With the changing of the year comes a time for reflection, for assessing the past. That is followed b y a time for planning, for making resolutions for the future.
But the past is gone. Lessons, learned, I hope. And the future will always be out of grasp. The present is all we have.
Maybe that's why most resolutions are doomed to fail. We promise ourselves something, we resolve to do something in the future which is never now.
Maybe that's why by the end of January we forget the resolution to lose weight, to go to the gym more often, to call on our friends.
It makes resolutions seem nothing more than empty promises we make to ourselves.
So why make them?
 |
| Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present. ~Marcus Aurelius |
I decided long ago not to. I do not like people who break promises, especially with me, so why would I do that to myself?
This year, I've decided to do something different.
Recently, I read Debbie Macomber's One Perfect Word. Pick it up at your local library. If they don't have it they can get it for you through interlibrary loan. Or better yet, but it, read it and then donate it!
In brief, Ms. Macomber selects w word and spend time with it throughout the year. she devotes a journal to the word and explores its meaning and uses. She looks for it in her scripture and other readings, and watches to see how it plays out in her life.
It is a lovely idea that intrigues me.
She writes how her chosen word is one she it moved to take on.
I have noticed certain words or ideas that crop up in my own life. They seem to demand my attention. I usually just brush them off with a quick "oh, there's that word again" and don't go beyond that.
I am going to change that in the new year.
For the past month a certain word has been asking for my attention. I feel drawn to it. And I think it's high time I listen and spent the time it's demanding of me. There is no telling where it might lead.
This idea of spending time with a word seems to hold more possibilities than the empty promise of a resolution.
And, no, I am not going to tell you what the word is that is demanding my attention. You need to find one of your own.
I hope that the new year is a safe and happy one for you. May you find all the joy and love your heart can stand and then some more.
Happy 2014!!!!!!
