On being thoughtful

one of the biggest shortcomings that most of us wrestle with is that we are not thoughtful enough. i don't mean that we are not nice people that do nice things. hopefully, we are are. if you aren't, you probably need a short course in basic human interaction.

no, by thoughtful i mean that we don't think enough. not about life. not about people. not about ourselves. not about much of anything...that's really important. i'm afraid that our thinking is seldom deep enough, profound enough, challenging enough, or risky enough.

to that end, here are some questions to ask yourself as you stumble along the beginning of your journey in this new year:

• What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
• What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?
• What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?
• In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?
• What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?
• What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?
• For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?
• What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?
• What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?
• What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?

happy thinking...