It didn’t really resonate with me in the moment, but 3 months later it made perfect sense. My aunt recognized something at 29 that I didn’t fully get at 17. Tomorrow is not guaranteed to be there for anyone!
What does that mean for me? First of all, it helps me to once again recognize that every day is not promised. Secondly, it lights a fire under my tail to do all that God has for me to do, while I have the chance to do it. Thirdly, it reminds me that life is too short to not have as much joy as possible in it! So today, on the eve of my 29th birthday I commit to the following things in no particular order:

1. Smiling as much as I can, for as long as I can, as hard as I can!
2. Laughing every chance that I get!
3. Crying when I need to regardless of who’s around or what they might say.
4. Doing something each day to let someone know that I love them.
5. Spending time with the people that mean the most to me in the midst of pursuing all that
God has for me
6. Live with reckless abandon for God, leaving fear behind
7. Sharing my gifts with as many people as possible, as often as possible!
8. Loving freely those that will allow me to love them!
9. Learning from the hard lessons so that I don’t have to repeat them
10. Enjoying every moment for what it is worth recognizing that nothing is all bad or all good!
11. Write as often as I can
12. Take every opportunity to share the knowledge that God has given
13. Live freely as me regardless of the judgment that might ensue as a result
14. Travel when the opportunity presents itself
15. Go out when I want to regardless of whether or not someone can or wants to go with me
16. Learning from the mistakes of others because I don’t have time to make them all myself
17. Daily make the choice to love me unconditionally
18. Take every opportunity to encourage those around me
19. Consistently take time to stop and enjoy the beauty of God’s creation!
20. Affirming myself daily
21. Putting pictures in my scrapbook
22. Doing more arts and crafts
23. Listening to different music artists in genres that I enjoy
24. Giving more because every little bit counts
25. Shopping less because I can’t take any of it with me
26. Becoming healthier still
27. Resolving conflict quickly
28. Setting weekly goals
29. Going to bed each night empty of all that God has given me for the day!