Another Year Before Us

Well, we made it! God has blessed us to see the dawning of another year. Are you excited? Or thinking, "no big deal?" Fresh starts, even if imaginary, are always good. It gives you the chance to make changes and feel like the past is the past and won't hold you back anymore. No matter if it's to tackle cleaning out the closets, or pursuing a different career or mindset, give yourself permission to take on something new or become something new. It is progress.

Isn't it amazing when you think about how God made the four seasons with a definite change for each? Doesn't the start of a new year give you the same kind of feeling? Now, we know that man created those calendars with a definite start and finish. But don't you think that God had something like that in mind with the seasons? So calendars just make it easier to find the moment of new beginnings.

So what changes do you anticipate in the coming year? Last year I had two surgeries, so I'm anticipating a comparatively much more pain-free life this year. I want to do a little more inward contemplation and communion with God in prayer. I want to learn to listen for His voice. I want to learn to keep my mouth shut which always seems to get me in trouble otherwise (that one will be my hardest ambition). I want to learn to "focus" better, to slow things down and lose the scatterbrain hurry, hurry, hurry that today's lifestyles encourage. I want to step back from the media addiction that has enveloped trapped everyone since the internet was born and reconnect with actual living instead of just reading about other people's lives. I want to take time to watch the wild birds fluttering around and throw a frisbee with my dogs.

I want to find where I really belong.

I hope your year of opportunity is good to you and that you use it wisely, with God's guidance and blessings.