I have decided that this year I am not making a resolution. Lets face it, a resolution is just something we figure we SHOULD be working on, but don't really want too. The only reason we generally dub it as a resolution is because be need something to tell people when they ask what ours is.
I think true change happens when no one is looking, when we least expect it. In my personal experience, any time true change has happened, it hasn't started on a special date. I have just decided one day that I have had enough and something's gotta give. More importantly it never happens as a result of anything I do on my own.
As I look back over the last year I have realized I'm on a journey to self improvement. Or rather God and I are on a journey to improving me. I have no special list of things to change, no big master plan, no map to get me there. I have a general idea of my character flaws I feel need to be resolved, and a blurry picture of who I want to be. I'm sure God has a much clearer path laid out and I'm just waiting for him to reveal it. The thing is if I limit myself to only improving certain things, think of all the things I might not notice! Think of all the things God would not be able to do in my life!
This year I have finally gotten being a homemaker down. I have good routines and habits that are keeping our home clean and clutter free. I have a great deal more peace and happiness in my life as a result. This is something I have tried to resolve on my own MANY times, always to no avail. However this time I worked at it, and I prayed about it. And yes, I do believe God has helped me achieve success in this area. After all we are told that God cares about EVERYTHING, even my stress over a messy house. I still want to work on my patience and my tendency to be a little (or a lot) bossy, and my relationship with God, just to name a few.
I have no time line. I figure as the Lord decides I'm ready he will guide me toward the thing that needs improved most at that time, the thing I'm truly ready to work on and change. Perhaps it will be something I hadn't even considered as being a problem. I've always made my life about ME, and what "I" can do, what "I" can handle. The more I give myself over to God, the more blessed I am becoming, and the more inner peace I have. The more God is able to mould me and use me. After all that is the point isn't it? To be servants of God, to be a witness and an example of his love, mercy and forgiveness and a voice to those who have not yet had the pleasure of getting to know him.
So my only wish this year is this; may everything I do be to the glory of God. May I be open to what HE feels I need to change and to becoming the person HE needs and wants me to be. May a simply be still and know what he is God.
