New Year's Resolutions

We are winding down another year. It is common for folks to make New Year’s resolutions to help kick-start the fresh new beginning.

I, on the other hand, often do not make resolutions. I really don’t like them, and I was trying to figure out just exactly why.

I think it might have something to do with how long a year is.

I don’t like making plans that I don’t intend to fulfill. I have always been a woman of integrity. I do what I say I am going to do. I don’t make promises that I am not going to keep.

So, making decisions for an entire year is rather overwhelming, to say the least. I may think my resolution is something that I can commit to for the short-term, but a full year is something else entirely.

I also have been in the habit of making each day begin with a fresh start. When I spend 365 mornings, re-creating my thoughts for a new day, it seems rather redundant to devise yet another to-do list for the New Year.

There have been years in my past where I did make a resolution – usually around losing weight. Of course, I have never actually achieved my desired goal in that arena. That makes it more likely that my disdain for New Year’s resolutions has more to do with fear of failure than any other plausible answer.

As 2017 is winding down to one last weekend, I am at a decision-making point. Do I want to set a projected course for 2018? Am I willing to decree my intentions, which means that I have to focus on the plans I am making? Do I want to actually declare my intentions for this fresh start in the New Year?

I find myself saying that I do. So, here is what I want:

More God

More opportunities to be an intercessor

More opportunities to be Jesus for others

More opportunities to be a conduit of financial blessings for others

More opportunities to see Kingdom work in action

Less self-focus

Less reactions to others

Less angst and emotion

More love

More God

There.  I said it. That is what I want for 2018.

What are you planning?