To the New Year

Let's start by getting the elephant out of the room. Yes, I have taken a very extended break from the blog world. But for a very specific purpose. I was turning my blog into an actual book! I made the books as gifts to my parents and while it was so fun to do, it was also time consuming. Most of my spare moments were spent working on them. They turned out really well though and I am excited and much more motivated to be consistent in my blogging this year.

That being said, let's move on to the New Year. And yes, I acknowledge I'm four days late.

As a new year rolls in, I've noticed that people tend to fall into one of two camps. They either reflect well on the year behind them. Or they focus on the year ahead.

I've never been much of a looking back person. If something doesn't get journaled about in the moment, it rarely gets recorded at all. There is great value in being able to reflect on the past well, but I just don't have it. At least not when it comes to recent past. I do better with things that are years and years old. Regardless, what I'm trying to say is that I'm not going to reflect on 2010. It was a great year and a hard year and God showed up in some of the biggest ways I've ever seen Him. But now is the time to keep walking on.

2011 has the potential to bring about great big change. Changes that could be amazing and scary and will cause me to rely on God in completely new ways.

It also has the potential to have life continue on the way that it has, not much changing circumstantially, but allowing me to find joy in the quiet stillness of Jesus' arms.

Either way, I'm game. God will decide what tomorrow is going to bring and I have absolutely no idea what it's going to be. No matter what, with Him, it's never anything short of an adventure.

That being said, although I don't make "resolutions" I do think it would be fun to think through some things I would like to see happen just for myself. If they do, they do. If they don't, they don't. Some of them may be completely out of the realm of possibility. And that's okay. Others I may get done today. But I am excited when December 31, 2011 rolls around to see what's been accomplished.

So here's a rough list of things that I want to do, just for myself:

read the whole stack of books that's on the bottom of my bookshelf~pray every day for humility~get my camera fixed~delete 100 emails a day from my inbox until i have less than 300~pay off 3 credit cards~blog at least 3 times a week~take a photoshop class~memorize the history of redemption~make it to the new testament in my chronological bible reading plan~go camping~visit the mountains in north carolina~see the piland family in real life~pray extensively, every day, for at least one person other than myself~give away all clothes that i don't wear regularly~send a letter or package to someone different every month of the year~journal at least 2 times a week~learn how to recreate my blog~go gluten free for 3 weeks to see if a wheat allergy is what is causing my stomach problems~tithe~do my quiet time every morning before work~take a dance class~love the heck out of the people around me, and pay attention to how to love each individual person best~go home to st. louis for a weekend, just because~hang more pictures on my wall~learn how to do one new crafty thing~read the whole chronicles of narnia~spend more time with my middle schoolers and celebrate their last year of middle school well~cook a new recipe every week~go somewhere beautiful and watch the sun rise or set~start walking regularly~invest in a specific community of people at abf~pray frequently for the girls i mentor and develop a bold friendship with them~be more observant of and thankful for the small, easy to miss blessings in my life

That's a start...more likely to come later. Happy New Year friends!