Seven Lines of Text

The other night, we were doing our traditional family New Years Eve activity where we record memories from 2010 and hopes/goals for2011 on a big piece of posterboard. I went to look back through my blog to be reminded of all the events of 2010. Oops. Only 12 posts.

I love sharing my thoughts with my readers and so enjoy the responses from people. To experience that satisfaction, looks like I'm going to have to POST something on here.

Instead of setting goals like "I will post every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday," I decided that I would post seven lines of text today. It's always ok if I go beyond seven lines, but that's such a doable goal, I decided to go for it right now!

Seven lines of text goes along with the FlyLady's theme for 2011, which has something to do with seven. Seven tasks, seven things to give away, etc. She had been encouraging people to work for 15 minutes on tasks, 15 minutes of decluttering, but decided that "seven in 2011" made sense.

There have been 2 days in 2011 where my family were off doing their normal work and school things, and both days I have spent taking care of 7 things at a time. Counting the items reminded me of how much I enjoy jwalking when I am counting my steps (200 walking, 200 jogging). Mundane? Of course! But my brain seems to respond well to counting -- what can I say!

For me, putting away 7 things, clearing 7 things off the counter, removing 7 unneeded things from my sewing box, putting away 7 dishes, gets A LOT done; actually, it gets about 7 times as much done as trying to tackle everything at once.

A fellow blogger mentioned that many bloggers choose a word at the beginning of the year as a theme. I can't imagine any word that I could choose that would continue to have meaning throughout the year, besides love or grace. The best word I can think of right now as a theme is the number seven.

I've always loved the verses in Matthew where Peter asks how many times he should forgive people -- "Seven?" he asks. Jesus says not seven, but seventy times seven. Every time I think of seven, I remember how wonderful it is to forgive and be forgiven.

Happy New Year, everyone!

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