I Want to be Different in 2012

I wrote this 2 days before New Year's Day 2012.

 This is the time of  year to shake off the post-Christmas blues and start looking toward a fresh start.  I love change and I love a new beginning.  Seems like this is a season of new beginnings for this Burtis family.  This morning, early before any one in the house was stirring, I sat in front of a big bay window in my living room with a hot cup of Starbucks Christmas blend and a pen in hand, asking God to tell me what He'd like my new year's pursuits to be.

I  love New Year's goal setting. This is when I start irritating my husband and kids as I encourage them to set goals for the new year too. (apparently, not everyone is a goal setter - who knew?) Still, I pound away: Let's strive toward something new!  Let's get rid of old habits.  Let's challenge ourselves to do something hard. I'm sure you've heard the old saying "if you aim for nothing, you'll hit it every time."  That is not acceptable. I want to be different and there's no better time of year to put hand to the plow and try to make it happen. I'm not actually advocating self-improvement, but rather I find it's best to ask God what area He would like to focus on regarding my sanctification and spiritual growth and then rely on the Holy Spirit to lead the way.

Admittedly, I'm reluctant to stop reading my Advent devotionals (trying to hold on to Christmas as long as possible) - still listening for God to speak through this "most wonderful time of the year".  I'm slowly finishing up "This Christmas Night" by Billy and Ruth Graham.  I'm stunned and delighted at what I read today and feel it is a direct answer to my inviting God to write my New Year's Goals list.  Maybe it will speak to you too.

My Revised Christmas List by Ruth Graham 

Let me offer for our consideration a revised wish list -

This New Years,  I am giving my parents more loving appreciation for the years of time and effort - yes, and money - that they invested in me, so much of which I took for granted.

To my neighbors - nice or not - I will give thoughtful consideration.  I will be slow to gossip, quick to sympathize, ready to help - praying all the while that God will give them the necessary patience to live next to me.

To those who serve me in restaurants or shops - grumpy or obliging, cold or curt or otherwise, I will be courteous, friendly, interested, remembering: If I worked so long for so little, if my back ached and my feet hurt, and if when I got home I still had supper to prepare, I too would be grumpy, cold or curt or otherwise.

To all I meet - remembering that each carries burdens known only to himself, and some too big to cope with - I will say the kind things I want (but hesitate) to say.  I will tell them the nice things I've heard about them.  I will express my appreciation warmly.  If there's nothing nice to say - I'll do more than keep my mouth shut sweetly, I'll find something nice to say.

To my husband - remembering how much he has to put up with and for how long - I will give a frank, honest reappraisal of myself.  I will remember that happy marriages don't just happen.  They are the result of good hard work.  Then I will take my Bible and reread those timeworn, ageless passages that speak of love and marriage and the responsibilities and privileges of wives.  Sensible, delightful, down-to-earth passages, which if any woman would follow would make her husband the happiest, most contented man on earth.

To my children - this new year I will be more articulate in my love and appreciation of them as persons.  If I cannot give them a perfect mother I can at least give them more of the one they've got - and make that one more loving.  I will be available, knowing that a mother needs, like God, to be "a very present help in trouble."  I will take time to listen, time to play.  Time to counsel and encourage.  In a world of confusion and uncertainties, I will give them the eternal truths of the Word of God.  I will try to help them cast their anchor on the goodness and mercy of God. (end of excerpt)

To this list I would like to add - to God through my prayers - I will redirect my motives.  Instead of daily seeking God to be my vending machine in the sky, expecting Him to gladly grant every request, I will pray for His glory to be revealed and obvious in every area of my life.  For His will to be done and that His purposes will be at the heart of each thing I ask for, resisting the natural urge toward self-gratifying prayers.  That others will see His glory and presence in my responses to life's challenges and blessings.

This is my newly adopted New Year's Goals list.  I will print it and read it regularly.  And through this type of giving, grows the giver I pray.  I want to be different in 2012.

Reminds me of a verse I've loved so much in 2011 - God speaking in Isaiah 48 "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.  Behold, I am doing a new thing: now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?"  Or more pointedly, do you not want it?