Year in Review - Part 2, aka What I Refuse to Call Resolutions

I am not much of a firm believer in resolutions, because I think they are the same thing as promises, only they are to yourself, and that somehow seems even worse in a way. When I became a mom, one of the first things I promised myself (ha. irony.) is that I would never say "I promise" to Sam - and for the most part, I haven't. But still, when it comes to New Year's resolutions, we all still commit this crime - whether or not we express it to the world outwardly or not. So if I DID make any resolutions this year - then they are staying with me :)

However, here are four things I am committing to in 2010 - and I am majorly looking forward to them :) And as a side note, they are in no particular order because obviously Jesus is more important to me than interior decorating.

1) "Renovate" every room in our home
The first goal is to thoroughly organize every single room in our home, and then starting this month, liven up each room in our house with some redecorating. It will be on a tight budget and it will not have guests gasping in amazement, but by June every room will be complete in little ways that make me happier about living in Sacramento. And then, perhaps at my happiest, it will only be a year or two longer before we can sell this house and move somewhere a bit safer and a bit nicer - without ever getting ahead of ourselves in remembering what's important in life.

2) Dig deeper into God's word
What Christian DOESN'T have this resolution, er, I mean COMMITMENT. ;) But it is good to say/type aloud to remember it's importance. It can easily come before other things in my life - ahem, facebook - and I intend to make it more of a priority. I hope this will become apparent in my blog as the Lord grows me.

3) Refuse to compromise when it counts
God has placed a calling on all of our lives - and lately he has all but screamed mine at me. It's all I think about, and there are three projects in 2010 that I am all fueled up and ready to get going. I refuse to compromise and accept "good enough" when it comes to my ministry opportunities and my personal walk with the Lord. I have become brave enough now to be wise in what I do, but to be clear in what God wants from me. I am nervous, yet excited, to see what the Lord reveals when I am 100% obedient to His guidance.

The other end of this is to not be a bulldozer. Events in the past few months have shown that some just don't care when I thought they did. I am prone to conniptions and now I have fresh insight that the true solution just may be that I need to care 300 times more if others are going to care less. But no matter what, I can always practice kindness, gentleness and self-control. God's ambition never includes hurt feelings and squashed friendships.

4) Write letters more
Email and social networking has robbed us of the true blessing of the written word. So many people in my life deserve a quality letter and an "i love you" that wasn't pounded out of a keyboard. And now I have a good excuse to buy more stationary :)

Happy New Year, everyone. This may not be deep and profound, but I am happy with who I am and who I am on the way toward becoming. And what more can I ask for?