Happy New Year! Thus starts the beginning of a new 365 (366?) cycle of our calendar. I love new beginnings. Just as I love spring and the Bible verse that states: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new," I love the chance to start anew...
I hate new year's resolutions, as they have the connotation of being a promise to oneself that is usually broken. So I stopped making new year's resolutions years ago. However these new beginnings do inspire me to try something different or go back to an old standard that I have been drawn away from in the busyness of our world.
On our flight back from a wonderful visit with our two sons in Florida an unusual thing happened. Jim and I were forced to sit in completely different places on the plane, I only had one story to read in the magazine I had brought to occupy my time, I had forgotten my headphones so I couldn't listen to my Ipod, they didn't offer movies or have access to tv or radio on the flight and my other reading materials was buried in our luggage. Therefore, I had nothing to do once I finished my magazine article. So I caught up on some much needed sleep and once that was done I had time to do something I realized I rarely do anymore. I was forced to think.
I did have some time to do this while on vacation as well, so on the plane I easily relaxed and closed my eyes and started to think about what I wanted to accomplish in the year ahead. For as I have learned through the years the old adage is true: "If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time."
Earlier in 2011, I did come up with one goal that I started even before the year ended. My first and most important goal is to read my Bible. I do this every year, sometimes more formally than others. As a result, I have read my Bible through at least three times. Twice from Genesis to Revelation and once with a chronological Bible. This year my goal is different. I want to read the four gospels and then the new testament over and over until I become so familiar with Jesus' teachings and Paul's letters that I hope to be able to recall, at will, their applications for life. This also being the year of 2012 and many doomsday predictions, I plan to read Revelation and the prophetic books of the old testament to be prepared to share with those that haven't taken the time to find out how the Bible relates to us today.
My next goal is to do something to show appreciation for my husband and sons.
Next on the list is to try to communicate more often with my two grandsons and daughters-in-law.
In the same line, I hope to communicate more with the rest of my family and not just the few who keep in touch with me.
Of course learning more on how to maintain a healthier lifestyle and sharing some tips with others will continue to be an important goal.
Some fun goals I have had in the past and will continue, are finding ways to get better organized and finding ways to make money that contribute not only financially but possibly in healthy or other ways as well.
My desire is to learn more of the Lord's love for me and share that with others through my daily life choices and how I handle situations. More living than preaching, more giving than taking, more purging than stockpiling, and more freedom and less confinement.
I plan to read the books on my bookshelves and clear out items that I have collected that no longer serve any purpose in my life. Both are things I have tried to achieve each year, but always seem to need to revisit more often than I currently do.
So here's to a new year -- 2012 anew... and running the race set before me.
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2
