This year, instead of setting traditional goals, I am practicing a fruit of the spirit each month to move closer to the person I hope to be. I explain more here!

Friends, thanks for all of your kind thoughts and excitement over this project! I’m excited to walk through it with you all, and see where it takes us. I know you’ll have so many insightful things to share! Hopefully I’ll have a few, too :)

And where else to start but love? It’s the bedrock of who we want to be and what we want to have, and it’s the bedrock of what God is about, too. The greatest of these is love! Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind! Love your neighbor as yourself!

But where to begin with such an expansive topic? My mind naturally goes to my husband, but while I can always use improvement, loving him well is already at the forefront of my mind. Same with loving God. Loving my neighbor, though – that’s a different story.

For a long time, I didn’t dwell too much on the second part of the greatest commandment, because it didn’t seem like something I could really do anything about – I supposed I would just wait till I eventually become a better person, and then naturally I would love my neighbor more. And then I read Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, and he rocked my world with this particular quote:

Side note: This was just one of the many lines from this book that significantly altered my thinking and behavior as a Christian. Whether you consider yourself one or not, I CANNOT recommend reading this book strongly enough!

Lightning bolt moment! Like most of Lewis’ wisdom, it was so simple and so clear, and so powerful. It’s not about trying to force yourself to feel something – 9 times out of 10 that will probably not work. (And on the reverse side, just try to hate someone while sincerely doing something nice for him!)

I don’t find myself hating many people, but there are a LOT of people I treat rather indifferently – certainly not as I would if I loved them. So this month, I’m trying two practices. First, I’ve been imagining my family and friends in the people around me. To give you just one example: at church, John and I tend to chat with each other before the service starts. This month, though, I’ve been taking the initiative to chat with the people around us, as if they were my mom and dad and I was delighted to see them. (One of my prayers is that our church community would be a warm and close-knit one, and this has been a good reminder that that starts with me!) It might sound small, but for this introvert, it really feels like stepping out.

Second, I’ve been following Adam Hamilton’s advice and making the famous 1 Corinthians scripture personal. In a sermon, he suggested that we substitute our own name for “love.” So, for example…

Emily is patient and kind; Emily does not envy or boast; Emily is not arrogant or rude. She does not insist on her own way; she is not irritable or resentful; she does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

Well that’s challenging, isn’t it?? Emily is certainly not all of those things, all the time. Repeating those phrases every morning, however, has become something of a mantra I can aspire to. Try it! I love how energizing this little exercise is for a beloved but sometimes tired-sounding verse. It helps me remember this: If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

So, friends, I would love to hear: how do you live a loving life? Do you have any suggestions for the rest of us?

P.S. I love y’all!

Like many of y’all, I use my iPhone for much more than just taking phone calls. Though I only have about ten apps, I get a lot of utility out of them – particularly the humble Notes app. This incredibly simple and incredibly handy widget helps me seem more together than I am and be a more thoughtful person than I would be otherwise. I use it to maintain tons of lists, and I thought it might be helpful to, well, list some of them – maybe it will help any of you out there who have a New Year’s resolution to be more organized? :)

Books to read | Instead of saving torn-out magazine recommendations and scraps of paper, I jot titles down on the go for later reference when I’m at the library or requesting books online. I also try to note the source of the recommendation (friend, Oprah, etc.) to help jog my memory.
Books read in 2015 | It’s fun to keep track, and also helps me balance across the different categories I try to read in – faith, finance, fun, etc.
Gift ideas for John | My husband does NOT make it easy to shop for him – but this way, if he lets something slip, I can jot it down before it slips my mind! I also have another list for gift ideas for everyone else.
Restaurants to try | It might take us months (or years!) to get to some of them, but this way, we’re never without a recommendation.
Travel | John does most of our travel research, but whenever I come across a specific hotel, site, restaurant, etc. I want to share with him, I jot it down. Right now I have ideas for Charleston, Asheville, Savannah, Nashville, Winston-Salem, and Atlanta within this list!
Wardrobe wishes | If, in the morning, I keep thinking of something I wish I had to put on, I add it to this list. Currently: a camel quilted down vest!
Things I’m looking for at the flea market | Or the consignment store, or Goodwill, or wherever else I and inexpensive furniture find ourselves. Currently: an old flag, a dresser for our guest bedroom, tin trays, and cake stands (always).
Home measurements | I note the relevant measurements of any area for which I’m actively looking for furniture or an accent piece. Currently: the height of our couch’s arm, for an end table.
Food preferences | This is my favorite! I use this note to record food likes/dislikes/allergies for our frequent dinner guests. I also write down the treat preferences of friends so that I can surprise them with goodies when the occasion calls for a celebration!

Any other ideas for things I can make lists about? Are you all laughing at my simplistic system because you have a much better one? :) (Spill, if so!)

Hello, friends! We’ve had a few days to settle into 2015 – how does it feel? For me, I would say this year feels a bit more like a continuation than turning a truly new page. Instead of setting off on a new path, I’m excited to continue the good progress we made in 2014 – in our home, finances, eating habits, fitness routines, and most importantly, in my heart. (More about that in a moment!)

I’m a little less than a year into my 60 Before 30 goal project, and it’s still very much where my focus is. I think if I were to set goals for 2015, they would look a lot like a pared down version of that list. So instead, I’m going to be sticking to the systems I already have in place, using my daily and monthly goals (explained here) to take small steps toward big progress, and my 60 Before 30 list to check off exciting experiences and larger projects.

And I do hope to make some good 60 Before 30 progress this year! Here are a few I’d love to tackle:
— Order an heirloom-quality wedding album for our home
— Fully fund a savings account for our next car purchase
— Host a favorite things party
— Run the Chick-fil-a 5k
— Make a will
— Follow a year-long Bible reading plan with John
— Go to Europe (!)

Side note: Many of you have asked about the reading plan we’re following. We are using the Bible In One Year plan through the free Youversion app. I prefer to read in my actual Bible versus on the phone, but it’s a convenient way to have the day’s readings and devotional at hand!

Even though I am not setting traditional yearly goals, I’ve been thinking a lot about goals in general the past few weeks. My mind kept turning back to the reason why I (and I imagine most of you) set goals in the first place: to help me move closer to the person I want to be and the life I want to lead.

This year, I feel confident that the systems I’ve set up will continue to help me take small steps toward the things that people can see. My deepest desire, however, is to be a better person at the end of this year than I am now. It’s as simple and as difficult as that. There is a distance between the person I am and the person I am called to be, and I want to be more intentional about shortening that space this year.

Which sounds great! But as someone who thrives on check boxes and measurable progress, this sort of goal is a bit of a head-scratcher, and requires a different system. A well-loved verse from Phillippians came to mind as I was pondering what steps I could take:

Think on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things. I have seen and heard and know who I’m supposed to be, so now it’s time for me to practice. Each month, I’m choosing a fruit of the Spirit to think on and practice, and I’ll be sharing the journey here. I’m not exactly sure what this will look like yet, but I’m excited to explore!

Expect to see a post about love sometime this month! If I can claim a little more of each of those fruits at the end of 2015, it will have been a very, very good year.

How about y’all? What do you have planned for 2015? What goal are you most excited about? If you have posted your goals somewhere, please leave a link – I’d love to see!

P.S. Can’t forget about January goals! Here they are:
— Send out invitations for a special baby shower!
— Finish our wedding album design and place the order
— Get into a rhythm with John for our daily Bible reading – figure out the best time for it
— Finish the video for our niece’s first year
— Finish celebrating Christmas with my family in Connecticut!

Hi, friends! How is the new year treating you so far? John and I went on a 30-mile bike ride yesterday and it was COLD – we couldn’t feel our toes at the end! Time to invest in some full-length bike pants, I suppose :)

Like I mentioned, John and I have a date tonight to dream a bit about 2015, and I’m not going to decide or post anything about goals until after (come back on Monday for that!). In the meantime, I thought I’d try something I’ve never done before, and open up the floor a bit. I’m very eager to hear if there’s anything YOU would like me to write about this year. It could be a Marvelous Money topic, something about weddings, something about me… whatever! Any general feedback is welcome, too – which posts do you skip over? Which do you always love? Any favorites from the year?

To get your wheels turning, here are a few things you can look forward to in the weeks to come:
— our system for exercise
— Natalie + Joe’s wedding!
— how we plan for travel
— our favorite sermons
— I will finally (attempt to) answer the MOST requested Marvelous Money post of all time!

I would love, love, LOVE to hear from you, friends!!