Happy 2011!

It's a new year with new hopes and promises. Why does it feel so much different than yesterday? Simply because the whole world is launching into a new year altogether? Perhaps. It's as though we all have the same chance to start over and do things right.

Does that mean that everything I did before was wrong? No, but without a doubt, mistakes were made. We can put those in the past. The calendar says we can do that. We've turned a new page, and it's blank, just waiting for us to fill it in with new events, new friends, new activities.

I don't make resolutions. I believe those just set you up for failure. I don't need any help or encouragement to fail.

My life underwent many extreme changes this year. My youngest child moved out. I went back to work. Friends have lived through major changes and traumas in their lives. I became a truck driver. No, that's not my new job, but I traded vehicles with my son last January and realized that I like driving a pickup. So when the time came for a new vehicle, I got another truck.

With God's help, I succeeded in turning around a nearly bankrupt company. When I walked through the door, their debt was almost $100,000, Today, it is just over $15,000. For the first month, I came home and cried every day because I was afraid I couldn't do it. Week after week, I looked at the bills that were due and payroll needs and prayed for exactly the amount of money I needed to meet those obligations. Time and time again, God sent exactly what I asked for. My boss prayed along with me, and in the last couple of weeks, I can see that he is finally beginning to believe it has happened. The debt affected his credit rating and I am working hard to restore that to its former high level.

What does 2011 hold for me? I don't know. I now have a job I love. I work close to home and get off between 1 and 2 every day. I have to take calls after hours, but I can do that from anywhere else I need or want to be. Today, I finished our 2010 album. In it are memories of the good times we've had. I didn't tell stories of sad times or the difficulties we've encountered. I know from experience that God graciously erases those from my memory over time unless I dwell upon them. I am determined not to do that.

There have been hurts, but there have been so many more blessings. It is those blessings that I will choose to remember and love those memories.

So my hope for any and all who read this is that you, too, will look to 2011 as a time to adventure into new things. I established a quiet time about 16 months ago, and I have stuck to it without fail. I intend to continue that through 2011. There is peace in my day when I start it with God's Word. I have been so much more patient, controlled and positive this past year. I wish I hadn't waited over 50 years to develop that routine.

I have continued to knit, though not as consistently as I did before I went back to work. As noted earlier, I've kept our family memories up-to-date in albums. Those are things I want to continue doing. But a couple of ideas were raised today by my son and his girlfriend. She has asked herself repeatedly the past couple of days, "What are you trying to build?" Now, that's a deep question. I find it one I want to delve into also. My son reminded me today that we are "on the mission field" wherever we are. I want to live out Christ in me to everyone I am in contact with every day of 2011.

Are those resolutions? No, but they are directions in which I want to walk. Just as I had to cling to my verse for the year over and over again in 2010, I will have to remind myself daily of my decision to reflect Christ and build something for Him this year. With His help, I will succeed in that also. And the promise and excitement of this first day of a new year will continue each day throughout 2011.