Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

This Blog. Fourteen Yearly Resolves Ago

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The kids of the 2009 resolve.

It’s stirring that I’ve posted just under 2000 editions of the “Bless Your Heart” blog. It means I am fourteen years older than when I began posting (Yikes!). It means that much water’s passed under my bridge since “Bless Your Heart” began. It means that there have been moments of incredible happiness that were chronicled here and moments of profound loss. I was looking through some of the posts that have to do with New Year’s resolutions last night and ran across this from the year 2009.

It struck me that I had not yet lost my father, my connection to the place of my birth, my dream of having a divorce-free family, my dear sister-in-law, my strong father-in-law or my dearest friendship (outside my physical family) thus far on earth. But I had not gained the children I would love through marriage, my five incredible grandchildren, my deepened relationships in the West Huntsville family, or my little cabin through which many people so dear to my heart would pass.
If I could have known what the next fourteen years held, I would have been in deep agony and profound joy on that New Year’s Eve. I would have worked to maintain and gain and I would have worked to avoid loss. I would have cried out in anguish and, at the same time, I would have rejoiced.  I would have praised Him and I would have plead earnestly with him.
I’m so glad I could not know the future. I am afraid I would have hurt far more if I could have known. But one thing is for sure, though. As I reflect on this more innocent night of New Year’s dreams, I know He already knew every circumstance I would face and He already had a plan to carry me through because I am His child. He has given me strength that has helped prepare me for heaven through both the amazingly wonderful things and the incredibly dark days. He is faithful.
Here’s the post from New Year’s Eve, 2009. (And I do realize that I write selfishly for my own therapeutic purposes…and for my grandchildren, one day. I know I’m wholly insignificant and they are the only ones who may even be interested at all in my ramblings. I surely don’t expect others to read and absorb 14 years of my life! Maybe I should just settle for a personal diary and not a blog!=)
It was 27 minutes till the dawn of 2010 when we turned off the TV and stopped the festivities at my dad’s house. Getting serious for a few minutes in front of the fire that would warm us into the new year, we first went around the room and all the guys chose a spiritual song to lead. It was really pretty singing: Anywhere with Jesus and Nothing but the Blood and others. Then we all listened as every person in the room– cousins, aunts, uncles, parents and children—told us all exactly and specifically how he/she was going to do something in the new year to be a better person.  Here are some of the resolutions we heard:
1. (from a mom) I am going to put my prayer list in a place where I can more easily access it when I’m actually before the throne.
2. (from a pre-teen) I am going try to stop arguing with my brothers and sisters.
3. (from a college student) I am going to add to my daily Bible time a short time in a good spiritual study guide.
4. (from a young child) I am going to give more hugs.
5. (from a teenager) I am going to work hard to get the “me monster” out of my life.
6.  (from a graduate student) I am going to spend more time preparing healthy meals, so I can feel better to accomplish important things.
7. (from a mom) I am going to pick out a day of the week or even a day of the month to take my kids to visit sick people.
8. (from a young child) I am going to share.
9. (from a dad) I am going to work really hard to sell a piece of land that’s getting in our way of being all we want to be spiritually and financially.
10. (from a high school student) I plan to be kinder and friendlier to people who might not treat me nicely.
11. (from a college student) I was not prepared for all the things college life would throw at me and I’m determined to go back this semester armed and ready for the challenges. I am going to stop making excuses for my mistakes and be responsible for disciplining myself.
12. (from a pre-teen) I am going to get up in the mornings and get cracking on my school work, so I will have more time for fun things.
13. (from a dad) I am determined to be an encourager.
I have a feeling these resolutions will not be perfectly kept. I know there will be times when Dad will discourage someone. There will be times when Mom will not be the prayer warrior she wants to be. There will be times when the child will be selfish. There will be a morning when it will be very hard to get up and get busy; and there will be times when Bible study is abbreviated, at best. Life happens and we deal with it. But resolution is still a very good thing. We plan to evaluate these self-challenges in a year. And, if the resolve moves us in the direction we want to go, then the resolutions, in another year, will be a little more mature, a little more challenging, and, certainly, will bring us a little closer to heaven. When the resolve becomes weak and the temptation becomes strong, we still have the Father to shorten our faith gaps, promising us that there is no temptation so strong that He will not provide that way of escape (I Cor. 10:13). We want to look for God’s  “out” in 2010. I hope fellow Christians will pray that we will always find the escape route.  At the end of 2010, we want to be better people.…And then we prayed. When we finished praying there were 47 seconds left in 2009; a year that had been full of undeserved blessings; a year of days that change all too quickly from pending to past. We counted down the final seconds and embraced each other into the New Year.

It’s a good life. It’s a wonderful time in a good life. It’s a good family with good intentions. And we serve a great God who can solidify the intentions of his focused people.  We will soon have turned all of the corners of 2010 to find both the unexpected and the predictable eventualities. Everything on the agenda will soon be in the memoirs. When we look through the pages of the 2010 chapter, may it be a good read.

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