new year's resolution

(sometimes i have to just "say it" to myself, this is one of those posts.) 

I realize it isn't "even" Christmas yet and here I am already pushing the New Year with a subject of resolutions. I must be just a little bit off, huh? Let me explain why I think not. 

Probably a dozen years ago I started to set goals for my life, and it seemed that it always began sometime around the middle of December. I am the kind of person who likes Monday morning because it somehow symbolizes a new start for me. I get to start the week over and try to get it better in the new week, learn more, see more, do more, live more, than I did in the week prior.

December seems like the fitting time to sit down and write out goals, as I examine my life, evaluate the past year and kind of look into my life and see where I would like to make changes and live the next year differently. Some years I am more specific with those life resolutions than other years. Some years I've been more vague, and less stringent about setting real goals for my life. I think those are the years when I've been more settled, happier and feeling more full filled in whatever roll my life was playing out on this planet we call Earth. I had less of a reason to feel like I needed to change much because of what was going on in my life those years. 

As I have been gaining birthdays and having deeper conversations with my friends and having a deeper relationship with my Savior, I feel the need to really examine my life this year. Really, really examine. Honestly, I don't have to do much, my heart is already telling me so much, it is like pushing me to "move on and grow". It is a matter of the heart and soul for me. I long for growth, I long to be utilized using my strengths and abilities, and for awhile now I've been living unchallenged and very stagnant it feels like. 

I wonder, does anyone out there wrestle with this subject?

Or, is it just me? 

I really wonder? 

A couple years ago one of my friends told me she picks out one Bible verse each year to live by. She actually took a mix of verses and made her own little life verse and it was simply, "To be in the world, but not of the world." Since then she has lived it fiercely. I can tell how resolved she is with each conversation we have. She will describe a situation she was in and then she will tell me how she responded because of her life verse and will quote, "You know Lue," she says, "I am in the world, but NOT of it." It is her conviction and it is what keeps her grounded, balanced and accountable. 

Isn't that awesome? 

I think it is.

vision statements

I know, I'm not in business, but as successful businesses go, they have a vision statement.  You know where there are going and how they are going to get there. I remember years ago when my husband's company was still small, the spouses were invited to more seminars and parties and such than we are today. At one such function we got to attend the CEO of the company was speaking and wanted to know if any of the spouses knew what the company's vision statement was and by golly, we knew. Why? Because they involved their employees and even the spouses in various activities of the company. We were all on board. So, thinking about that, the excitement I felt being a small part of my husband's company, feeling included and all, I learned so much from them about, not only, business, but also, personally. (This post is NOT about business or running a business, I wouldn't know the first thing about it, it is only how I am trying to make a point here.) 

Seems to me if a company needs a clear vision of where they are going and how they are going to get there, then it makes sense to come up with a personal vision statement and a clear plan for my life and then share it with those around you. Like my friend would share her, "To be in the world, but not of the world" verse with me many times in each conversation we had over that year's time. In fact, I think it still carries into some of our conversations today. Why? Because she planned it well, she made it her vision for her life and it really impacted her life on many levels. I could tell each time we spoke she was more resolved to not live like the world, but to be set apart. And what did her vision statement do for me because she shared it with me so often? I started to get it, I started to think about that and it has truly impacted my life, just because she shared it with me so often. I also have been very careful around her, not to cause her to stumble in areas where I know she doesn't want to go. I was not always so sensitive to my friend, but once I knew her vision for her life, I became more sensitive of her convictions.  

The Bible says in Proverbs 29:18, Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. KJV

I am convinced that we need a vision for our lives, individually, and also in the church and the family, and, at the end of the day, wherever there are human beings, there needs to be a vision or we become stagnant and just live in the "daily grind of life" with never a thought of anything beyond our normal routine and survival. 

normal routine and survival?

How incredibly boring is that? When you really think about it. Why not live with a heart of adventure and not be so afraid of what comes next? Of course, we have to be responsible, but do we have to be so responsible that there is no room at all for growth and God's will in our lives? In my life????? 

To tell you the truth, I have not "ironed all of this out" in my soul. I don't have it all nice and neat in a box, but I do know that I want to work on a vision statement for my life in the next few days and I hope to find a way to map out some of my life goals and what I believe is God's will for my life and work toward those goals. I want to be specific, not vague with my intentions, and I want to ask God for His will in my life. I want that front and center because it just feels so much better that way. 

God's will in my life front and center.

It feels good that way. 

Will I be able to come up with such a vision statement that will inspire others as I have been inspired both by my friend and my husband's company's technique of including all in the vision? I don't know, but I think it is worth a try. And, it is living life with a heart of adventure and responsibility all in the same breath. 

So, like I mentioned when I began this post, I don't think it is too early to be thinking about my resolutions or life vision statements, or whatever you want to call it. I believe I need to seek God's will in this matter through prayer and I believe I need to not be flippant about it, but think it through, be precise and then live it. 

love and blessings,

lue