I don’t like New Year’s Resolutions.
They are cliche. I think they have the potential to always be kind of fake and ambiguous. “I’m going to get healthier.” Well, how? “I’m going to read more books.” Which ones? We have the human tendency to set goals that are big, so they seem great, but they aren’t specific enough to be attainable. So, when the attainment never happens, we throw in the towel. I’m not knocking you if you made a resolution. I’m just saying… how serious is it?
I made some resolutions.
I know, I know… it seems problematic. Didn’t I just roast resolutions? Yeah, I did. I need goals, though. I have to be a pastor, husband, and father one day. It’s time to act like it. So, this my unabated, candid declaration that I am succumbing to the mainstream and making resolutions. Here we go.
I need to be a better reader. I’m a fast worker, so in academic settings, I read for answers. I don’t read otherwise. For my graduate degree, I will literally just be reading all of the time. Right now, as a history student, that’s all I do. I’m terrible at it. I’ve never trained myself to read for content or retention. So, I’m going to instill the habit and self-discipline, with Christ’s help through prayer and devotion, of reading. And it’s not just that vague, either (you thought I was going to break my own resolution rule). I have 4 new books. I’m reading one at a time, twenty or so minutes per day, until they are done. I expect to be done by the middle of February with these. And I’ve got a list of “on-deck” books. It’s #ReadingSzn.
I’m going to be more intentional in thinking about other people. I’m arrogant and selfish. That’s been a big flaw of mine for a long time. My mom has changed this in me as I’ve gotten older. My girlfriend has brought this full-circle for me since we’ve been together. I have to learn to love people where they are first and serve before anything else. The word of the future for Cooper Short is going to be “service.” If people need to borrow something, they can have it. If Emma needs me to take her to the store, I’ll do it. Dishes dirty? I’ll wash them. Got 217 questions to ask me about something very simple? I will answer them all without getting irritated. Cooper, you can’t do any of those. I know. But guess what? Christ can. I’ll get His help on this, too. My goal, for now, is to try and do things for other people that will largely go unnoticed. I need to learn humility. I have very little of it now. Prayer: here I come.
I’m going to pursue the maturity needed to be the man of God I’m called to be. I’m financially illiterate. I spend too much time worrying about what I want to buy next with the 11 dollars I make being an RA. I crack jokes that a freshman in high school would love. It’s time for me to grow up a little more. I’m going to pray about and focus on finding the right times to be a kid and the right times to be a man. I get those mixed up sometimes now. I’m also in the ongoing process of learning to objectively view authority rather than subjectively view it. I’m also learning how to cook. Watch out— Chef Short is in the building.
That’s a quick run down. Christ didn’t create me to be stagnant. He’s given me plenty of opportunities and resources to be better and benefit the Kingdom of Heaven. I’m not going to squander that and be lazy and inconsiderate and cocky and abrasive. It’s time to own the Cross and what it requires of me. And let’s just be totally honest: why would anyone want to just be in the same state all the time? I love being busy and I love being better. Christ can help me be both of those things. I’m excited. I’m nervous. I’ll get overwhelmed. But I know, in my heart, this is what Christ would have me do. I know that it is.
Here’s to this year and beyond. It’s time to grow up and be a man after God’s own heart.
God never changes. Neither does the NBA Playoffs.
It’s time that I do, though.
Merry 2019.
Outty.
–@CShort_116
Caffeinated Christianity 