Shane's 12 Hopes for 2012... and Mine

I want to share something I found on Facebook today. Shane Claiborne, one of my favorite people and definitely one of my role models,  posted his "resolutions" for 2012 and I think that his "hopes" are quite inspiring...



12 Hopes for 2012

  

by Shane Claiborne on Wednesday, 4 January 2012 at 06:54

12.  Do something really nice – that no one knows about. 
11. Spend more money on other people than I spend on my self.  Love my neighbor as I love myself.  And love myself as I love my neighbor.
10. Laugh often… especially at advertisements that try to convince me that I must buy more stuff in order to be happy. 
9. Learn a new life skill – like carpentry, pottery, or canning vegetables.  Teach someone else I life skill I know how to do. 
8.  Love a few people well, remembering that what is important is not how much we do but how much love we put into doing it.
7.  Write a letter to someone I need to say thank you to.  Write another letter to someone I need to ask to forgive me. 
6.  Track down a critic or someone I disagree with and take them to lunch.  Listen to them.
5.  Compliment someone I have a hard time complimenting… and mean it.
4.  Choose life.  Do something regularly to interrupt the patterns of death – do something to end violence, bullying, war, capital punishment and other mean and ugly things.
3.  Pause before every potential crisis and ask “will this matter in 5 years?”
2.  Get outside often and marvel at things like fireflies and shooting stars.  And regularly get my hands into the garden… so when I type on the computer I can see dirt under my fingernails.
1.  Believe in miracles.  And live in a way that might necessitate one.


I found Shane list to be so inspiring, I couldn't help but come up with my own list some things will be quite similar to Shane's but I doubt he'd want us to copy him altogether... I know he's a fan of creativity: 

12.  Do something I would rather not do, just to lighten someone else's load.
11.  Make a habit of listening rather than simply waiting for my turn to speak. 
10.  Regularly enjoy long meals at home without the assistance of the television. 
9.    Write poetry... the kind that gets beyond the brain...
8.    Pray for other people and live a life that might position me to become the answer to those prayers. 
7.    laugh often... especially about the things I'd normally take more seriously than I should... like my political disagreements with friends. 
6.    Choose life.  Do something regularly to interrupt the patterns of death – do something to end violence, bullying, war, capital punishment and other mean and ugly things.
5.    Give generously. Live simply.
4.    Take walks. Enjoy the world. Celebrate creation. 
3.    Diet for justice... think of others even while ordering off the dinner menu. 
2.    Pray for people with whom I disagree. Desperately seek the face of God in the most unlikely of people. 
1.   Imagine. Dream. Don't settle for anything less that what God imagines. Love relentlessly even in the face of cynicism. 


And, to add another "hope," I hope to have the discipline to look at this list from time to time and see how I'm doing. 

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