New Year's Eve + one little word

Here we sit, at home, on what is supposed to be the biggest party night of the year. But I am completely content to be here with Rob and the girls. I'm not really up to going out anyway. I caught Rob's nasty sinus infection/cold/general yuck, and Heidi has it too. Rob's started on Christmas night and Heidi and I started on the 29th. We had planned to have Rob's family and my good friend Melissa, aka George (long story) over, but canceled due to all the sickies. :-(

This is always a good day each year to think about goals for the next year and review what has happened the past year. I love the feeling of having a fresh start. So with that in mind, I've chosen the word "resilience" as my one little word for the year. If you aren't familiar with this concept, check out Ali Edwards' blog.

I chose resilience because someone recently told me that even though I have had lots of ups and downs in the past, I always seem to bounce back and get through. I never thought about myself that way before, and I think it's a really positive way to see things. So every morning, I will have the chance to be resilient, to start over and make each day better than the one before it. There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman called "Next 5 Minutes" that captures this principle beautifully:

I'm livin' the next five minutes,
like these are my last five minutes,
'cause I know the next minutes may be all I have
And if the next five minutes,
turn into the last five minutes,
I'm taking the next five minutes and starting all over again


::2008 Goals::
I am not so good at resolutions, so this year I am making some very general goals, stuff I can do every day that will make things a little better.

Pray often ~ Worship weekly ~ Study God's Word ~ Exercise daily ~ Eat a healthy diet ~ Create ~ Play ~ Listen ~ Learn ~ Connect ~ Reflect ~ Simplify

"They" will tell you that you shouldn't set general goals like this, that you should break them down and make them "measurable". And I will. But I need a list of things that I can accomplish, and not feel like a failure all the time. I figure if I can do at least ONE of these things every day, then I've met my goals. I think that sounds fair.

To hold myself a bit more accountable, I'll expand a bit on each goal:

Pray often: Pray when I'm happy, pray when I'm sad, pray when I'm thankful, pray when I'm frustrated...just talk to God all the time, like He's right there ('cause He is!)

Worship weekly: Make every effort to get to church every week. It's good for the kids, and it's good for me. God gave us the gift of worship and fellowship to strengthen our spirits.

Study God's word: Dust off the Bible and actually READ it.

Exercise daily: Move every day. Even if it's a walk around the block. It's better than nothing.

Eat a healthy diet: No more diets. Just balanced, healthy eating. Fruits and veggies, whole grains, the whole bit. Cooking at home more. Smaller portions. That's it.

Create: Digiscrap, paint, do hybrid project...doesn't matter. Just find something to create.

Play: Play with the girls. Play outside. Play my flute. Sing. Just play.

Listen: Listen more than I talk. 'Nough said.

Learn: Be open to learning new things.

Connect: Keep in touch with friends. Don't take Rob for granted.

Reflect: Think about each day and figure out what I can do better the next day.

Simplify: Get rid of clutter. Don't buy stuff I don't need. Recycle. Give stuff away.

So tomorrow is a fresh start. God is so good, giving us calendars so we can mark beginnings and endings. We humans are so limited that way.

I wish you a very blessed New Year.