Resolve

Did you make resolutions for 2011?  Wanna lose 10 pounds, clean out your closet, or take a trip across the ocean? 

The start of a new year is always exciting.  The older I get, the more impactful it is.  When you're growing up a new year might have meant that you were about start basketball season, or you were getting your learner's permit, or finally going off to college.  Now that I'm well into adulthood and past those milestones, starting a new year is a time to exercise reflection and gratitude.  Not only upon what has happened, but on what is to come.

It seems that folks like to declare that they will do something or other on the first day of the year.  First of all, I believe that the moment a resolution is shouted from the rooftops is the moment it is failed.  I always feel that with resolutions it's best to keep your mouth shut. That way if you fail, no one has to know. ;)


Christmas, with all its hustle and bustle and travel doesn't allow much time for focus on resolutions.  This year we were gone from Christmas day through New Year's Day.  Once we got home, put up the tree and all of the holiday decor, it was time to settle in for winter.  I usually start thinking about the possibilities of the new year around the sixth or seventh day of it.  But that's ok because I'm usually late, and that is not a quality about myself that I am willing to change at this point in my life.  [I make up for my punctuality with being oh-so-honest.]

There are things I want to accomplish, like finally learn how to use my sewing machine, run a 5K without stopping to walk, take my blog to the next level, and just really grow my business.  These are just a few things that I'd like to do, but I won't beat myself up if I don't.  I wouldn't label them as "New Year's Resolutions". 

I struggle with being indifferent, can you tell? 

What I did come up with were two words that I want to focus on as I walk through this year of my life. 

SEEK
...a deeper relationship with God
...relationships with others [more on this later]
...opportunities to serve a specific global need
...to daily bless my husband by joyfully tending to our home

GUMPTION
Let me explain.  If I think about the women I admire most, it wasn't just their countenance, abilities, or achievements; it was their gumption.  I want to make things happen this year.  There are private goals that I have set for myself, financial goals that my husband and I have, and general desires that I would like to make happen.  When I lost my job over 1 year ago, I took several months to just be quiet, reflect, and lick my wounds.  While I haven't been sitting around depressed for a year, I have let time pass by without making some needed changes.  I'm ready to gather up some gumption and move forward!

2010 was a crazy year for us.  I lost my job in January and couldn't find another one.  There was a big mess over compensation from the situation.  We felt like we were in seminary again, praying for the loaves and fishes to multiply at times.  By June we had uprooted our life and moved from Atlanta to rural Kentucky.  Major yuck.  I won't pretend to love it here, but I'm getting used to it.  Don't take it personally.  If you do take it personally, then let me encourage you to imagine yourself in a similar situation.  When you uproot yourself like that, there's undoubtedly a period of uncertainty to follow.  Did we make the right decision?  Is this what God wanted?  But now that we've turned the corner of a new year, it's time to put all that behind and move forward.

Seek.  Gumption.  Seek gumption.  They work just as well together as separate. 

If you didn't make resolutions, don't worry.  But I do hope that you can take some time and find a word or two to be your theme for 2011.  Write it on your bathroom mirror or some place where you can be reminded throughout the day of what you want to achieve, and where you'd like to find yourself next year.