I Am Resolved, Approaching With Joy

 Good Tuesday morning! A very cold Tuesday morning. We opened up The Inn on the Catmore Estate for our Feral Fam. They have taken advantage of warm beds and breakfast served up early. Even the orange cat I call Deadbeat Dad is behaving. We preset the dishwasher for a 2:00 am run to keep the water moving besides dripping faucets. Then came the 5:15 am washer machine usage. 

I participated and plan to do this again for 2026, The Bible in One Year with Chad Bird. After six and a half years with an unhappy pastor and family, unhappy leadership and a general malaise or would that be mayonnaise...of course it would be Duke's but I digress. Anyway, several times over those years I would often be taken by surprise when he'd say, you cannot approach the scriptures in wonder. Many times you'll come away disappointed. He also never encouraged although I think he thought he was, but his approach to a daily Bible reading plan was so pedestrian. Yes, one can get bogged down in Leviticus so maybe find a plan that doesn't go chronologically. Today in CB's plan, Luke 24...The Road to Emmaus. 

In other words, we have sought to ask and to answer the very question Jesus answered as he walked with those two disciples on the day of his resurrection.

In just a few days, as we begin 2026, we will do it all over again, not as drudgery, but with joy, energy, and a holy curiosity.

Approach with joy, I think I like that thought and want to put this in practice in 2026. It is a joy to approach and then wander and wonder those pages of scriptures.

I got Roy an electric tea kettle and he LOVES it. I have also been making hot tea as well. I always liked the Harney Tea, the hot cinnamon flavor. I also got a holiday flavor. He thinks the cinnamon is too spicy so oh de joy, more for me.

Wednesday morning, the last day of 2025. This year has gone by so quickly. The sunrise is beautiful and our coffee is really good this morning. I slept in a bit, by twenty minutes but hey, sleeping in is something I rarely do these days. We have a couple of errands to run when it warms up a little more.

Feels like the song, I Am Resolved should be one of those hymns sung on the first Sunday of the year. Growing up it seems like we sang, The Church is One Foundation for the first Sunday of the year. Have no idea except maybe it was just a good reminder for us. I usually do the One Word thing but I haven't given it too much thought. Stopped doing resolutions years ago. Maybe resolved should be the word...I think I am going with it because it means firm in purpose or intent, determined.

1. I am resolved no longer to linger,
   Charmed by the world’s delight,
   Things that are higher, things that are nobler,
   These have allured my sight.
   • Refrain:
     I will hasten to Him,
     Hasten so glad and free;
     Jesus, greatest, highest,
     I will come to Thee.
2. I am resolved to go to the Savior,
   Leaving my sin and strife;
   He is the true One, He is the just One,
   He hath the words of life.
3. I am resolved to follow the Savior,
   Faithful and true each day;
   Heed what He sayeth, do what He willeth,
   He is the living Way.
4. I am resolved to enter the kingdom,
   Leaving the paths of sin;
   Friends may oppose me, foes may beset me,
   Still will I enter in.
5. I am resolved, and who will go with me?
   Come, friends, without delay;
   Taught by the Bible, led by the Spirit,
   We’ll walk the heav’nly way.