As we seek to prepare for the dawning of Vision 2010, many resolve to create resolutions and to see these resolutions throughout the year. I am one to also admit that I also have begun my "TO DO LIST" for 2010 but my desire is to begin and end successfully. I read a very beneficial article today courtesy Real Simple Magazine (Jan 2010 issue). It highlights the nine secrets of highly motivated people. I have done the honors of posting the abridged version.

9 Secrets of Highly Motivated People

1. When you make plans, anticipate bumps
2. Channel the little engine that could
3. Don't let your goals run wild, but work on then every day
4. Go public with it
5. Lean on a support crew when you're struggling or need motivation
6. Make yourself a priority
7. Challenge yourself and change things up
8. Keep on Learning
9. Remember the deeper meaning and the real reason you begun your quest.

Remember ALL Goals must be S.M.A.R.T.
S- Specific
M- Measurable
A- Attainable
R- Realistic
T- Time-bound

http://www.realsimple.com/magazine-more/inside-magazine/table-contents-more/january-2010-00000000026689/index.html

So God stopped time for thirty-three years
And he pitched a tent of flesh
Which he unfolded one night
And enfolded the next

And that moment in which God tread time
Lasting from the darkness to the darkness
From the sunrise to the sunrise
Was called Jesus Christ

In great pain Mary labored over God
And suddenly in merciful agony
A man burst forth from the courtroom
Into the yard filled with a vicious mob

And the mother knelt down
To wrap the baby in swaddling clothes
And they ripped them from His body
And kneeling down gambled them away

And because there was no room in the inn
She gently laid Him
On the wooden beams of a cross
Where they nailed His reaching hands

And the animals heard the baby
And they drew close hoping to be fed
And they bleated and bawled
Crucify him, crucify him!

And the shepherds on the hillside
Came to see this thing
Which they thought would soon past
And asked, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

And the wise men came to see Jesus
One brought spices, another perfumes
And a third removed his golden crown
And jammed its thorns into His brow

And in that dark Judean night
The newborn baby cried out
Wanting protection from the cold wind
My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
And as the star stopped over the manager
There was a darkness over the whole land
And just before the baby fell asleep
He softly cried It is FINISHED

And in that moment of ghastly glory
When Mary lay exhausted with an empty tomb
He said, “I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE.”
And in the next moment he redeemed the time.

By Lee Magness