Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy New Year & Change

Normally about this time, people have already decided what their New Years Resolutions will be and I guess I am no exception. However, I am going to be a little different this year and keep my resolutions to myself. Why? Probably because if I don't tell them, no one will know if I kept them or not!! Sneaky of me huh?
The truth is that recently, I have really been more and more disturbed by the fact that people say they are going to do things and then they don't. I am just as guilty of doing exactly that at times. I have had some of the same resolutions every single year for as long as I can remember. I wonder - does it make me a "liar" when I say that I resolve to do something and then never actually follow through on it? Just a thought! Unfortunately as I typed that sentence, I "yelled" at myself for that very thing. So - for the sake of my sanity and my conscience, my resolutions will be kept quiet but I sure hope you all achieve yours!
The year 2008 promises to bring about some interesting changes in my life. First of all, my oldest child is getting home from his "sojourn" to lands unknown. Then he will be getting married in August and the men in my life will be even more out-numbered!!!! YES!!!!! My oldest daughter is moving on with life and gaining more independence. She has this "friend" you see who takes the biggest majority of her time and attention so the parents in her world are sort of taking on a new role! We just haven't figured it out yet!!! My youngest child now has legal permission to drive all by herself so there is the beginning of her "pulling away" from needing parents in the usual ways. I know that a "friend" for her is probably closer than I realize but I try to push it away for as long as possible!!
Change. It's inevitable I suppose but is one ever really ready for change? I read something this morning that just has really gotten to me. A very small portion of a verse in Psalm says, "because they do not change, therefore they do not fear God". I realize that I could be taking this all out of context but this has really stuck with me today! I really am not too sure that I can explain it either. My one thought is that sometimes there are things in our lives that God has brought to our attention again and again - things that we need to change for the betterment of our spiritual life or our lives in general but we sort of push it aside. Does that mean we don't really "fear God"? Another thought is that change happens in our lives but do we trust HIM with those changes or do we fear THEM? Me? It's actually easier to moan and worry and fret and stew over them!! I know - that isn't the right way to handle them at all. Maybe it's not that I don't FEAR God but that I don't wholly TRUST Him! Oh dear - now there is another whole can of worms!!
For me this new year is full of change but then just a few short verses later in the same Psalm, this is what I read - "Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved". Now THAT is a promise I can live with!! Happy New Year to you all! May Christ be all you need HIM to be in this year for I know HE will be to me!!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aren't we mothers all very much the same? I remember when Cheryl was a senior in high school and at a watch night service I was praying about all the changes coming to us the next year.....dauther graduating.....but God specifically showed me that He helped me when I was her age and He would her also. Unbeknowest to me that year would also bring a surprise pregnancy.....and now this next year you get to reap the results of that pregnancy! :) HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Anonymous said...

Hey, I do know how to spell "daughter".

Josh Kline said...

Who is this friend? Do I know him? lol It must be me!