The packages have been unwrapped, the roast eaten and all the Christmas traditions have been adhered to. Now is the time to sit back and contemplate the past year and think about what I’d like to accomplish in the new year.
I began the year with some lofty goals: dreams of getting publishing contracts, mountains climbed and grand, charitable endeavors. I guess I accomplished most of these, but on a scale much smaller than I’d anticipated. I’ve had articles published in two books and a story published in a magazine. Two other articles will be published early next year. My charitable work has remained closer to home than the mission trips I’d hoped to take, but I like to think that the elderly I work with and the missionaries we support have been touched by the help and money we gave this year. I didn’t climb a mountain, but I did stomp on some grapes…not quite the same thing but a lot more fun!
As for next year, I’d still like to get a contract for a novel, I still want to climb a mountain, I still want to go on a mission trip. But mostly, I want to strive to seek God first this year—every day in everything I do. The Bible says God longs to give us the desires of our hearts. I hope to get my will in line with God’s this year so that all my dreams are fulfilled in Him. I’m rather tired of trying to realize success by this world’s standards and hope to find my satisfaction by living the life God has chosen for me. That is the one goal I truly hope I meet in 2011.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. God bless you all with a wonderful, safe and healthy New Year!