STMA

February Resolutions Update

I’m three days behind again; maybe I’ll claim I thought it was February 31st?

  1. Read through my Bible this year; the entire thing, cover to cover, reading at least a chapter every single day.
    I’m on page 310 (I Chronicles 1:1) of 949, or 32.6% finished, not including what I’ll read this afternoon. That puts my average at just over 5 pages per day, finishing on July 5. I’m upping the ante. I want to finish the entire Bible before May 23, my wedding day. I’ll need to average just under 8 pages per day to get there, but it’s doable. Way doable. And the reading I’ve done so far has given me a lot of insight, like I Kings 14:8. It says that David kept God’s commandments and followed Him with all his heart… so they’re two different things; not that you can follow Him and not keep His commandments, but it’s possible to keep His commandments halfheartedly. I want to be like David and do both!

  2. Use my credit card whenever possible but never carry a balance.
    Haven’t had any problems with that - I’ve made vast improvements in my money management using a Google spreadsheet and a (sort-of) zero-based budget. Spending is down, saving is up, and I’m paying down my debt at an accelerated rate.

3) Contribute the maximum amount to my Roth IRA account.
Done. $500 in for the month of February. $4,500 left this year at $500 per month means I don’t even have to contribute in December!

  1. Build a three-month emergency fund.
    Done. I cheated. My fiancé, who’d done slightly better with her money than I have recently, had a well-established emergency fund, and we spent a lot of time and effort getting our finances - including things like auto and renter’s insurance
  1. Get my two-mile run time under 15 minutes.
    Last month I had made very little progress towards this goal, since I was fighting what I thought was illio-tibial band syndrome. Turns out that while my IT band was irritated at first, it had healed but the muscular atrophy I suffered during the healing process caused my left kneecap to become unstable. Some new physical therapy stretches and a good deal of walking to strengthen the muscles, and I’m jogging and playing basketball for the first time in months. Definitely an improvement.

  2. Finish the Navigators’ “Design for Discipleship” series of Bible studies.
    This week I’m taking a break from the chapter-per-week schedule I’ve been on to review Book 3 before I charge into Book 4. I’ve been meaning to go back and review all three of the books I’ve done so far, but just haven’t done it, and a wise man suggested to me that I should do it this week. So I am.

  3. Blog at least once a week, plus a monthly update on my resolutions.
    Good to go this month, except that the only post I made during week one of February was my January resolutions update… so I guess that doesn’t count. But six posts in 28 days isn’t bad; not including these updates, my average for the year is one post every five days. Hopefully in March I’ll remember to post the monthly update before the month is actually over!