I have never been one that made any New Year's "resolutions." Not that I don't think they are important, but rather because I figured I probably wouldn't stick to them anyway. I know many people do make them, and do a pretty good job of fulfilling them. It's never a bad idea to set some goals for yourself no matter, what time of year right?
Growing up, I remember my dad always going on his yearly "diet" starting January 1st to lose all the extra pounds he had put on that year. I recall him being quite successful at losing the weight year after year (good job Dad, keep up the good work!)
I've always noticed that at whatever health club I belonged to at that time, there would be an in-flux of new members or returning members - all ready to tackle their New Year's 'resolution' of either losing weight, getting in shape, or getting healthy. Unfortunately, (or shall I say fortunately for me :), by mid-February or so, the exercise and locker rooms have pretty much cleared out and the club is a lot less crowded.
So for 2011 I decided to make a New Year's "resolution" for the first time and I plan to stick to it. Why THIS year all of a sudden? Why NOW? Why NOT now? I thought. No time like the present.
Maybe because a New Year, starting January 1st, feels like a fresh start in someway - a New Beginning.
A chance to 'begin anew'. The opportunity to let all of last year, all of the ups and downs, get stored away on your bookshelf of Life, and then to focus on a making positive change in your Life for the new upcoming year.
Okay, so which ONE do I pick? For Pete's sake, there are so many I could choose from. And I want to pick one that I can REALLY focus on so I can feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the year, right? I pondered. This is the first time I'm doing this, after all. I want to give it a good shot, my best effort.
In the stillness (this is still SO hard for me to do), I asked myself: What do I NEED most in my life right now? What positive change do I need to make in my Life that I KNOW will be used for good in someway, no matter how hard the pursuit is?
The answer came in a whisper, as it always does:
Pursue Shalom (the Hebrew word for Peace)
So this is my New Year's "resolution" for 2011: to pursue Peace in my Life.
And for me, that is going to look like getting my priorities in order. And not only getting them in order, because on paper, they already are, but in my Life, I am NOT living them out. We all say we have them, but how many of us, me included, actually give at least the top 3, our ALL? What about #1 on our lists? Do we even give that ONE, 100% of ourselves? Probably not. Life just gets in the way somehow.
In my evaluation of MY 2010, I realized that I don't have Peace because I haven't given my #1 priority on my list ALL OF ME. And I know for me personally, IF I do THAT, then I am promised Peace.
And I am willing to pursue that, however it looks, and whatever it takes. Because I NEED Peace desperately. Don't you? I know we all want World Peace, but what about Peace in our souls, in our lives, in our families, in our homes? Don't we all WANT that? Well, I know I do.
Wow! Talk about taking on my very first New Year's "resolution" with a 'take charge attitude'! ;)
But for those of you who know ME and my personality, I tend towards the side of the "Type A's", and therefore, I am pretty driven to accomplish my goals, which hasn't always been a good thing for me, unfortunately. However, I am still in the "learning process" of how to work with (instead of against), my strengths AND weaknesses, as best I can. I may need to be held accountable to this resolution because I can easily get out of balance (I'm still working on that one, too!). So I will end my first "official" blog post of the New Year with these words:
May we all find Shalom in 2011!
Happy New Year!
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