The Things We May Do

So how are those resolutions going? Statistics say that most people give up on their New Year's resolutions by mid-February. One might venture to say that you can get around such a misstep all together if you just decide not to make any resolutions. Of course this would be a resolution in itself, though easier to keep.

Making a conscious decision to change a behavior or attitude is an healthy practice. Changes in our lives our coming anyway, whether we like it or not. In order for any person to grow spiritually, they must leave their "comfort zone" by accepting the challenge to do things they have never done, and to do the things that they have done better than before.

As we are already in the second month of the 2008, and since before you know it the year has a tendency to get away from us, I would like to challenge each of you to consider the following possibilities:

• Read the Bible everyday. If you have children, read to them every night before bedtime. There are several children's Bible story books out there with plenty of material to last the whole year.
• Join a visitation group. If you are not visiting the members and visitors, you are not doing your job as a Christian. You are in the family of God. You have a responsibility to be a functional member of this family.
• Ladies, attend the Ladies' Bible class at 10 a.m. on Wednesdays. Men, attend the Men's breakfast every first Monday morning of the month at 7 a.m. This is a decision that you can make. It is simply a matter of going.
  
• Host another family in your home once a month. It would be especially good for you to invite someone who needs encouragement or who you do not know as well. Of all the things the church used to be, this is what I miss the most. I know we are busy, but we need to find a way to have the kind of fellowship that brotherhood demands.
• Invite people to worship. March 23 is scheduled to be our Coming Home Sunday. This will be a special effort to invite and encourage people to attend. You will at least have a good excuse to try. I hope that we will have 500 in attendance. I believe if we work together that we can do it!

These are just a few things we can do to make a difference. We will grow if we do these things. Take an assessment of your activities. Who is getting more of your time, the church or the world? I believe it will be a humbling realization. Let's put God and the church first. We will not regret it.

Oh, the things we may do, you and I, you and I;
Oh, the love we can give if we try;
Just a word or a song as we're passing along,
They will count in the great by and by.
~ Lizzie Dearmond