As I start this post it is about 50 minutes until the clock strikes midnight and the calendar turns to the new year. The new year always excites me. It represents a clean slate, a fresh start, a new beginning. More than any other time of year people are making commitments to change or at least thinking about changes. I am no exception. At different points during the day I have pondered resolutions, changes and themes.
I quit making resolutions years ago. I never kept them any way. Most often those resolutions were dramatic major changes that were either a.) impossible , b.) not up to me anyway (you can't make someone fall in love with you) or c.) required more resources than I was able to obtain (usually money).
A few years ago I started making goals for changes that I felt I could attain over time. These took more time and thought and usually required me to make changes for the better for me, my family, my home etc. Usually they worked out better, and I kept at them for longer. And quite often at least some of the changes stuck through out time. I still work this way to some extent.
More recently I have been praying for and been given a theme for the coming year. They have been Articulate, Prepare, Anticipate, Contentment, and Listen. I have had many ups and downs with these themes. I particularly wrestled with God over Contentment all year long. I still struggle with that one. Last year Listen was a relatively quiet theme, at least in terms of actions on my part. I listened as God taught me through many various people in several very distinct areas of my life.
This year, however, this year promises to be an intense year. It hasn't even begun yet, and already I have had a couple of late nights of reading, study, and prayer. Renewal, that is my theme for 2013. I started a new blog to go along with it. I will still use this one. But I will have posts related specifically to my theme for the year over there.
Well, it is now 12:06, January 1, 2013. So I will say Happy New Year!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment