A Brand New Year

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Once again, a brand new year has prompted us to reflect on the past and resolve for the future.

I'm not so big about making New Year's Resolutions. No reason, except that I have SO MANY opportunities each and every week to say to myself, "Okay, Self, you really can do better than this. You CAN keep up with the laundry/be more patient/get back into those jeans/___fill in the blank___. C'mon, work it girl. Feel the burn."

So, when it comes to the new year and everyone is listing their resolutions, I never even bother because I have a running list already bouncing around in my head.

Or it could be that I'm just too lazy.

In any case, I DO think a lot about the events of the past year and wonder what the new year will hold. Every year since I have been a little girl, I wonder if THIS will be the year Jesus comes and we meet him in the air.

Since I have been catching up with a few friends from high school through Facebook, I have been thinking about sitting on that stage in my cap and gown 25 years ago waiting to receive my diploma with 400 other students.

I envision what it would have been like if a stately gentleman in a suit would have turned to us and begun pointing at different individuals. He would say in a deep, serious voice, "You, young man, will become an attorney and the father of four daughters."

"You will die of AIDS. You will be shot in a random act of violence and spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair. You will feed and minister to inner city runaways. You will marry and divorce three times. You will homeschool your seven children."

And on and on until every last one of us heard our futures.

Would we have believed then what we are living now? Would it have made a difference? Would those who would encounter violence or suffering have lived any differently so as to change their course?

When I think about this new year, I wonder what it holds in store for my family and those we love.

Are we living our best lives? If we could know what the future holds, would we live any differently?

“Real Evaluation”

Is anybody happier because you passed this way?
Does anyone remember that you spoke to him today?
The day is almost over, and its toiling time is through;
Is there anyone to utter now a kindly word to you?
Can you say tonight, in parting with the day that’s slipping fast,
That you helped a single person of the many that you passed?
Is a single heart rejoicing over what you did or said?
Does the person whose hopes were fading, now with courage look ahead?
Did you waste the day, or lose it? Was it well or sorely spent?
Did you leave a trail of kindness, or scar of discontent?
As you close your eyes in slumber, do you think someone will say,
“You have earned tomorrow by the work you did today?”

John
Hall

**This marks my second full year of blogging! Come back later today for a giveaway!