A New Year

After a quiet Christmas week we hit the ground running. Late nights. Lots of sugar. No structure. A recipe for disaster in this family. We spent yesterday in Athens, Georgia. A college roommate of mine was getting married and what a joy it was to celebrate with her! We stayed with friends (another roommate of mine from post-college years) and talked away the hours while our two boys played with their three girls. We caught up with another college roommate of mine. We laughed and reminisced and passed along news of college buddies and traded parenting war stories. We actually rang in the new year at a pub in downtown Athens with these old friends from two very different era's of my life, joined together by this mutual friend's wedding. A small world indeed.

Today my blog reader and Facebook feed are full of people setting goals or picking an inspirational word for the year or looking ahead to big things they have in store. Which is all great. But honestly, I am tired. I have no word for 2012. No inspiration. No new goals even. Right now just looking at my calendar for the week ahead and seeing it full of obligations is a tad overwhelming. I am hoping a good 10 hour night of sleep will help my perspective a bit.

I feel like 2011 was full of introspection and self-evaluation. I feel like God was pulling back layers of my heart and life and revealing what was beneath. I slowly but consistently worked on some areas in my life that needed improvement and discipline. So I don't feel the need to use January 1st as a day to start something new. Rather, I hope to quietly continue and build on the progress that I made in the year passed:

- To continue to wake before the kids to have communion with God.

- To continue to take care of my body through regular exercise and healthy, nutritious food.

- To continue to serve and love others selflessly. (How is that for a vague goal that can never be completely achieved or measured?!)

I am trusting the words of Philippians 1:6 & 9-11 to be true:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus...And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

I haven't thought much about what this year will hold for us. We don't have any big plans. We know that God is in control and we can rest in His faithfulness and goodness for whatever 2012 may bring.