I've been thinking a lot this week about my New Year Resolutions.
Do yall make them?
Do you ever keep them?
I'll be honest, my opinon on them changes every year. Sometimes I can't wait to make my resolutions and get started on January 1st. In fact, I get giddy over January 1st. But then the next year I decide that I don't love them. And I know that guilt will come in February or March when I fail [if I last that long]. So I'd rather not deal with the guilt.
Well this year I like them :)
But I've been thinking long and hard about what I want them to be. So often it's a checklist kind of item that I want to do. One that appeases my Type A, listmaking personality. Like working out at least three times a week. Or cutting out all caffiene. Or doing a quiet time every single day without ever missing a day.
But I've realized this year that even though some of those might end up on my list, I would much rather my 2011 be focused on changes on the inside. Changes to my heart. Changes to the way I react and relate to others. Changes to the way I see things.
And I believe that sometimes it takes deciding. Deciding to see things more positively or deciding to love people better. It's all about the decision. If I don't conciously make the decision, then my flesh gets in the way. I get selfish, or negative, or envious, or snappy.
Lately I've been chewing on these two things:
Love Well.
Live Simply.
I've been running them around in my mind. And doing "trial runs". And seeing the impact these two things have on me. My heart. And my attitude. As well as the impact they have on the people I'm around. The ones I have a relationship with as well as the barista at Starbucks and the highschool kid bagging my groceries.
They are not easy. And I fail often. In fact, as I just reread what I wrote, I realized that I referred to doing "trial runs" but in reality, that's not what they started out as. They started by me deciding I wanted to love well and live simply. But they ended because my flesh got in the way. I decided to be selfish or envious. They became "trial runs" because they only lasted through one or two interactions before I returned to my old ways.
They definitely deal with my heart. And allowing God to work through me. Because only through Him will I be able to make through more than an interaction or two.
I know these are different than lots of New Year Resolutions.
They are much different than my normal ones. In fact, they may fall more under Shawni's "motto" idea like last year. But regardless, I think I'll start there.
I plan to come up with another "checklist" for my OCD too :)
Maybe I'll post it?
What about you? Any resolutions?
