Category: Personal Development

Getting Ready For 2012, Part II

Post author By seedthrower1
Post date 12/28/2011
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Well, I set off on a retreat yesterday, eager to get myself together for the New Year. When I arrived, the place was locked up, and no one was around. I tried to call my friend who owns the place, but she didn’t pick up.

I eventually found an open door in one of the buildings, but the heat was off, and it was cold 🙁 I had made arrangements for a good friend to come up and talk, so I decided to settle in. We ended up having a great and important conversation, and I decided to spend the night, but early this morning, I came home. I guess this is where I’m supposed to get my plans together.

The post below is one that I wrote around this time last year. SMART goals are always a good idea worth repeating, so here it goes.

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Getting Ready For 2012, Part I

Post author By seedthrower1
Post date 12/27/2011
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If you haven’t started already, now is the time to get working on your plans for the New Year.

One of the keys to a successful plan is to write down your plans and goals, and keep your list somewhere visible. Did you know that the vast majority of us forget all about their goals by the end of January. What a shame! I hope you’ll learn something from these simple life lessons, and maybe incorporate them into the plan you’re going to put into place next week. I hope you’ll also have a laugh 🙂

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More On Friendships

Several weeks ago, I wrote a post about our need for God-centered friendships. I hope it caused you to take some time to assess your relationships, looking for signs of a mutual lifting up and encouraging one another to grow in holiness.

The other day, a friend of mine gave me some pamphlets written by Fr. Emmerich Vogt, a Dominican priest. My friend was hoping that we might be able to distribute the pamphlets at my church. Fr. Vogt travels around the country giving talks on transformation, a subject dear to my heart. One the pamphlets in his Self Knowledge series was on friendship, and he raised some really excellent points about what it means to have healthy and holy friendships.

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Are You Divinely Discontent?

Post author By seedthrower1
Post date 12/06/2011
1 Comment on Are You Divinely Discontent?

It’s been a long time since I’ve offered you a guest post on Making All Things New. Once again, my friend Todd Burrier had a really good and simple message recently, and I thought it was worth sharing with you.

As I’ve mentioned a couple of times over the last few weeks, these days of Advent are a wonderful time to be a bit introspective, looking at where we’ve been this past year, and laying out a game plan for where we hope to be in 2012. I hope Todd’s post will provide you with some inspiration.

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The Need For Spiritual Direction

Post author By seedthrower1
Post date 12/04/2011
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Over the last several weeks, I’ve mentioned that I’ve been teaching two courses on Spiritual Formation. It’s been a lot of fun, but with over 70 participants between both courses, it’s also been a tremendous amount of work.

As I’ve gotten to know the participants through their coursework, I’ve come to realize an important piece that’s missing from many of their lives.

That missing piece is spiritual direction, and in my responses to them, I’ve mentioned the importance of finding a spiritual director to every single person. Why?

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Sign Up For A Class

I can’t remember being this excited for the New Year. 2011 has been one for the record books, and I’m glad it’s ending soon.

I’ve been writing about the season of Advent quite a bit lately, and these days of preparation for Christmas can also help us get ready for the year to come.

I met with a good friend yesterday, and he has agreed to help me lay out a success strategy for 2012. Not only is he helping me develop the plan, but he’s also willing to keep my on task so that I accomplish what I set out to do. Nice.

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Why Make A Retreat Now?

I know. These are known as the busiest days of the year. It all starts this week, and doesn’t end until January 1st.

Most of us work too hard, and we’re not very good at slowing down. As I mentioned the other day, the majority of us spend way too much during these days, and many have lost the whole reason the Christmas season exists.

If I had a wish for the next several weeks, it would be that we would each make some time for a little retreat. Some will actually be able to get themselves to some retreat center and truly relax and refocus. Others won’t have that luxury, but that’s still o.k. They can change things up and still accomplish the mission.

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An Assessment

I had the chance to have lunch with a young friend today. He’s been working on finding a job for several months now, and he’s finally gotten an offer. I was really happy for him, and to celebrate, I took him to a local Italian restaurant.

It will take some time for him to actually start, but right now, the offer letter is something to get excited about.

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Down They Go

Today was a little gloomy in my neck of the woods. Kind of damp and cloudy, it was one of the those days where you want to just lay around and read a book.

Except it was Thursday, which meant work for most of us. Sorry, folks 🙁

No matter what, the leaves are slowly coming down and many of the trees in my area are now bare. Driving around today, I saw noticed that many trees were still in their glory. The red sugar maples were like fiery red torches. They were glorious.

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It’s Snow Time

In all the year’s I’ve lived in Maryland, I can’t recall ever having predictions of snow this early. Heck, it isn’t even Halloween yet 🙁

Well, the weather forecasters are predicting, if you can believe it, up to eleven inches of snow in my area by Saturday night. Yuck.