Preface: The following was posted this past February 20. It took me 69 years to finally make a New Years Resolution. Well maybe I made some in the past but didn't keep them and thus forgot them....but my resolution for January 1, 2020 was to read in God's Word every day of my life....providing God enables me to read.....and I have kept that so far.....and it has been a tremendous blessing. Last year I made a resolution and have kept that one also....so I have a few days to think of another. I did not make this as a resolution but I could have for I have done this....many times over....so I can recommend to you that you listen to at least one Charles Spurgeon sermon a week....or you can substitute J.C. Ryle. I should add a caveat....for it may change your life. All you have to do is Google up their name....and sermon....and YouTube....and there are plenty to keep you going!
Drudge carried a story about the daily regimen of Tom Brady....and how his determination to stay fit has enabled him to play football at 43 years old. He wakes up at 5:30 to drink an electrolyte solution and a smoothie.....breakfasts at 7 a. m. with his family.....and then hits the gym. Apparently he likes to spend some time at the beach....studies game film and works out some more during the afternoon....has dinner with the family at 6 p. m.....reads to the kids....and goes to bed at 8:30.
Benjamin Franklin was known for his rigorous daily scheduling.....and even Jay Gatsby.....according to F. Scott Fitsgerald's imagination....began his day with...."Rise from bed 6:00.... exercises....study electricity etc.....work 8:30 to 4:30 p. m......practice elocution, poise, and how to attain it.....no more smoking or chewing....read one improving book or magazine per week".....and a few other things.
These type of routines can certainly be helpful....but some men had more in mind than worldly accomplishments. This for example.....something Jonathan Edwards originally penned at about 19 years of age.....and added to it over the years....
1. Resolved: I will DO whatever I think will be most to God's glory; and my own good, profit and pleasure, for as long as I live. I will do all these things without any consideration of the time that it takes....
2. I will continually endeavor to find news ways to practice and promote the things from Resolution 1.
3. If ever-really, whenever-I fail or fall and/or grow weary & dull; Whenever I begin to neglect the keeping of any part of these Resolutions; I will repent of everything I can remember that I have violated or neglected....as soon as I come to my senses again.
4. Never to do anything, whether physically or spiritually, except what glorifies God.
5. Never lose one moment of time; but seize the time to use it in the most profitable way I possibly can.
(these are only 5 of 70 Resolutions and condensed somewhat. You can easily Google these and read them)
I personally try to stick closer to Edwards.....America's greatest theologian....and according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.....(an older edition anyway)....America's greatest intellect of the 18th century....uh....that would include Jefferson and Franklin and a few others.
This is my personal regimen....up at 5:30.....(after going to bed around 2 a.m)....to turn on the radio and the computer and the Keurig. Work on a post until about 9:00....eat breakfast.....eggs and bacon almost every morning....(and orange juice every day of my life)....take a nap....try to do at least one job that my wife would like done....work out on the same weight set that was a Christmas present in 1963....(along with the Beatles....She Loves You 45 rpm)....or take a walk....either while listening to a Charles Spurgeon sermon on my wireless headset....take another nap....read until about 5:00....(unless it's Tuesdays at Barnes & Noble)....dinner with wife where I sometimes cook....and always clean the dishes....take another nap....read some more and attempt to fix the paltry post I published in the morning....(like this one)....rest and relaxation for an hour which usually means an old movie or Monk or Dick Van Dyke rerun....this with my wife.....she then retires.....asking me if I'm going to bed....in which I invariably respond with Robert Frost's words....."The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep....and miles to go before I sleep"....upon which she rolls her eyes....while I read and work on the computer....(the reading is always in God's Word....with some time spent in either a Christian or secular book)....fall asleep in the chair.....then find my way to bed for a couple of hours....before I wake without an alarm at 5:30 to start the whole process again.
