New Year Friday Five: 2010 Edition

Sally over at the RevGal and Pal site says:

It is at this time of year that many (British) Methodist Churches celebrate their Annual Covenant Service, a service that will include this prayer:

I am no longer my own but yours,
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing,
put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you,
or laid aside for you,
exalted for you,
or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now glorious and blessed God,
Father , Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours.
May it be so forever.
Let this covenant now made on earth
be fulfilled in heaven. AMEN

This prayer is said every year, and offers every member an opportunity to renew their covenant with God. This is no soft or easy prayer, it states in the company of others our willingness to worship God come what may, not that we should become doormats, but that we place God above all else. ( And every year if we are honest we have to acknowledge that we fail).

With this prayer in mind I bring you this Friday Five:

1. What will you gladly leave behind in 2009?
Head pain. Whether it's a 4/10 or an 8/10, it may leave now. I've. Had. Enough.

2. What is the biggest challenge of 2010 for you?
Finding and living in that tender balance between taking on and accomplishing all that my work goals place in front of me, and the self-care that will make it possible for me to reach those goals. No easy task. Trust me on that one. I know I started September with a "damn the torpedoes" attitude that was more or less a stubborn refusal to let pain get in the way of anything - life, work, happiness, you name it. That only takes a person so far until reality hits hard and once again that old Pain Monster laughs in your face again. I'm working really hard to find out what will appease the Monster and still allow me an abundance of living.

3. Is there anything that you simply need to hand to God and say "all will be well, for you are with me"? That would be pretty much everything.

4. If you could only achieve one thing in 2010 what would it be? I would really like to run a 5K. I think that's achievable. World peace would be nice too, but that may have to carry over into 2011.

5. Post a picture, poem or song that sums up your prayer for the year ahead....

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