New Beginnings

I hope you all have had an enjoyable Christmas and are ready for the blessings of a New Year. I have had a reasonably enjoyable holiday season as well. Of course as you grow older, your gifts aren't as exciting as the one pictured here from when I was three (and yes I realize that I'm the proud new owner of a Knight Rider big wheel and that I was quite the tomboy back in the day-complete with freshly-painted red fingernails). Instead, our gifts dwindle to small pieces of intricately decorated green paper and we realize that the holidays are more about spending time with the ones we love. Goodness, I think I've been spending too much time in the Hallmark aisle of the local discount store.
So in addition to spending times with loved ones, I suppose this time of year is about reflecting back on the previous year and planning for the year to come. Without writing you one of those "yearly Beaver Cleaver family" type letters I suppose you could say my year was not what I expected. In one word I suppose you could describe it as a year of realization. Yet, I suppose (I think I'm beginning to sound repetitive) it is those periods of realization in our life that cause us to honsetly reflect on who we are and what we have become and that shape our ultimate resolutions. So here are my resolutions for next year:
1. I resolve to not be perfect and to realize that everyone else is not perfect.
Being in a professional environment for many hours out of ones' week leads one to falsely believe that one must strive for ultimate perfection and that anything less than perfection is unacceptable. I'm a human, you're a human, and we all make mistakes. I'm not condoning mistake-making; I'm just saying that people make mistakes and it's important that we remember that.
2.I resolve to not equate joy or being a good Christian to a constant state of happiness.
I think the most important lesson I learned this year is the above statement. Being a Christian doesn't mean life all of a sudden becomes a constant environment of sunshine and daisies. While sunshine and daisies are wonderful, God created us with a full spectrum of emotions that can and will be experienced sometime in our life. It's ok to express your emotions, even the "bad" ones like pain, grief, frustration, and anger. Of course there are healthy ways to express all of these emotions, but it is ok to express them. My Jesus was table-throwing angry, gut-wrenching sad, and jumping-up-and-down joyful at times kind of Jesus. It's ok to not be sunshine and daisies all the time.
3.I resolve to trust God.
It's a strange thing that how when you're in a valley so dark that the nights are filled with the skeletons in your closet dancing around your head instead of fluffy white sheep jumping over fences, that God feels closer than ever. Because at those points in your life, He's all you've got. You've exhausted all your attempts to "solve life's problems" and all you can do is let your Savior wrap his loving arms around you...and He will. God is faithful. It's ok to trust Him.
4. I resolve to accept that families are dysfunctional.... and to love them anyway.
We all pretend we come from perfect families, but we don't. At least I don't. Dysfunctional families began with Adam and Eve. Why should the present time be any different? But we still have to love those whom God has deemed our "family members" though at times that love is "tough" and at times that love is "blind" and at times that love is "enduring." I think one of the greatest challenges in life is learning how to love those we love most. And so it should be with our church family as well. I find it amusing sometimes when people search for the "perfect church." Church families have been "dysfunctional" from the beginning as well. Love them anyway.
5. I resolve to..I'm sure there's more to add to this list...

So I debated whether or not to publish this entry since I'm sure my blogging abilities have grown rusty from disuse, but I suppose (I really should find another phrase) someone might glean some tiny bit of wisdom, hope, encouragement, moment of reflection, etc... from my ramblings. If not, then I hope you have at least enjoyed the amusing picture.

Have a Blessed and Happy New Years!