Why I Didn't Make New Year's Resolutions

There is something about hanging a new calendar in the kitchen that invigorates me. All the new milestones, and hopes, and possibilities make starting January 1st so exciting. As we welcome the new year with energy and enthusiasm, it has been good for our family to take time to honor God for all that this past year held. Acknowledging how up to this point the Lord has helped us, grounds us and encourages us to breathe and walk through the new 2018. It strengthens our faith to bravely do the next things this next year.

I am usually so overwhelmed by the daunting task of naming all The Ultimate Resolutions – too much pressure! Truthfully, I haven’t given resolutions much thought in the last couple of years for this reason. Last week, however, I read a blog post called How To Stop All Procrastination: Dear You Trying to Do that Hard Thing in the New Year. Wow. That stopped me in my tracks, and I took the time to read it. One of the poignant messages of the post is the beauty of having a word of the month for each month of the year. The idea is to focus on just one good endeavor, a month at a time by writing it down and committing to it daily. Allowing myself to fill out one 3×5 card per month with my “purposes”, restored my hope that I can still achieve goals – just maybe not year-long intimidating ones that I must set by January 1st!

These monthly cards change everything for me! I have written the January word at the top of a 3 x 5 card, then brainstormed all the ways I can apply the word throughout the month. The small-discipline words are verbs (mostly) and I’ll add my own noun. For January, the word is “EMBRACE”. I’ve added “REST”. That’s it – “Embrace Rest”. The body of the card reads:

  1. Spend time resting in prayer daily.

  2. Simplifying dinnertime.

  3. Delegating evening clean-up.

  4. Look for more opportunities to sit with the children to talk, have tea, or read aloud.

  5. Resting is Trusting!

These are the twelve words for the year. One word for each month of 2018:

  • Embrace

  • Engage

  • Be

  • Believe

  • Break

  • Daily

  • Do

  • Let go

  • Learn

  • Live

  • Give

  • Grow

So here’s to a beautiful new year- a clean slate full of anticipations, expectancy and hopes.

with love. Damaris