Happy New Year!

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NOTE: Once again, I've relapsed... it's obviously been a very long time since I've blogged. I did have a great idea for a first-blog-posting-of-the-year, but I didn't sit down and do it right then (or at least make a note of it in my phone), and it has been lost to the deepest recesses of my subconscious. Although unlikely, perhaps in the near future it'll resurface and I'll have the presence of mind to make a note of it.

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This year, I've decided to keep my long-standing New Year's resolution of "Make no New Year's resolutions." (Resolutions which I wouldn't keep anyway.) So instead, I've compiled a short list of areas in my life in which I'd like to see growth this year. Mind you, these are not resolutions, just a rough outline for personal development. Of course I may think of a few more and add them later, but these should suffice for a start:

  1. Love (and enjoy) my whole family more (every day),
  2. Be thankful for everything (and more faithful to pray).
  3. To all sin, be more resistant,
  4. In my life, be more consistent.
  5. Always exhort, edify, and smile at each friend,
  6. Think before I tactlessly stomp toes or offend.
  7. Cast no pearls before swine,
  8. Eat less when I dine.
  9. Repair (or dispose of) anything I find broken,
10. Be mindful not to let one kind word go unspoken.
11. With my lovely wife, always show my passion,
12. With those that need it, have (at least some) compassion.

and...

I might even blog more too. =)

My Prayer

As a rule, I'm not the most poetic of souls. I like some poetry, I read some poetry, and I even write some poetry (generally for my wife), but don't usually go out of my way for it. That said, I found a really great poem that I thought was worth repeating here:

My Prayer
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Let me not die before I've done for Thee
My earthly work, whatever it may be;
Call me not hence with mission unfulfilled;
Let me not leave my space of ground untilled!
Impress this truth upon me--that not one
Can do my portion that I leave undone;
For each one in Thy vineyard hath a spot
To labor on for life, and weary not.
Then give me strength all faithfully to toil;
Converting barren earth to fruitful soil.
I long to be an instrument of thine,
To gather worshipers unto thy shrine;
To be the means, one human soul to save
From the dark terrors of a hopeless grave.
Yet most I want a spirit of content
To work where'er thou'lt wish my labor spent,
Whether at home or in a stranger clime,
In days of joy, or sorrow's sterner time.
I want a spirit passive, to lie still,
And by Thy power, to do Thy holy will.
And when the prayer unto my lips doth rise,
"Before a new home doth my soul surprise,
Let me accomplish some great work for Thee."
Subdue it, Lord! let my petition be,
"O! make me useful in this world of Thine,
In ways according to thy will, not mine."
Let me not leave my space of ground untilled:
Call me not hence with mission unfulfilled;
Let me not die before I've done for Thee
My earthly work, whatever it may be.
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from the PRIMITIVE CHURCH (OR BAPTIST) MAGAZINE. June 1, 1864, p. 136

I couldn't find any info on who wrote it, only that it was published in the periodical mentioned above.