Welcome 2014!

Happy New Year’s Eve!

I hope 2013 was good to you and yours. But if it wasn’t, I wish you a wonderful 2014.

If you've made resolutions, I applaud you and pray you are able to stay focused and follow through with the decisions you've made. Go get ‘em!

I like to make resolutions. I think they’re healthy as long as they’re kept in perspective. Any time you make a commitment to improve yourself should be cause for celebration! I feel, however, that the word resolution can be extremely intimidating to some and should be replaced with a better word like goal, target, or ambition. It’s just my opinion, but those words seem a bit more personal than the clichéd “resolution.” Again, just my opinion.

Anyway! Let’s talk brand new year! I put together a little visual. I hope you can relate.

If you're anything like me, your year can go something like this...

A brand new, squeaky clean sheet of paper. Isn't it pretty? All pristine and lovely. No marks or smudges or anything to make it appear less than perfect. Aww…

                                                           

By March or April, my paper has some life to it. A crumple here, a smudge there. Nothing too major but, hey, it’s still early, right?

                                                                         

By June, I’m not feeling very proud of my paper. A thoughtless word, a disappointing choice, one too many trips to the Hershey Kiss bag and it starts to feel like my good intentions are slipping away. BUT!! I have made the conscious choice to keep my paper from any more harm.

Oh my. Look at October. Look what I've done to my paper!! Yikes! Is there any hope to finish out the year with my head held high??? I've really tried! Really! *sigh*

Well, here we are at December 31^st. My paper has really taken some hits. I've broken promises (to myself and others), I’m not eating the way I should, my jeans fit the same (or maybe a little tighter) than they did last December, I've said things I shouldn't have, I've judged, I've pouted, I've been jealous, I've yelled, I've let others down, I've let myself down. Gee whiz! Look at that!..

I’ve been human.

Whether we want to admit it or not, every one of us has a paper that looks like this at the end of the year. And if we’re going to be really honest, for many of us, our papers look like this at the end of the day. We don’t need a whole year to make a garbage dump of our paper.

Can I just say?....thank goodness for forgiveness!! From our Savior, from our family and friends, FOR those that we have to forgive. If there weren't forgiveness, we’d all be walking around with a torn, stained, crumpled, sopping wet sheet of paper in our pockets all day every day. Yuck!

So this year, whether you need a new sheet of paper every day or every month, strive to keep your paper as clean as you can, but if you screw up, keep trying. We’re human. That’s what we do. We screw up.

Ask for forgiveness.

Forgive someone else.

We’re all in 2014 together. Let’s make it great.