Happy New Year everyone! It's day 2 of 2013, and may I just say this year is off to a GREAT start! Etienne and I were at the OKC New Year's Meeting, where we had the pleasure of seeing the entire Burns/Landreman family and the Middick family, as well as many other friends and loved ones. It was a great meeting, very encouraging to me. Yesterday, Etienne and I slept in till eleven, then sat on the couch in our bathrobes for several hours. Out of nowhere and quite suddenly, he jumped off the couch and said, "Let's go for a run!" My body had already decided it was just going to be lazy all day, but a run actually sounded like a good idea. So we took a jog around the neighborhood, 0.6 miles.
Let me just say... a semester plus of eating whatever I wanted, meaning lots of sweets, and no exercise has definitely caught up with me. Mercy. A measley half a mile and I was ready for a breather! So we waited a little while in the house, then took another lap, so we ran a total of 1.2 miles. I use the term "run" loosely. It was faster than a walk, but certainly not anything record-breaking. Anyway, this sort of brings me to the point of this letter.
My New Life Resolutions.
Most people make New Year Resolutions, and that's great, but I want any change I make in my life to be lasting. So I prefer to think of it as a New Life Resolution. Etienne and I had a family meeting a few weeks ago determining our goals for next semester, things we want to work on in every aspect of our lives, and several of those things have become my New Life Resolutions.
Here they are, in no particular order...
1. Run at least one lap around the neighborhood everyday. I had decided I would run at least three times a week at the family meeting, because I wanted to set a goal I knew I could achieve even when laziness and lack of motivation is factored in. But Etienne encouraged me yesterday to go with one lap everyday, and since it's not a huge time commitment by any means, I agreed. It'll just be a matter of doing. I'm completely capable, and I do have enough time in the day. I just have to do it.
2. I want to lose weight, and keep it off. I know you're probably all thinking "You don't need to lose weight!" and you're right, according to the BMI chart. But I know weight gain is a slippery slope, and I need to start being responsible about it now instead of waiting till it's a real problem. I have gained unnecessary pounds since the summer, and I don't like it. Even though my weight is technically normal, I know my body fat percentage is not. That's what I want to change. So, my goal is to lose five pounds by March 1st. This really won't be hard to do if I keep up with exercising and just cut back on sweets and junk food.
3. A few weeks ago, just after that family meeting I mentioned, I wrote a letter on this blog talking about a challenge I was setting for myself. I call it the Proverbs 31 Challenge. I was feeling "moody" at the time of publication, and facebook wasn't showing it as being posted, so I just deleted it entirely in frustration. I'm still not sure why. But, what I said in that letter still stands. Let me reiterate now.
I'm willing to bet most, if not all, Christian women have heard of the Virtuous Woman talked about in Proverbs 31, and read it for themselves. I thought this was a famous passage that most men knew about too, but I have since learned I am wrong about that, which disappoints me. It seems like this passage should be important to men too, since it's a mother telling her son what kind of wife he should be looking for. Anyway, I have had a couple people I love dearly tell me that the woman described in these verses is "unattainable" and an "impossible standard." I'm sorry, but I just don't agree. When I read those verses, I don't see a impossible standard; I see a woman who, when you get right down to it, is just a good person and a hard worker in everything she does. What's so unattainable about that?
In thinking about that, I decided I wanted to do what I call a Proverbs 31 Challenge. These are specific ways a woman can hone a virtuous character, ways God has detailed. He's given us a road map to virtuosity! I want to be a virtuous woman in God's eyes. I want to be a wife to Etienne whose worth is far above rubies. So, my plan is to read Proverbs 31, the verses about the virtuous woman, and go verse by verse mastering each character trait until it is a fixed part of me. Obviously I'm not going to take each verse literally (I won't be searching for wool and flax), but I think there is a principle in each verse that can be taken and applied, a pearl of wisdom whose value cannot be priced. I want to examine a verse at a time, discover its meaning for me today, and work at it till I've mastered it, then move on to the next verse. There's no time limit on this; it's a life transformation, and I'll work till I succeed. I'm sure I'll need to constantly be reminding myself of all the virtues I might think I've mastered throughout the whole course of my life.
So that's my Challenge in a nutshell. If anyone would like to join me in this challenge, please let me know! I'd love to have someone I could study this with, who goes through the same challenges with me, and someone to be accountable to.
4. I want to start writing a book. I've had three different ideas floating around in my head for literally five or six years, if not longer, but I've never set pen to paper on any of them. In fact, it's taken me so long to work up the courage to try that I won't even be using pen and paper anymore! But last night, Etienne was reading a book, and I had nothing else pressing to tend to, so I told him I was going to start writing a book, and left the room. He immediately stopped reading and called after me, "Wait! Wait! That's awesome! Are you for real? Come back here and tell me your idea! What are you writing about?"
Honestly, I was blown away by his intense interest and support of me writing a book. I never expected such a response, such genuine enthusiasm for it, but it was wonderful! As time goes by and more life experiences come at me, I become ever increasingly aware of how important it is to have family. A family who loves you and gives you support and encouragement in all you do is truly priceless. I'm thankful Etienne is that way for me. I'm thankful looking back at all the years my parents were that way for me. Where would I be if they had not always encouraged me to be better than I am, and believed that I am better than I am?
The New Year holiday is a particularly emotional one. We say goodbye to another year and all the experiences therein become solidified as mere memories. Perhaps something extremely significant happened that year, and giving a definitive end to the year gives more of a definitive end to worrying or focusing on whatever it was that changed your life. It forces us to realize time goes on. No matter what else happens, until God says its over, time goes on. And the New Year gives us hope. It gives us hope that this year will be better; that we'll start being the person we want to be, that we'll work harder and love sweeter than ever before.
For me, I got married and I moved twelve hours from home. I learned that it will always be home to me, though I may never live there again. I have gone from hating Oklahoma to being okay with it. I think this New Year has helped me to see once and for all that my life is here now; here in Tulsa, with Etienne. Tulsa may not be my favorite place in the world, but being by Etienne's side is. And wherever we may go, wherever life takes us, if it's with him, then I'm home. So for me, I'm going to start keeping the house a little cleaner, watch a little less television, work a little harder, study a little longer, and pray a lot more. I'm going to be the person I need to be. A Christian soldier for God, a homemaker and best friend for Etienne, and a friend who is there at the drop of a hat for anyone who needs me.
I hope and pray that this year is full of blessings and successes in your lives, and that at the end of it, as we say goodbye to 2013 and welcome 2014, you look back with a smile and see a year of life you can be proud of. 12 months, 365 days, and each one so precious. Don't take a single moment for granted!
All my love,
Elizabeth
Amen, sister!
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