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.
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 31st. 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.
