goals with grace :: november

New month, fresh starts, positive thoughts!

It is a new month! Hurray! With a new month, I have been intentionally working on making this season in my life meaningful. Making it better for my story within God's plan.

In direct reflection of yesterday's post, I want to make sure that I am intentional, relational, and situational with my life while keeping my schedule underwhelmed so that God may have the opportunity to overwhelm my heart and soul if He chooses to. Goals are good though. I function better with goals in mind.

I stumbled upon a blog a few months ago through BlogLovin' called "The Tiny Twig". Every month, the author, Hayley, sets out to accomplish what she refers to as "goals with grace", meaning that if she does not accomplish them, it is perfectly okay because there is grace. With grace, she allows herself to strive to grow but if she does not succeed, she can try at them again the following month.

God made a whole beautiful earth and decided to put you in it, to experience all of this beauty. You can't do that watching television all the time. -Donald Miller

Her three to five goals a month are sometimes as simple as completing an art project to decorating a specific part of the house to reading a couple books -- all to be completed by the end of the month. So in hopes that this does not overwhelm my schedule, here are my goals with grace for the month of november:

1) read each day
I have mentioned before that I am reading through Lysa Terkeurst’s “The Best Yes”; however, an easy of a read it is, I am not devoting time to it each week, let alone each day. Also, I have really dived deep into the devotionals by shereadstruth.com. Currently, I am reading through a two week piece on hospitality, a topic that is hitting me from all angles right now. I have also already ordered the Advent series that starts November 27th! I would love to ensure that daily I am reading from each my book and my devotional/Bible.

2) one hour of no screen time each day
I sat at work on a computer all day. I play with my phone while riding in a car from here or to there. I sit for hours at night lounging on Instagram and Pinterest or working on invitations from my Etsy shop or on photographs from my photo shoots. My eyes and brain need a daily break from the Internet and my computer screen, and so does my heart. This hour would also be a great time to read, or engage with my husband, friends, or whomever. See I already have a plan with hopefully killing two birds with one stone.

3) date night once a week
If you did not know, my husband and I swear by date night. We feel that getting this quality time away from the house and everything else is so valuable to our relationship and to our friendship. However, in this past month, we have been opting for quick easy meals, nights with our friends, or nights in on the couch as interchangeable options. Deep down, we both know that after time this does not work. We need our time that is special to us, so regardless what it is a reinstatement is in order!

4) workout three days a week
I have mentioned this before, but the month of October was a hard...anything month for me. My workouts dropped to almost nonexistent and I am ready to get back to moving. I am also determined to stay fit and healthy through these wintery, cold, holiday-filled months. With one fun-run 5k next week, my hopes are to be able to have a personal best at a run in December! I will definitely not get there unless I get back into the gym, no matter how cold it may get!

I also have a lot of things that I am praying on for the new year. For the blog, the purpose that God wants for my blog, and how I can exemplify God through it. Hopefully, I can report back in December some accomplished goals, more about what I have on my heart for 2015, and some more goals with grace for December!

xoxo, Heather
nextprev

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.