Prayer Calendar

This is item #25 on my To Do in 2011 list (well, part of it).

this is my prayer calendar

I got the idea for a prayer calendar from my pastor. I suppose that wasn't the first time I had heard of the concept, but it was what made me want to do it.

Mine's pretty simple. I picked one big thing to pray for each day: my church, the nation, my family, missionaries, the Church, my friends, and news/world events. Underneath I wrote out some little prayer points, just in case I get stuck sometime.

This doesn't mean that I can only pray for my church on Monday, or that I can't pray for my church any other day; it's simply a method to focus my prayers and pray for those things that I sometimes forget. I will probably keep a running list of post-its with prayer requests from friends, small group, etc., near the calendar, so I can remember them, too.

Pray continually --1 Thessalonians 5:17

Hello, 2011!

Nice to meet you. (I guess we were formally introduced 10 days ago, but I've been a little busy. Sorry.)

I kind of haven't done "New Year's Resolutions" in...a really long time. Maybe elementary school? And I think I resolved to brush my teeth once a day--I set myself up for success by setting the bar pretty low. The definition of a resolution, as was pointed out to me, is "a firm decision to do or not do something." I'm not great at making decisions, so instead I made a to-do list for 2011. I would love to get all these things accomplished in 2011. I work well with lists, so maybe this will help me actually get things done. But then again, I often find half-finished lists around my desk/car/nightstand. Therefore, I am making no promises to myself or to you. If any of these things do get accomplished, I'll probably blog about them and I'm sure I'll revisit this list at the end of the year for a little re-cap post.

To Do in 2011:
(in no particular order)
1. Make a T-shirt quilt out of my camp shirts.
2. Learn to make delicious macaroni and cheese.
3. Run! in a 5K race.
4. Find a charity to passionately support
   4.5 Support it.
5. Travel. as much as possible.
6. Prepare a book proposal.
    6.5 Send it off.
7. Give up something for Lent.
8. Complete my first year of grad school.
9. Finish making my throw pillows.
10. See the moonbow at Cumberland Falls, KY.
11. Blog often (3 times a week? Is it possible?).
12. Exercise more.
13. Learn to make paper cranes.
14. Make some art for my office.
15. Write Bible Study curriculum with Mary.
16. Film DaddyJim telling his stories from childhood.
17. Finish reading The Brothers Karamozov.
18. Make a Quotebook scrapbook for my college roommates (and myself).
19. Send off some poems for possible publication.
20. Volunteer.
21. Procrastinate less!
22. Try to grow some veggies (then eat them!)
23. Get dental insurance.
    23.5 Go to the dentist.
24. Comment more on the blogs I read.
25. Make a prayer calendar (and follow it).
26. Do my taxes before April.
27. Guest blog on a blog I read regularly.

[Also, just a side note: I was going to write these out all fun and cool with little doodles and quirky handwriting, then scan it and put it as a picture on this post. The first draft was kind of rough and then I added things to the second draft and it got smudged somewhere between Nashville-Little Rock-Louisville. The third and, I thought, final draft was looking pretty good until I realized I had skipped numbers 10 and 11. Then I gave up. Maybe I should add "Learn to count" to the list.]


Do you have a to do list for 2011, or some resolutions, or maybe just opinions about them?