this new year

Twenty-Eleven is past. I can’t change anything about it now, even if I wanted to.  When I think about Twenty-Twelve, I think of the choices that I want to make.

This new year, I want to worry less and trust Him more. I can’t know what the days of 2012 will hold, but what I do know is that He knows. I want to rest in Him a little more this year than I ever have before.

This new year, I want to smile more. I know I don’t smile as much as I should. I want to work on those wrinkle lines around my eyes and mouth that will one day be evidence of the way I chose to view the happenings of my life.

This new year, I want to find joy everywhere. I want to be like a bird who sings even when my heart feels like there is no song. I want to find joy in unexpected places, and I want to be like the stars, and light up the darkness around me by sharing  the joy He gives wherever I go.

This new year, I want to read more real books again.  Blogs are wonderful and can inspire and challenge me in so many areas of my life, but there is still nothing like sitting under the trees with a book and soaking it in and letting God use the words to speak strength to my heart.

This new year, I want to listen more and talk less. Sometimes, saying it best really does mean saying nothing at all. It is a skill I feel God asking me to perfect.

This new year, I want to become a better companion. I want to bless my husband, to hold up his hands, to challenge him and encourage him in the good things of this life.  I want to be a better friend. I want to reach out more, and be a blessing to the dear people God has put in my life. Only God’s grace can help change my fumbling attempts into something beautiful and good.

This new year, I want to live this life that He’s given me on purpose. I want to let Him direct my steps, and not be so easily distracted by the nonessential things.

This new year, I want to learn how to write.  It overwhelms me when I think of how much I don’t know about writing well. If writing is part of what makes me feel His smile, I want to become better, so that what I write will honor Him more fully.

This new year, more than anything, I want Him to be the purpose of my life and my passions. Nothing else matters, except that He is honored by the humble outworkings of my life.

I don’t really know what Twenty-Twelve is going to look like. Sometimes that both thrills me and terrifies me a little. But now, in the dawning of this new year, these are the kinds of things I want to choose. I can’t change circumstances, but I can choose to find beauty and to trust Him with the future. This is where I want my focus.

This new year, what do you choose?

This new year, may He be the very center of our choices.

photograph of Janine P. in a beautiful Colorado mountain field taken by her husband, Joshua