Thursday, December 31, 2009

One more day!

It is 4 am and there is one last day in this soon to be past year of 2009. And, for as much as I love to write, I have not been a very good blogger this year. I keep fighting the need to take on that guilt. It has even crossed my mind to just delete this blog so I don't have one more thing to feel guilty about NOT doing. But alas, I am here one more time to jot some thoughts about life.

Life...it just seems to go by faster and faster with every year. It feels like only yesterday that I was thinking about 2009. And here I am looking again into the beginning of a new year. I find myself, at the end of this year, less driven to write out my typical list of goals for the new year and instead focus on some simple, but important things in life. Like...

  • Learning to love and act in love

  • Learning to speak softly and put down the big stick

  • Learning to grow gracefully in God's grace
Of course, all the normal goals of a new year linger in my head too....lose weight, exercise more (well any would be good), be disciplined in all the areas that need disciplined. You know, those kinds of things. But this year I'm not making that list. I am sticking to simple. Like...

Joy. I want to feel joy. Moments. I want to ponder them. Love. I want to love loving and not forget to do it. Hope. I want to always hope because without it, the heart gets sick as the great book of Proverb says. Stillness. I want to be still. Still enough to see the hurts of others, the milestones of my children, the twinkle in someone's eye. Still enough to hear the voice of God. Peace. Oh yes..the proverbial peace. But not world peace. It will never happen for the Bible tells me so (until that great day when the trump will sound). I want peace in this life that only Christ can give me as I really, really know and trust that He is the Keeper of my life. Those are the things I really want for my new year.

And one forever, encouraging thing about any new beginning is that we get them. I love new beginnings and I love even more that as long as I have breath, God's mercies are new every morning. He gets it. He knew we would need a fresh start and so He tells us that it's all ok with Him. Start fresh. Be renewed and free in the start of something new.

So, here is to a New Year....a fresh beginning....a heart full of hopes....and a lot of new mercies. Happy 2010!

2 comments:

Jeanie said...

2 Samuel 22.21 The Message:
God made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before him. When I cleaned up my act, he gave me a fresh start. Indeed, I've kept alert to God's ways; I haven't taken God for granted. Every day I review the ways he works, I try not to miss a trick. I feel put back together, and I'm watching my step. God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.

Jeanie said...

I feel like needlepointing your words for the year on a pillow where you can see them daily and I wish them for you and I pray them for you. And I suggest this book to be ready seasonally throughout your year: John Eldredge, Walking with God...not one more thing to do, just a sojourner wiith the same desires...