To start off the New Year, my church decided to make a commitment to fast as a community from January 7th through the 27th. One of the fasting options was the Daniel Fast. Personally, I have never made a commitment to “fast” food. I’ve never seen the benefit of depriving myself of food for spiritual reasons. Ironically, I have decided not to eat particular food items for health purposes. I have made various commitments to abstain from soda, fried foods, sweets, and other “bad” food items in order to grow healthier physically. However, I have never abstained from food in order to grow healthier spiritually. At least, never to this extreme. After researching several websites with information on the Daniel Fast, I compiled a list of foods to enjoy and foods to avoid during this three week fast. I am following this food list. As an exception I am allowing myself to drink tea but without any sweeteners or milk. Tea is a mix of hot water and herbs which are ingredients allowed on the Daniel Fast. Another helpful site with information on the Daniel Fast can be found here.
I’m hoping to use this community fast to not only jumpstart my spiritual pursuits but also my pursuits during this new year. As always, I find it important to set personal goals with each new year. We can strive for goals. We can obtain goals. Here are some of my goals for the New Year:
1. Read 100 books. This is something I strive for every year. Even if I don’t read 100 books, this goal enables me to actively pursue reading.
2. Lose 20 – 30 pounds. A personal goal of health. I will do this through exercise and healthy eating.
3. Grow spiritually. This may seem a fairly broad goal, but I believe it simplifies my heart’s desires. I want to pursue God in a unique and personal way this year and in some way grow spiritually. I want to pursue God every single day of the new year.
4. Publish 52 blogs. Although I do publish blogs through the Evangel Universite website, these 52 blogs apply to my personal website only. This means blogging at least once a week. The number of 52 is by no means a maximum, but it is definitely a minimum.
5. Build up savings. Now that I’ve purchased a new computer, I want to build up my savings account.
6. Write everyday. Whether its blogging, or writing a bit on my book, or writing a paper, or writing down thoughts, I will write a little bit everyday.
These are only a few of the goals I have set for myself this year. Hopefully, these goals will help jumpstart some of your own!
I may not be doing the Daniel Fast, or any version of it, but we have a lot of similar goals this year. Numbers 1 & 6 jumped out at me because they are the exact same as mine! This makes me happy!