Hello 2013

With the holidays barely behind us and a new year already upon us, I feel the need this year more than ever to make some resolutions that I can immediately accompany with action steps. These need to be more than grandiose goals I jot down in a journal or wistful longings I have to “be a better person.” With each passing year, I think I’m becoming more aware of how very quickly the months fly by as a whole. And, I don’t want to sit down at the start of 2014 and say, “Another year flew by! And, look! I haven’t changed a bit.”

No. I need to do some things differently this go-round. I need to do the hard work… the heart work… of changing. I need to be less concerned with what everyone else is doing {via social media} and much more concerned with what I’m supposed to be doing… for Him, for my family, for my circle of friends and neighbors, for my church, and for myself.

I need to shut out enough of the clamor to rediscover things like quiet and rest and play and even boredom.  {I think the invention of the iPhone, which I love, may have marked the end of boredom}. My kids are 5, 4, and 14 months, so I don’t experience a lot of quiet or boredom in the traditional sense of those words. But, I think about the time I spend sitting in the car line at school or rubbing their backs at night, and my mind never stops because it’s always being stimulated by news, or blogs, or status updates, or Pinterest ideas. It’s all lots of fun. But, I’m not sure it’s always healthy. I think about what it might cram out… creativity, prayer, rest.

So, I hope to carve out more time to be still, even if those are only tiny pockets of “still.” Maybe then I’ll quit worrying so much about what I could be doing or might be missing or could be making or should be baking. Maybe I’ll have time to think a little more about the people and the opportunities right in front of me. People, that’s what matters.

And, speaking of people I spend a lot of time with… I know three girls who have some resolutions of their own.