Investing in 2009

I’ve never been a big resolutions guy, they always just seem like benchmarks for failure even at just a few weeks out.  So instead of making resolutions, or changes, I’m hoping to make 2009 a year of investments.  Ones that will hopefully yield a strong return.  That’s what you want out of an investment right?  A return?  At least that’s what you hope for.  So I’ll be investing in some things that are important to me, and that I would like more of in my life.

1.)  I’m investing in my relationships.

• With God, I’m hoping to be more honest.  Truly open.  Sometime I feel like to often I come to Him trying to impress Him or being something that I am not.  Or when I come to Him, I feel like I can’t truly express how I feel, I don’t allow myself tell Him when I’m Angry, scared, sorrowful, confused.  Only when I need something, or I’m particularly thankful for something. I need to be more open before Him, and more open to Him.  I also want to spend more time just being before Him.  More silence, solitude, more of just being still.
• With Family, more time.  More focused concentrated time. I want to be more intentional with activities, words, and time. I want to be with Robin and Caleb in meaningful ways, not just “around”.
• With Friends.  I think in the past I’ve worried about trying to have a lot of friends, rather than having quality friends.  I’m gonna try and flip that around.  It’s not bad to have a lot of friends; people you chat with, twitter with, go out for a bite to eat with… But I really want to spend time investing in friends who want to invest in me.  I’m going to up my communication and time spent with them.  I want to share more of my life, struggles, joys, etc… And I want to develop those relationships with friends who want to do the same with me.

2.)  I’m investing in my health.

• I wanna feel better, sleep better, and have more energy.  I want to be around longer.  That means eating better, exercising, and being more disciplined.  I need to have a better rhythm to my life and I need to guard that.

3.)  I’m investing in my ministry.

• I want to be more focused, more deliberate, and more relational in the ministry that God puts me in.
• I will be hiring a good chunk of new “teammates” this year.  I will be very specific and picky about the people I hire, and those I bring to work alongside me and for me.
• I want to be more inventive and creative in the things we do.
• I want to always be raising the level of excellence, I want us to do everything as if we are doing if for God.  Because really, we are.

4.)  I’m investing in my wisdom and knowledge.

• More reading, more studying, more note taking.
• More Bible study.
• More listening to people I learn from (Rob Bell, Francis Chan, Matt Hammett, etc…)

Those are some of my planned investments for 2009.  Hopefully in 3-4 months I can look back and see how I have invested and hopefully notice some favorable returns.

What are you investing in this coming year, and what are some of the returns you hope to see?