New Years Resolution

Happy 2009! I spent New Years with friends eating, dancing, and exploring new regions of Malawi. I continually feel blessed to be here in Malawi in part because of the location, fellow volunteers, and Malawian nationals who really make this place the warm heart of Africa.

I want to record my New Year's Resolution in a more public domain. I often consider myself a forthright person in my relationships with others and conversed today with a friend about my goals for the new year. I have created my resolution, and listed ways in which I plan on working towards it.

Discover and develop my relationship with God, free from religious obligations.

-Meditation before prayer

-Finish reading the Standard Works

-Solidify my personal ethics and morals

-Ask spiritual questions that are relevant to me

I just recently passed my two year mark as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. I have had a unique opportunity to be away from the Church for 3 months now and yet I haven't taken advantage of personal growth without daily influences of the Church. Many a Mormon will be nervous to hear that I am looking forward to this time away and some might even work to "intervene". Trust me. Love me. Let me be.

This resolution has also been influenced by the current book I am reading, Eat Pray Love. I knew about it this summer, but having read a lot of Emily Giffin, and not being a Thirty-something myself, wasn't ready to read another similar story. I am only a third through, but am appreciating it more and more. Elizabeth Gilbert has an incredible way of writing that is so natural and normal. Real emotions. Not overdone, not understated. Someone once described to me that getting married isn't about finding the right person, but it's about finding the right time. I think I'm going to use that philosophy in reading books as well.

Sorry for mis-matched thoughts. Until next time.