He gathered us in the family room where he stoked the last flames of 2010. We nestled into comfy spots around the room while my husband asked each child what important thing they remembered from the past year. What needed to be changed? We prayed, one at a time, and asked God to guide us in 2011.
I left that room knowing my short-comings are going to take a big God to work through and demolish one by one. Habits and thought patterns that I'd like to sweep up into the dustpan of last year, linger like dust-bunnies that skitter off with every attempt to capture them. I won't take them with me into 2012. I can't, for they weigh me down and stifle my purpose and my goals. Thankfully, He IS a big God. He can do it. He would have done it by now, had I stopped taking control back into my own hands. On this first day of the new year I give it all to Him freely. While I still feel in these first hours that I can give them to Him, I will. And each day from this point on, I will renew that commitment... for my own good.
My husband had his own things to say goodbye to and as we kissed the new year into our home, he declared adieu to a decade of what he wanted to let go and I gripped him with tears brimming. Our God is involved in our lives to the extent that we allow Him to be. He is ready to provide a way for us to successfully live according to His plan... the only good plan. That, my friends, is hope. Hope for a new year.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord... (Psalm 37:23)
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12 )
