New Year + new goals = new habits.

It's 2011! I enjoy opening a new calendar or planner and seeing the blank pages ready to fill with all the important information...birthdays and anniversaries, doctor’s appointments, vacation dates.

It's a fresh new year full of possibilities and hope. Today is Monday. It’s the first week of the New Year. What is it about the beginning of the New Year that causes me to want to aspire to something new? People want to stop smoking, some want to get out of debt; many want to stop the bathroom scale from moving up yet another pound.

I’m one of those who looks back at the past year and hopes that I can change in the New Year; not just on the outside that is reflected in the number on my bathroom scale or the size of my jeans but change on the inside. I want the deep down in my heart change that only my Lord can accomplish in me. To accomplish the change then I have to seek Him out, search my heart, and cooperate with Him in changing the things that need to change. Repenting of the sins, asking forgiveness, adjusting my attitude are all part of surrendering my will, seeking His will and finding joy in Him
 This year I choose to focus on joy. Not just the emotional, happy kind of joy but the joy of the Lord. Joy is defined- keen pleasure or delight, something or someone greatly valued or appreciated. I want to delight in the Lord, find pleasure in Him, value time spent in prayer with Him and serving Him, and appreciate His working in me and in my life. Too often I focus on the negative, what I don’t like about the circumstances I find myself facing. But if I truly believe that God is in control, that everything is His plan for my life then I want to find the joy in it whatever “it” is.
 So 2011 is going to be a journey to open my heart and mind to joy. Joy in the day to day living and serving my family, joy in the big things like seeing my children and spending special family times together, and joy in the small things like sun shining through the prism hanging in my kitchen window splashing rainbows across the walls and ceiling, or the laughter shared as I watch my husband try to hoola-hoop with the Wii.

Joy in the midst of challenges and facing the hard things as well a joy in the pleasures and fun things in life. The more I come to know and trust my Lord, the fuller my joy becomes. Is it possible to form the habit of finding joy in every situation and circumstance?  I am told all things are possible with God.

This year I will find the joy, enjoy the moment, rejoice in Him, and not allow anything or anyone to steal my joy. There are 362 more days to practice this new adventure in joy with my Lord. I'm excited to see 2011 unfold.

Continuing to count my 1000 gifts…
141. Blank calendars.
142. Seeing my daughters face on Christmas day for the first time in 4 years.
143. Safe travels.
144. Italian restaurants open on Christmas day.
145. Giving good gifts to my family.
146. Watching my husband play on the new Wii…rolling on the floor laughing.
147. The sound of the shovel scraping the snow off the drive.
148. Heated car seats on freezing cold nights.
149. The joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.
150. Free ebooks


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