Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list R-011 [Repeat of CLM 345: 03 Jan 1997]

TEN GUIDELINES FOR A HAPPY NEW YEAR

by Rowland Croucher

The wisdom about ‘New Year Resolutions’ seems to be:

# they’re a good idea; # don’t make too many; # ensure they’re realizable; cover the major areas of your life.

From my counseling practice I’ve listed ten recipes for wholeness.

In your relationship to –

GOD: be prayerful – dependence/helplessness are necessary prerequisites for a healthy spirituality. How about a thorough spiritual check-up this year?

OTHERS: be helpful – even to your enemies. Why not communicate encouragement to someone every day?

MIND: read and think about something ennobling/creative each day. Start the day with Scripture; start the year with Eugene Peterson’s ‘Take and Read’.

FEELINGS: ‘feel your feelings’ and express them – whether fear, guilt, grief, rage, shame, anxiety – to God and to a spiritual director/ counselor.

ACTIONS: be generous to those who need a helping hand – without thought of reward or praise – and ‘right some wrongs’ in your world.

SUCCESSES: be thankful – many of them were the result of good fortune rather than your cleverness; ‘count your blessings’ regularly.

TROUBLES: be trustful – for some reason God invites our maturing through adversity. What you do to life is more important than what life does to you.

SEXUALITY: follow the Maker’s instructions, avoiding the extremes of scrupulosity or permissiveness. If God’s good gift of sex (or celibacy) isn’t good for you, that can be fixed!

TIME: own your past, then, if necessary, disown it. Accept what can’t be changed. Attend to your dreams. (It’s never too late to have a happy childhood).

CONSCIENCE: clean the slate each day – don’t live with anything that will rob you of love, joy, peace…

‘Bless the Lord… all that is within me’ (Psalm 103:1)

Shalom!

Rowland Croucher <> Personal Homepage: http://skyfamily.com/rcroucher/index.html Director, John Mark Ministries: Counseling and consulting services for pastors, ex-pastors, church leaders and managers; bookroom and library. Website (3,700+ articles): http://jmm.aaa.net.au FW Boreham Trading Post: http://skyfamily.com/rcroucher/index2.html