Happy New Year
On New Years Day, our family spent the day just hanging out. While we took down our Christmas tree, we shared our disappointments, confessed our shortcomings and counted our blessings of 2008. The disappointments were authentic, the confessions were heartfelt, and the blessings were abounding.
Here are some just some of the blessings that we counted:
* For my cell phone. –R
* For my loving family. –J
* For Daddy working on our computers and keeping them running. –R
* For Daddy and I having 16+ years of a healthy and strong marriage. –L
* For all the time that Mommy got my school work prepared even though she had other things to do. –R
* That we get to home-school. –L
* For KVPAC and Hits theatres. –R
* For the time Daddy spent with me to prepare for Peter Pan. –R
* For Daddy’s time remodeling the kitchen. –L
* For friends. –J
* For the musical, Wicked. –R
* For our health. –D
* For my continued freedom from cancer. -L
* For my email – it helps me stay in touch with my friends and get through life. –R
* For video games. -J
* For Harvey (our dog). –R
* For my youth group and Profession of Faith class. –R
* For my gymnastics. –J
* For Ms. Steel, Ms. Lauren, Ms. Lynsey (dance instructors) and ballet, tap and jazz. –R
* For Josie, a friend the same age just down the street. –R
* For our home. –L
* For all my BFF (Best Friends Forever) and their encouragement and help. –R
* For God’s faithful and sanctifying work in our lives. -D
We then set personal and family goals for 2009. Each of us thought of a Spiritual, Physical, Mental, Community Service, and Family Service goal. We will be coming up with action plans for each of these goals to insure that each has a roadmap for success. We also spoke the following declaration (credit to e-columnist Kevin Nuber):
In agreement with God’s Word that says God intends to give me ‘a future and a hope,’ I offer these goals and plans to Him as a gift from my heart. I challenge myself to see exploits done for His Kingdom through my life. I will ‘redeem the time’ during this next year. I fully understand that all goals are subject to change and to the perfect will of God. By His help these dreams of my heart shall become reality!”
Lisa and I closed out our day by cooking together an old fashioned meal that included black-eyed peas, sautéed cabbage with bacon and grilled pork chops (pictured above).
An Historical Perspective
New Year’s Day, as we know it, was first celebrated in 46BC when Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar. The month January was named for the Roman mythological god Janus, who has two heads, one looking forward, the other looking behind. The image was placed commonly at doorways to guard those coming and going. This “looking” is essentially where the tradition of new year resolutions comes from – the looking back at what has past and the looking forward to what is to come.
Happy New Year!
-D