Happy New Year friends! I hope your 2013 is off to a good start. New Year’s is always the time when we reflect on our past year, size it up, and vow to make changes in our life. Perhaps we’ll try to improve our fortune or lot in life or alter our appearance. Maybe we go for the real heavy lifting and try to repair or improve our character, or perhaps just our perspective.
Maybe you too have written your resolution(s) on paper with measurable objective goals such as losing ten pounds by a certain date, or make partner at the firm this year, or finish the book you are writing, or train for and run a marathon before year’s end. Perhaps you’ve sworn off making resolutions, so this time next year you won’t need to remember what you didn’t achieve that which you set out to. You won’t have to be disappointed by the critic who resides in your head.
I find myself in both categories. I do intend to make certain changes each year. I even write some goals down. But by year’s end I am often hard-pressed to find the original list of goals. That’s because I’m a revisionist. Perhaps a bit flighty. Scattered. Changeable. Distractible. Priorities shift in my life seemingly the way the wind changes direction.
What do you wish for, just for you? Seriously, what is it that you most want to do different in your life, or attract towards your life? Someone? Something? Do you want more or less of the status quo? Do you want to do something radically different? Do you want to savor and hold on to your security and/or contentment? If you were given only one more year, how would you live?
When one thinks of the sad news of this year such as the massacres of innocent children and people in both Connecticut and Colorado, it doesn’t take long to realize we walk but a thin thread. Our lives are not only precious, they are sacred. Who’s to say when our last day will be? Only God knows.
I generally tend to focus on the positive in life, but that’s not to say I never complain. I certainly do. I make lots of intention lists and to do lists, and succeed much more on daily tasks then I do in general life goals. If I could resolve to do one thing, it would be simply this: To bridge the gap between what I INTEND to do, with what I ACTUALLY do
So this year, my goal is to live life more IN FOCUS. Focus on INTENTION with INTENSITY until it becomes ACTUAL REALITY!
It’s not enough for me to say I want to bring a meal to someone soon; I NEED TO DO IT.
It’s no longer acceptable for me to say, I hope to get to the gym soon; I NEED TO DO IT.
I can’t complain about that which I don’t agree with in the world, I must speak, write, act—I NEED TO DO IT!
I mustn’t just say I’m grateful for so much that I have been blessed with, I NEED TO LIVE MY LIFE as a response, a testimony or an exclamation mark if you will, that life is good, God is good, and TRUTH and LOVE are the antidote to all that is wrong in the world. TRUTH spoken in LOVE and LOVE SPOKEN TRULY can bridge what is divided in two, or hundreds of thousands for that matter, and be united into one. One love.
One. We are one, but we are not the same. Can we all find common ground in our humanity, our faith, our music, our beliefs, and our heart’s desire to become more selfless and less selfish? Can we learn to seek ways to cherish and nurture life, rather than injure and destroy it, starting with the words you say?
FOCUS. INTENTION. LOVE.
Love is a temple. Love the higher law. And this is a sacred honor: We get to carry each other.
Who will you lift up? Whose burdens will you shoulder? What risks will you take as you pour love from your heart?
It’s New Year’s Day. I will begin again. What say you?
May you too resolve to be all that God designed you to be this year. Happy New Year!
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2
NEW YEAR’S DAY – U2
u2areloved 