At the beginning of 2012 Shane Claiborne released his 12 hopes for 2012…
As the summer days are getting longer and hotter we have reached the sixth month of the year, the middle of 2012. Many of the resolutions, hopes and dreams that we had for the new year have faded and dissolved because it isn’t the new year. But maybe the middle month is the perfect time for a new, New Year. At the beginning of 2012 Shane Claiborne released his 12 hopes for 2012 and as we approach the second half of the year let’s remember the hopes and dream that push us to create a better world and a stronger community in Christ.
Shane Claiborne’s 12 Hopes for 2012
12. Do something really nice – that no one knows about.
11. Spend more money on other people than I spend on myself. 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 injustice – do something to end violence, bullying, war, capital punishment and other mean and ugly things.
3. Pause before every 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.
(CC)
