Resolutions

Welcome 2015! I have to say, I love the freshness of a New Year, there’s just something special and promising about it. There seems to be so much hope for opportunity, and determination to stay on track. So yep, I’m totally a “Resolutioner” and I’m proud to be so!

Growing up I was a big “I’ll start on Monday” kind of girl…especially when it came to things like dieting, exercise or giving up a vice. I always felt that if I don’t have a new year to start something, then I need a new week or a new month to start it…so bad! We hardly need a new year, new month or new week to make a change. We just need a new day, a new hour, even just a new minute to make the commitment to change! Just yesterday I heard a song by Mandisa called “Waiting For Tomorrow”. The lyrics spoke “Why am I waiting on tomorrow?” In that moment I asked myself that question…well, why am I waiting for tomorrow to make my changes? Well, the truth is, I wanted another day to cheat out who I really want to be. Sometimes it’s not easy to be who we want to be, that’s why sin is so prevalent in our world and lives. It takes effort to be the person we really want to be, and that’s why we make our resolutions.

Resolutions…what are they exactly? I looked up the meaning of the word and found it quite interesting that there are multiple definitions, but two in particular stuck out to me.

1.) A firm decision to do or not to do something.

2.) The action of solving a problem, dispute, or contentious matter.

Both in my opinion are great for today, or any day, really! Make your resolutions for 2015, and stick with them. If you’ve already broken them, that’s okay! Just take a breath and start again! You know, it’s okay to keep doing that throughout the year too 😉 If you mess up, just start again!

The latter definition makes me think of the negatives of the past year or years. Fights held onto, words not let go…haven’t we all been there? I’m not afraid to say that I’m there right now. I don’t want to take it with me any further into 2015, so I’m letting it go, and I hope you will as well if you are battling that same thing in your life! Isn’t life best lived in peace? Sure, words will be said, and actions will be taken against you…even if you weren’t in the wrong, doesn’t it feel so much better to be the bigger person?! You know it does!

Now, I think resolutions are best kept when we put them out there…it keeps us accountable for our actions! So I’d like to share my goals for 2015…

1.) Write more. I truly feel God is calling me to write. It’s been a tug I’ve felt for a few years now, and I’m proud to say in the past year I finally reacted to that call. I’ve been writing a Christian fiction about forgiveness and I’m about 20,000 words in, which is a good bit, but not enough and way too slow in coming. I want to put my focus and attention toward finishing this endeavor. I don’t know if it will go anywhere, I really don’t! But at the end of the day, I feel like this is what God is calling me to do, and I place all my trust in Him!

2.) Instill quality over quantity in all aspects of my life. Relationships, outings, purchases…everything! One area that comes to mind is reading though. Last year, my goal was to read more and it became a competition with myself to finish at least one book per month. I’m glad I read more, I really am, but quality wasn’t up there with the quantity – not even close! This year my focus is on one book…the Bible. I’ve started it, but I haven’t finished it. I’ve bounced around with it from book to book and I’ve read other books that reference it and try to explain it. Do I know it, yes, but do I KNOW it, no. I want to KNOW it!

3.) Another goal from last year was to keep track of our receipts and spending for extra tax benefits. I did that, and the result was a little startling. I don’t feel like we live extravagantly, and we definitely live within our means, but the amount spent was higher than we’d like it to be, so we’re going to attempt cutting it in half! Gulp! It’s a big and scary change, but a necessary one with both Patrick and I not working at the moment. With no income coming in, we need to be way more mindful of what is going out!

I’d love to know what your resolutions for 2015 are! Please feel free to leave them in the comment box below!

From my family to yours, we’d like to wish you a very happy, healthy, peace-filled, fun and fabulous 2015!