New Year Reflections

I call them New Year Reflections instead of New Years Resolutions. I think that we should be constantly analysing where we are at and where we want to go. This is part of any goal setting. We all know that life changes daily. I always look at a New Year much like a new day.

Just like the sun comes up everyday a new year will come. We can focus on the dark times or we can choose to focus on where the sunshine is hitting.

I hope you find my New Year Reflections below helpful and inspiring. They are listed in no particular order.

• Grow in my walk with God

While this may always show up on my list I know that I made strides in 2011. I want to make a lot bigger ones in 2012. I know God has great plans for me and it may just be the year that those plans make themselves better known.

There is a lot more that I can do to be a witness for Christ. In times like these people are hurting and can find the comfort and peace that I have found by getting to know the Father.

• Be a better Father and Husband

I felt like I accomplished some of this in 2011 but there is no doubt that I can be much better. As Adam Mitchell said in the excellent film Courageous “I want to finish well!”

I know my beautiful wife deserves a higher commitment level from me. It is certainly true that I married up and might one day catch her except she continues to grow and show a shining example of what a Mother and Wife are supposed to be.

• Find a way to spend more time with Extended Family

This may be the hardest part as my extended family is spread from the east coast to the west coast. Unless I can convince some of them to come to North Carolina then there would have to be road trips to at least 6 states. That probably is not going to happen, but hopefully we can knock out one or two.

• Learn to live a Simpler life

I think there are a lot of areas to improve upon. We have done a lot of that in 2011, but I think we still have a tremendous amount to go. I think it is almost a dual goal of my walk with God. The closer I walk with God the more I tend to focus on our true calling on this earth.

• Read more

I have been able to do a lot of reading this year, but still realistically have at least a 6 months to catch up on the 2011 totals. I never thought I would enjoy a Kindle but it has certainly simplified access to books. I look forward to reading a lot of history books from the turn of the 20th century to try and gain a better understanding of the general environment in the United States at that time.

• Write more

The New Year reflections here is an obvious one as I have only been blogging for a little over a month. That leaves me at least 10 months to improve upon that. Not only do I want to increase the frequency, but as a favor to my three readers I want to improve the quality.

I anticipate writing more about history and am open to suggestions. I am happy with the Saturday book reviews and on Sundays looking at a song or hymn. Any suggestions on what to focus on for other days would be helpful as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read along this far. As a reward I wish you a Happy New Year! May 2012 be one of the best years ever for you. I hope God blesses you and your family and you too enjoy a closer walk with our Savior!

GB²