It's gonna be my year..

I recently read a short story in a daily devotional that my friend Linda got me for Christmas. It talked about how a teacher was trying to explain to the children what a resolution was and so they wrote their own New Year's resolutions on paper snowmen and posted them to the board. The teacher noted that within a few hours, each of the students had "forgotten" their resolutions to behave and pay better attention in class.

It seems fitting to share this because I think we as adults can relate.

How many times do we attempt to make good decisions and better decisions only to fall backward? In the church sermon Saturday at the Weirton Seventh-Day Adventist Church, the preacher referenced Proverbs 26:11 which states, "As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly." I believe that we've all returned to the proverbial vomit at one time or another and said or did something that if it were made public, we would not have been so foolish. Sometimes, it takes more than one time to learn a lesson but there are also times when it takes only once.

I think it is important to admit one's mistakes and do what we can to learn from them, hopefully without having to repeat them. Unfortunately, I am one of those people who learns better the hard way. I guess I like to just figure things out on my own... I'm a bit stubborn.

A few things I have learned this past year is that no matter what you do or who you are there are always going to be people who love and care about you and it starts with our Heavenly Father. I have learned that I have strength inside of me I never knew existed and one of the hardest things I have had to learn is that I am only human; I have many flaws and sometimes make bad decisions. (This is usually a result of my leaping before I look.)

There are moments when I feel like I am the only one and I sit around wondering if I am the only one who struggles or if I am the only one with these problems, at work and at home. I don't share a lot of what goes on in my personal life in regards to my family or in the workplace... some of the stories are unbelievable but trust me when I say I couldn't make this stuff up if I wanted to.

Anyway, with the help of my close friends and my church family I have learned that I am not alone and neither are you. EVERYONE makes mistakes and EVERYONE struggles. John 8:7 says, "Let him who is without sin be the first to cast a stone."

I believe striving to be better is a lifetime commitment. It is something we must resolve to do daily and even minute by minute if we have to.

So, what I propose this year is not to make a bunch of resolutions that we will more than likely "forget," but simply wake up each day and try to live each moment better than the one before it. Take the time to get to know Christ. As we get to know Him better, He will work in us "to will and to act according to his good pleasure" -- Philippians 2:3. The rest of the stuff - losing weight, stop smoking, being more considerate, attending church faithfully and whatever else you struggle with in your life - will come later. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose," -- Romans 8:28.

So, even if you have made mistakes and bad choices try to find a way to forgive yourself. You are not the first, nor the last. You are only human and this is a new year filled with many possibilities.

"A long December... and there's reason to believe that maybe this year will be better than the last. ..." -- Counting Crows