The Dawning of the New Year

It's that time again. Expectations abound. How will we improve ourselves and our lives in the coming year? Are you finding it as difficult as I am to make new resolutions this year? It seems so futile, when I know life develops its own pace and often carries me right along with it. My best laid plans are left on the shoreline as I get swept away by the current of the moment. And then before I know it, we’re celebrating another new year. 

One thing is for certain. It does us no good to berate ourselves for any so-called “failures” carried over from last year's unmet expectations. We cannot change what is past. We can only move forward.

Okay, so at least it's not this bad!

If I could come up with one word for what I hope to accomplish this year, it would be to simplify. For me, this specifically means to de-clutter. This task will take me the whole year and truthfully, it feels quite overwhelming. My chest is tightening just thinking of all that needs to be done.

So I will start with one project. My desk. That place where everything is set down to be looked at 'later on', until the pile grows so high that it slides onto the floor. The place where piles start out innocently enough and quite organized, thank you very much. But they grow in the dark and become monstrous, hiding important documents underneath the trivial papers waiting to be filed.

I just found the renewal for my driver’s license. Whoops! My birthday was over a week ago, so I am driving with an expired license. Well, hey, it’s only renewed every 8 years! Not something I keep on my calendar, y’know! So there is my first goal to accomplish.

I am easily overwhelmed with the abundance of tasks I try to complete in a day. Oftentimes my reaction is simply to give up and not even try. My friend Carol Anne Swett has some great ideas today in her blog that I think will help me to start slowly and to be gentle and kind to myself in the process of trying to redesign my world into a more organized state.

See, I always use the excuse that I am a creative individual and not a linear thinker.  And this is true! My thoughts are all over the place, which I think allows me to be who I am and to share the beautiful way I see life. But it can be a hindrance when I am trying to get organized. I get sidetracked with craft ideas or go into another room to put something away and somehow never come back to the original task. Tell me this never happens to you!

I like a clean home, and keep it clean the best I can. But the clutter that piles up from our supposedly ‘going paperless’ culture can be too much to deal with. And I am a saver. I have treasured notes from my children and handprint turkeys and crayon drawings I could never part with. So I just keep everything organized.

To some it is organized chaos. But I know where everything is. It’s when it gets to the point that I can’t find something that I get frustrated. And truly, the clutter is emotionally draining. Working at home as I do, I never leave my job or the housework, so it is all bearing down on me all the time. So I shut it all out and write or sing, or go for a walk. Then I am ready to come back to the puzzle and sort out the pieces, finding places for everything, and putting everything in its place.

I wish you all the best in 2012. Let's set simple goals, and find ways to attain them by taking baby steps, a little at a time. In this way we can all achieve successes and find our way to our bright futures. 

The Dawning of the Old Year - Time to Let Go

There have been year's end when I couldn’t wait for the new one to begin. Recent years, where so much begged to be left behind and a new year seemed the perfect opportunity to begin again. Joy and anticipation filled me with hope that I would begin anew, leaving the pain of past days behind me like closing a door and walking away.

I am blessed with a perpetually optimistic approach to life. My glass is usually half to almost full. So when these days, like today, dawn with clarity but less than optimistic ideals, I wonder what happened to deflate my balloon.

It is a reality that all days are not sunshine and roses, and the gloom of yesterday’s rain left me in a fog that confined me to warm covers of my room. In the middle of the night, awoken by my old, hungry cat (this is a nightly routine), looking out into the night sky I saw the brightest of stars right outside my window.

Thinking it was merely a reflection from some light inside, a closer look revealed that the clouds had indeed cleared and the stars were so close I could reach out to touch them, or so it seemed. Orion loomed immense on the western horizon, his feet almost standing in the level of the marsh. It was so beautiful I was tempted to don my winter coat and hat and go for a walk at 3 a.m. But that’s crazy talk in December in Wisconsin, even with a winter as mild as ours has been so far.

After hours of tossing and turning, sleep found me again. And now it is the morning of the last day of this year. I am not sad, but neither am I filled with anticipation at what lies ahead. Out with the old, and in with the new. Promises to myself to eat better, exercise daily, finally clean off my desk… these are nothing new and hold no real strength for diving into a new year with hope.

Why do I not feel that boost of energy, of anticipation? What do I need to jump start my new year with a feeling of hope, anticipation and joy?

Perhaps this is how others feel; people who do not ride on the highs and the lows of life like I do, but who keep a more steady flow in their lives. It isn’t a bad feeling, it just is not me.

Ah, the clouds are clearing and the sun slants across the grass still showing green at year’s end. The wind is low, and the temperature beckons a walk outside to breathe and to pray. As always, I will put my hope in the One who has a plan that I cannot see. I will trust that His love will guide me through all of my days and nights to come. And I know I will feel joy, love, hope, pain and suffering in this year. That is life. But I will hold tight to the love that never fails, never changes, and is always new for me each day – the love of my Savior.

  

Though I live on the ebb and flow of my emotions, the one constant I have come to know is the steadfast love of God in my life. I am thankful for this buoy to hold onto when I am floundering in vast seas of uncertainty. He keeps me afloat, and presses me onward to fight the good fight. I’m smiling now, the sun grows stronger and I realize my strength comes from beyond this earthly place. Hold onto hope. The Light is your beacon, too. He will guide you on the path of your future. Big smiles now. I’m going outside to greet the day.

Here are some of my favorite Bible verses to bring us hope for the new year and beyond:

           

God has a good plan for you …   “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

God is always faithful …   “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” Lamentations 3:22-23

God is always the same …   “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

God’s love endures ….   “For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.”   Psalm 100:5

                “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.” Psalm 107


All verses taken from the New Living Translation

Life is a Matter of Moments

Moments that we breathe, and moments that take our breath away. Moments captured in a photograph, a memory to revisit whenever we choose. Our lives are made up of moments, some so hurried we barely notice them. Other times the clock slows and we measure every minute’s passing.

What makes a life? And what marks the passage of time? Moments. Some are sacred, blessed moments alone with our God. Perhaps found in a cathedral forest beneath the canopy, with feet on solid ground and our heart in the heavens. Treasured times hiking through a tall grass prairie under blue skies. Feeling oneness with nature and all living things. Breathe, and the moment passes. Live in the moment. Each one is sacred.

We live in times so hurried that we have to run to catch up with ourselves. Clocks ticking, seasons changing, and life never slows. Make it slow down. Make time to breathe, time to pray, time to sing and to share joy. Life truly is what we make of it. So make it what you want it to be.

What better time, with a new year looming on the calendar, to pause and reflect on what we consider a life well lived. In my heart, I believe we were made for more than a daily grind of work and duty. Certainly we must work, but there must be balance to know peace.

We make balance by making time for what speaks to our souls. For some, this may be the nature walks I described above. Others find peace in simply being still, and it matters not the location.

Sometimes we thrive on connections with other people, and our shared energy produces something much greater than we could create by ourselves. There is strength to be gained by joining forces with others, and inner strength to be found by focusing inward in our search for peace.

Take time to assess your life. Is it in balance? What do you need to add, or take away, to create balance and peace in your life? Remember that time passes too quickly to put this review process off until next month or next year.

It’s worth the time to evaluate where we are in this life and how we really would like to be living. Change is never easy, but it is always worthwhile. Let’s make the necessary changes to bring better balance to our lives as we go into the new year. The payoff of peace and contentment will be worth it.