Tag New Year

Time for a Change 2026 (6 of 9)

Todd R Leave a comment

Fellow travelers,

Are there small changes we can make to improve our lives?  For some people, making New Year’s resolutions or celebrating Lent is a good time to work on changes like these, sometimes permanent and sometimes temporary.  My habit is a bit different.  Instead of making New Year’s resolutions or celebrating Lent, every 40 days I try to make a small, but permanent change in my life habits.  This habit of changing habits has been helpful to me and might be to you, even if you have your own way of doing it.

Two days from now (July 20th) will be the 40th day since the last one.  I’ll be making a small change, and I invite you to participate.  If you do, keep a record of what you’re changing.  As the months and years pass, hopefully the cumulative change becomes enormous.

This is all voluntary, so I don’t criticize myself for missing a deadline or going back on something.  If I fail at some of the changes, the successful ones still add up to a significant shift over time.  I don’t always do “spiritual” changes, just something small I think will make my life better, permanently.  For example, one of my goals from 2021 was to drink at least 32 oz of water a day, and I still do it (with an occasional miss).

The next date on the schedule (40 days later) is 8/29/26, and I have a couple of things under consideration for then.  I’ll be posting a reminder at about that time; if you want to participate, start making a list of things you might want to do more or less of, and let’s see what we can accomplish!

Time for a Change 2026 (4 of 9)

Todd R 2 Comments

Fellow travelers,

Are there small changes you can make to improve your life? Are there small things you are doing that are harmful to you?  Can each of us build a better “liturgy” for our lives over time, step by step? Can we accumulate victories in small battles that help us fight bigger ones?  Over time can we better love God, ourselves, and others?

Instead of making New Year’s resolutions or celebrating Lent, every 40 days I try to make a small, permanent change in my life habits.  I keep a list of the changes I’ve made or want to make.  This is all voluntary, so I don’t criticize myself for missing a deadline or going back on something.  If I fail at some of the changes, the successful ones still add up to a massive shift over time.  I don’t always do “spiritual” changes, just something small I think will make my life better, permanently.  For example, one of my goals from 2021 was to drink at least 32 oz of water a day, and I still do it (with an occasional miss).

I’ll be making a small change, and if you want to participate, tomorrow, May 1st, is 120 days after the start of the New Year and time for the next change.  If you do, keep a record of what you’re changing.  As the months and years pass, hopefully the cumulative change becomes enormous. The next date on the schedule (40 days later) is 6/10/26, and I have a couple of things under consideration for then.  I’ll be posting a reminder at about that time; if you want to participate, start making a list of things you might want to do more or less of, and let’s see what we can accomplish!  This habit of changing habits has been helpful to me and might be to you, even if you have your own way of doing it.

Time for a Change 2026 (2 of 9)

Todd R 1 Comment

Fellow travelers,

Are there small things you are doing that are harmful to you? Are there small changes you can make to improve your life? Can each of us build a better “liturgy” for our lives over time, step by step? Can we accumulate victories in small battles that help us fight bigger ones?  Over time can we better love God, ourselves, and others?

Instead of making resolutions or celebrating Lent, I try to make a small, permanent change every 40 days after each New Year.  I keep a list of the changes I’ve made or want to make. Sometimes I do nothing until later – I don’t criticize myself for missing a deadline or going back on something.  This is all voluntary.  If I fail at half (or more) of the changes, the successful ones still add up to a massive shift in habits over time.  The changes don’t need to be “spiritual” or major, they just need to be something I think will make my life better, permanently.  For example, in 2021, I decided to drink at least 32 oz of water a day, and I still do it (with an occasional miss).

If you want to participate, tomorrow, February 10th, is 40 days after the start of the New Year and time for the next change.  If you do, keep a record of what you’re changing.  As the months and years pass, hopefully the cumulative change is enormous.

Photo by Olia Gozha on Unsplash

My change for 2/10/26 is a daily step count goal.  Since late 2024, I’ve been working from home after my company consolidated some of their real estate.  Unfortunately, this means I’ve been getting more and more sedentary over time, especially in winter.  My goal isn’t very aggressive (it’s about 1/3 less than my pre-WFH rate, but it’s about 50% more than what I’ve been doing) but it will be a good improvement for my health.  To keep myself from getting discouraged about missing a day or two (which I will), the goal is an average over time.  The goal is to feel better, not worse.

The next date on the schedule (40 days later) is 3/22/26, and I have a couple of things under consideration for then.  I’ll be posting a reminder at about that time; if you want to participate, start making a list of things you might want to do more or less of, and let’s see what we can accomplish!

This habit has been helpful to me and might be to you, even if you have your own way of doing it.  In the meantime, as I write this, I’m going to go walk the stairs in my house (and drink some water) because outside it feels like 8 degrees and there’s still ice everywhere!

Driving Toward Morning’s 2025 in Books

Todd R 3 Comments

Dear fellow travelers,

It’s become a tradition here to post what books I read during the year.  This year’s total was 23, relatively high for me, but I read a lot of short books.  Last year I noted that I read less books (16) because of my struggle to get through the over 900 pages of The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim (1883).  I still haven’t finished it even though I started in late 2023 and didn’t really try in 2025.  Maybe in 2026 I can “close the book” on that one.

So, what books did I finish reading this year?

Fiction books (in order read):

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

I’ve read all of these before except Pride and Prejudice and A Christmas Carol.  The first is one of my wife’s favorites and I finally read it and did enjoy it.  The key is to know Austen is making fun of her characters.  The second is a story we all know, but reading it fills in a lot of spaces.  I was surprised at how funny it was.

Just like Tolkien’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, I re-read Lewis’s Narnia books every few years and they are as good as ever.  I’m in the middle of The Silver Chair now, and am alternating between these and other, “harder” books.  It helps me stay motivated to read.

A few history books:

A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks by David Gibbins
Pax by Tom Holland
Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides
Wedding of the Waters by Peter Bernstein

Wedding of the Waters, a history of the building of the Erie Canal, is the only one of these I’d read before.  Pax, a history of part of the Roman Empire, was very well written and interesting, but I expected it to cover the time period of the New Testament.  It didn’t, but Dominion by the same author (which I got for Christmas) will probably cover that ground and more.

Plus several religious books:

In addition to regular Bible and study Bible reading, in 2025 I read:

The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
The Unseen Realm by Michael Heiser
Making Me, and Like the Stars by Glenn Parkinson
Several books by Warren Wiersbe: Be Loyal (Matthew), Be Free (Galatians), Be Rich (Ephesians), Be Dynamic (Acts 1-12), Be Daring (Acts 13-28), Be Faithful (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon), Be Victorious (Revelation).

I picked up Wiersbe’s entire “Be” series in 2021 as part of a digital subscription and am working through it over time.  A long time.  I like his overall approach, and the books are a great source of thoughtful stories and quotes.  I’ve covered 32 of the Bible’s 66 books so far!

Have you read any of these?  What books did you enjoy in 2025? And speaking of reading, I want to thank all of you who take the time to read this blog.  In 2025 I nearly doubled my views from 2025 (the previous high)!  I don’t know what happened, but October through December of 2025 were very busy here.

Why Only Make Resolutions on New Year’s?

Todd R 1 Comment

Fellow travelers,

It will be 2026 in two days, so here’s an early Happy New Year! In this post, I’m sharing a variation on New Year’s Resolutions (and Lent) I’ve been trying to do personally for a while. It’s been helpful to me and might be to you. There’s probably already a book out there with a similar idea, but here’s mine, starting with some background:

A while back I realized two problems I had with New Year’s resolutions: 1) I get frustrated by failing at them, and 2) they aren’t permanent. So, they go nowhere.  About the same time, I realized similar things about giving up something for Lent, a temporary 40-day period.

So, what if, instead of making temporary changes at New Year’s or Lent, a person could make smaller, but permanent changes every 40 days? In any year, there are approximately 40 multiplied by 9 days. What if, even if we failed at half (or more) of the changes, the successful ones still added up to a massive shift in habits over a multi-year period or even a lifetime? The changes don’t need to be “spiritual” or major, they just need to be something you think will make your life better, permanently.

Photo by Behnam Norouzi on Unsplash

For example, these have been some of my attempted changes:

  • Drink at least 32 oz of water a day (success!)
  • Blog regularly (success!)
  • Host a regular board game night at my house (temporary success), and
  • Open Bible or a devotional before checking my phone in the morning (generally a failure).

There were more – some I failed at and some I’ve kept, but in total they are significant enough to have a cumulative effect without being too hard to keep them all.

Are there small things you are doing that are harmful to you? Are there small changes you can make to improve your life? Can each of us build a better “liturgy” for our lives over time, step by step? Can we accumulate victories in small battles that help us fight bigger ones?  Over time can we better love God, ourselves, and others?  If you choose to participate, keep a record of what you’re changing. In years, hopefully the cumulative change is enormous.

I keep a list of the 40-day periods each year and the changes I’ve made or want to make. Sometimes I do nothing until later – I don’t criticize myself for missing a deadline or going back on something.  This is all voluntary.

My change for 1/1/26 is to attend church more regularly.  Unfortunately, I’ve recently been too good at coming up with excuses to stay home or to do other things.

The next date on the schedule (40 days later) is 2/10/26, and I have a couple of things under consideration for then.  I’ll be posting a reminder at about that time; if you want to participate, start making a list of things you might want to do more or less of, and let’s see what we can accomplish!

What do you think, and what do you have planned for 2026?