I am Israel.

You know how in church we read those stories about how Israel would make these promises to God only to turn around and not follow through with those promises? I remember sitting in Sunday School growing up thinking that they had to have been stupid or something. I mean, how can you be that stupid so many times? Do you not remember all of the previous exiles? Seriously, come on! Well, that's been me for a long time.

Okay, well, I'll admit, I've been that stupid so many times. I can't even begin to describe how awakening this weekend was. Seriously. In church the past few weeks, we've been talking about how to get more from your meditation on God's Word. It has been a great study, and my pastor has been really challenging us with looking into this for ourselves. Then, it hits me. I've been making so many promises to God about how I'm going to change this or I'm going to change that, and then I turn around and forget to change...or is it that I just don't want to?

That's something I've been pondering for a little while now. Am I refusing to change? Or am I just that forgetful? I've never been known to be forgetful - I didn't inherit that gene from my family tree (one of the few things I didn't inherit, by the way).

Also, as I've been thinking about this, I'm wondering if it is just me or if it is also others. Isn't consistency something that a lot of people struggle with? Why else would so many people talk about the importance of consistency?

I began this year with the goal of reading through the Bible by December 31st. That is still my goal, even though I'm currently not much farther than I was at the beginning of the summer. I will finish this. I will work hard these next couple months and catch up and finish strong, even though I wavered in the middle. I will make more of an effort next year to not resemble Israel as much as I have been. I will determine to resemble Christ more and more.